A “freak” lightning strike last week killed seven lambs on a Mayfield farm.

The weekend before Christmas, James McCormick of Manaton Farms was herding lambs when he spotted a number of animals laying next to a tree.

The tree sported two obvious stripes down either side, as if the bark had been torn off.

McCormick soon realised they were all dead, and must have died after a lighting strike in the storm that weekend.

“I guess they were just sitting under the tree, sheltering from the rain, and then lightning hit the tree and they got zapped.

He said it was unfortunate, but there’s no way to prepare for natural events like that.

“You can’t predict where the lighting’s going to strike.”

While life goes on for the farm, there are seven fewer lambs to raise - at $150 a lamb, it’s a sizeable amount of income, he said,

“We’re one a farm, stock die, but you don’t expect them to die in that manner.”

“You just put them to one side.”

Trees are natural lightning rods and will often be burnt or split when they get shocked.

The lighting fries the tree, and can heat up the moisture inside it to over 29,000 degrees celsius.

The charge of the lightning goes downward through the tree and into the ground, but if an animal or person is standing close enough, it will send a “side-shock” outwards which could kill you.

In a lighting storm, get away from tall objects and bushes, and stay indoors where possible.

By Anisha Satya