At least 10 head of cattle electrocuted in Lawrence County - 21 News Now, More Local News for Youngstown, Ohio -

LAWRENCE COUNTY, Pennsylvania - At least 10 head of cattle were electrocuted on a farm in Lawrence County Monday evening during a freak accident.

A neighbor noticed smoke coming from the Whiting's beef cattle farm on Garner Road in Pulaski Township around 7:00 p.m. when power went out in the surrounding area.

Cattle owners Laird and Joyce Whiting say at least eight cows and two calves died when a power line somehow short-circuited and ran into the ground. The 10 were part of a 60-head herd of Beefmaster cattle. The Whitings rounded up the rest of the cattle from the area.

The owners were unsure of the exact number of cattle that died because they didn't get the deceased animals from the pasture yet Monday evening. Penn Power crews were working on the line at that time.

"We have cows around a lot of power lines and never had anything like this happen. We had lightning one time hit a bull but that was all. We've been doing it, we've been married for 38 years so and he's been doing it all his life so it's a fluke, it's a freak thing but we'll get through it," said Joyce Whiting.

The Whitings say the dead cows cannot be processed.

Some calves lost their mothers and are now going to have to be bottle fed.

The family has a couple hundred head of Beefmaster cattle.

Pulaski Township Police Officer Randy Courson said power was out for about 10 to 15 minutes in parts of Lawrence County including Pulaski, New Wilmington, New Bedford, and Edinburg.