A LIGHTNING strike on Friday killed 17 sheep instantly on a property west of Nyngan.
The picture to the right shows “Salty” Taylor surveying the damage on “Rosedale”.
His sister Kristal Sztybel took the photo after stumbling upon the bodies while scouring the property for native wildlife with her son Alex, 11.
Kristal, Alex and sister Siannah, 9, arrived at the property from their Brisbane home on New Year’s Day, when a huge dust storm descended on the place.
“Rosedale” has been hit by four dust storms in the past two weeks.
Mr Taylor bought the property less than a year ago and is in the process of building a Dorper herd and unfortunately the sheep killed were breeding ewes in lamb.
The tree was remarkably unscathed except for the pattern on its trunk where missing bark shows the path the lightning took before it hit the sheep.
Mr Taylor tried to look on the bright side of things, his first comment was that least it wasn’t his rams.
He was also on the verge of buying in water for his tanks, but now they’re full to overflowing with good rains coming with the storm that killed the ewes.
“It was certainly the best rain he’s had since he bought the place, by gee he would have been cranky if it hadn’t filled the tanks,” said Ms Sztybel.