Lightning Strike Kills Colorado Rancher and 34 Head of Cattle

Cattle eat in a grazing area on a mesa where grasses would normally be waist high but are instead much shorter following a lower snowpack and lack of rain during the historic western Colorado drought in Mesa County near Whitewater, Colo., on June 30, 2021. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

DENVER—A lightning strike killed a Colorado rancher and 34 head of cattle over the weekend, officials said Sunday.

Mike Morgan, 51, was feeding his cattle from a trailer when he was struck and died on the scene despite life-saving efforts, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said.