SIX cattle owned by five children were killed after lightning struck an electricity pole in a field near Broadway on Wednesday.

The beef animals - two Hereford x Friesian bulls, three Wagyu cross heifers and one Wagyu cross bullock, were owned by farmer Gordon Tegg and were grazing a field owned by Nigel Robinson, of Treasure Trove, in Broadway.

They were killed when lightning brought a live cable carrying 11,000 volts down to the ground.

Miraculously, another of Mr Tegg's bullocks, along with three thoroughbred horses owned by someone else and kept in the same field escaped unscathed.

The electrical storm occurred around 11.45am on July 1 and was directly overhead.

"I was in the shop at the time and there was a family in browsing from Montana. There was no warning, just a very loud clap of thunder and then another louder bang immediately afterwards. It was the loudest bang I had ever heard so it must have been directly overhead. The family really jumped.

"The electricity went off straight away so I knew something had been hit," said Mr Robinson.

He said the first he knew about the dead cattle was when electricity distribution company Western Power traced him as the land owner and came into his shop wanting access to the field.

"It was really sad to see all those dead animals with not a mark on them. One of the cables had been struck on the pole and was on the ground. "The cattle appeared to have come over to have a look at it and been electrocuted. A single bullock was standing some distance away and so too were the three horses. They were unharmed because they didn't come near the cable."

The ground is scorched where the cable remains on the ground and had been severed at the point of the lightning strike.

A spokesman for Western Power said around 1,500 homes had been affected by the lightning strike but most were restored within an hour after engineers diverted the power source. The remainder were back on in the afternoon. Work to repair the damage was continuing today.

Mr Tegg, the owner of the cattle, said it was particularly sad because the cattle were his children's.

"The animals were really tame too and used to come up to you in the field. The children were really upset because they had been looking after them. The bulls were mine and the boys had one each of the rest. They were meant to be an investment for them and the heifers were the right age for breeding. I've been looking after animals for 35 years and it is only the second time I have seen cattle killed by lightning," said Mr Tegg.

The dead animals were donated to the North Cotswold Hunt.