A New South Wales mid north coast dairy farmer is trying to come to terms with a lightning strike on his herd this week. There has been a regular pattern of wild electrical storms across the region in the past few days. In one of the most startling events lightning strikes killed 68 dairy cows on a farm about 10 kilometres west of Dorrigo, inland from Coffs Harbour. The cows were clustered together in a paddock about to be milked when they were struck by lightning during a violent electrical storm on Monday afternoon. The storm hit the area at Fernbrook on the Waterfall Way. Another 69 cows survived the lightning bolt. Work begins today to bury the dead animals.The Dairy Farmers Board says it is almost impossible to protect livestock from being killed by electrical storms. The board's Terry Toohey says he was shocked to hear about the 68 cows. Mr Toohey says there is nothing that can be done. "Probably the only way would be to fence them away from trees and that's an impractical thing to do - it's just one of those nature things that we've got no real control over," he said.