02/26/08 Stray Voltage and Cattle

I will never forget the scene in one of the all best western's Lonesome Dove where the lighting ran across the horns of the cattle herd. That still gives me chills. While old timers have told me they have witnessed this phenomena it's a hard one to fathom. Yet electricity in the form of stray voltage is something some ranchers have contended is a reality that can sicken and even kill animals. In fact since the early 1980's some dairy farmers have been fighting for legislation that would protect their farms from being hit with stray voltage. To date at least six dairy farmers in Minnesota have filed suites against utility companies blaming old and over taxed power lines for the reason their herds are sick, dying and producing less milk. Its going to be tough to prove when the big power company attorneys contend that it isn't their lines that are at fault rather it bad herd management skills on the part of the farmer who is simply blaming power companies for their own negligence.