P.E.I. farmer worries stray voltage is harming his cattle
CBC
WARNING: Some may find this story contains distressing photos or content
It started with calf number 123.
"He was perfectly fine and drinking on a cow," said John Gallant, who owns beef cattle on his third-generation farm in St. Timothée, P.E.I., near Wellington.
He jumped on his tractor and was backing out when he saw something strange.
"The calf was laying pretty much lined up with the side of this fence post in the middle of a water puddle there, stiff as a board with his eyes rolled behind his head."
Gallant said he sprung into action — pulling the calf out of the puddle and onto dry land. To his surprise, it jumped to its feet and ran away.
But then "he started flopping on the ground and bounced up again and ran another 100 feet and did the same thing."
Other unusual things were going on, too. What he calls "scorched burn marks" appeared on some of his cows' backs. His calves showed similar spots around their ears, nose and eyes.
Gallant thinks what's happening is something known as stray voltage, and he feels his cattle were "getting electrocuted out in an open field."
"My very first phone call to Maritime Electric was: 'My cattle are in a frying pan, it's time to turn down the heat,'" he said.
Aside from Gallant's allegations and his own personal testing with equipment, including an ammeter that measures electrical currents, there is no evidence that these incidents are specifically caused by electricity.
But an expert says stray voltage on farms is possible.
According to Ian Nokes, who researches how energy impacts farms with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, stray voltage — also known as tingle voltage — happens when an unwanted electrical current moves from one spot to another.
He said one of the first steps is figuring out where it's coming from: Maritime Electric's system or equipment on the farm like faulty wiring or something that isn't properly grounded and leaking current.
