Your cows feel what you can't.
It's hard to find someone around here who tests for stray voltage. I do. I test dairies across the Southern Tier of New York and Northern Pennsylvania, give you every reading in writing, and fix what I find.
These signs have other causes too: feed, mastitis, milking equipment. A meter is the only way to know. Check your signs →
Current runs on the neutral wires, both your barn's and the power company's. When some of it travels through the ground and the barn's metal, a cow touching a waterer and the floor at the same time feels it.
It can start on your side of the meter, the power company's side, or both. It often shows up after new equipment, a drive on a pump, a barn addition, or work on the power lines nearby.
Every step answers one question. I tell you which step makes sense before I do any more work.
Usually ordinary electrical work: fixing bad neutral connections, separating neutral and ground where they shouldn't be tied together, repairing rusted wiring, or adding a grid in the concrete where cows stand. You get a total price before I start, and I test again afterward to show it worked.
If the readings point to the power lines, you get a written report to take to the power company.
★ Already on a plan?
The Dairy Plan and Herd Protect include a yearly dairy inspection with a stray voltage test, so you find it before the cows tell you. See plans →
Building a new barn or parlor? I put the grid in the concrete before it's poured. New barns →
