Stray voltage
(Continued from Page Al>
could point to stray voltage
distress:
Extreme nervousness;
Reluctance to enter the
parlor;
“ Uneven milk out, milk held up
in udder;
Longer milking;
►- Reduced feed intake;
Reluctance to drink;
lncreased, incurable
mastitis;
x* High leucocyte counts;
Lowered production.
McCurdy added that cows could
begetting a tingle of stray voltage
in the milkers, water cups,
feeders, stanchions, or anything
else that is metal and a good
conductor of electricity. And
because stray voltage is directly
connected with current flows in
wiring, McCurdy said the worst
time for stray voltage on the farm
seems to be during the evening
milking—a time of peak load.
Along with the physical signs
shown by the cows, McCurdy said,
fanners can check to see whether
there is a stray voltage problem in
£peir barns using a voltmeter. He
pointed out a hand-held model
manufactured by Micronta is
availabe at a reasonable cost and
could be used by the farmers
themselves. Or, the utility com
Don Bare milks 60 registered Holstems at Double
Springs Farm in Lancaster, and worms each one with
TBZ before she freshens.
“High producers need worming as much, or
more than, average cows,” says Don Bare.
“A cow that’s capable of doing 80 to 100
pounds a day after freshening is going to be
under an awful lot of stress. And if she’s
stressed by worms, too, there’s not much
chance she’ll give you that kind of
production.
“We proved it on our milking line. We
didn’t know what some of our cows could
really do until we began worming
with TBZ®beforc they freshened.” inwaa
“Our first-calf heifers were
coming in from 14,000 to
16,000 lb before we began
worming. Now many
IBZ PREFRESHENING DAIRY WORRIER
panies have.more sophisticated
measuring devices available, o
McCurdy suggested that a
representative reading be taken at
the milk house drain and the bulk
tank. “If this measurement turns
out to be well under 0.5 V, there’s no
problem. If it's greater than thqt,
further study is needed."
Substituting the voltmeter ..for
the cow, measurements would then
be taken on “everything she can
touch”, along with the electrical
service entrance to the barn, the
transformer neutral, and all
grounded equipment.
Once the source of the stray
voltage is discovered, McCurdy
cited several methods of dealing
with the problem. An isolation
transformer was one possibility,
McCurdy said, even though it is
admittedly an expensive one.
Tfais device isolates.the barn
from other electrical systems on
the farm, and can isolate the entire
farm from the power supplier’s
system if it’s a large enough
model. Besides the expense,
isolation transformers have
another draw back they lose
energy to the tune of 100 to several
100 watts in 24 hours.
' Another solution for stray
voltage is creating an equi
potential plane in the milking
parlor using wire mesh in the
“Amazing heifers.
Almost all cows
worms. That’s why
mg our 18,000 lb
with TBZ has proved
ly profitable.-”
TBZ (thiabendazole) ts a registered
trademark of Merck & Co. Inc.
concrete flooring, including the pit
and platform areas. Then it’s a
matter of welding stanchions,
grates, and anything else that's
metal above the floor to the wire
mesh. McCurdy noted, however,
that this solution does nothing for
any problems existing outside the
parlor and is too expensive to in
corporate into old facilities.
McCurdy emphasized the fact
that much more needs to be donem
the line of stray voltage research,
and called on electrical companies
to cooperate with farmers and
researchers in solving the puzzle
rather than pointing fingers of
blame.
"Stray voltage has been around
since tbefirst generating plant was
put up in the Susquehanna River
Valley,” remarked REA’s Bill
Matson. "However, we’ve never
really defined this natural
phenomena and sometimes can’t
identify it.”
Almost giving away his age,
Matson recalled how research was
being done on stray voltage at
South Dakota State College 30
years ago while he was a student
there. Since then his experience on
the subject has been gleaned
through his work with the electric
cooperative.
“There isn’t anything about this
subject I’d stake my life on,”
stated Matson in a disclaiming
maneuver for everything else he
was about to say.
says Donald Bare, Lancaster, PA
of our heifers arc doing 18,000 and up.,
People are amazed when we tell them how
much they milk. Worming doesn’t do it all,
of course, but we’re sure it helps.”
“TBZ...simple program”
“TBZ gives us the simplest worming
program on the market. We worm just one
time per lactation - before freshening. We
just put pellets with TBZ in front of them,
on the grain, and they eat it right up.
“All in all, TBZ has proved really
profitable.
“Our records show it pays off.”
Your dealer, feed supplier,
and veterinarian have TBZ in
a feed or dosage form that fits
your management. Start your
prefreshening worming
program with TBZ
now.
sk,
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 17,1912—*17
He stated that 90 percent of the
causes for stray voltage can be
tracked to something on the
consumer’s premise which has
nothing to do with air electrical
utility company, such as corroded
wiring, snagged and severed
ground wires, and even telephone
lines which could potentially serve
as sources for stray voltage if they
do not rotate at least every mile.
Matson pointed out that farmers
have become more aware of stray
voltage since recent droughts
brought the problems into focus.
"You need deep driven grounds
when the water table drops,” the
Midwesterner commented,
sharing something he’d learned
while growing up in the more arid
Plain states.
Farmers are suffering irom
electrical shortcuts they’ve
learned since World War 1, said
Matson. "Fanners learned to do
their own wiring, and they learned
their own shortcuts, like
eliminating appropriate grounds,”
he said.
Since the trend to install wiring
began, farmsteads have changed
dramatically, with more metal
buildings springing up and more
wooden sheds being torn down.
Gram dryers, silo unloaders, baby
pig mats the “new” farms have
electricity running to almost every
nook and cranny, Matson em
phasized. As a result, many
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modern farms are carrying heavy
current loads on outdated wiring,
setting the stage for stray voltage
problems in the barn.
Matson stressed the elusiveness
of stray voltage. He compared it to
plumbing problems that disappear
when the plumber finally comes to
fix them. “Depending .on tbe
humidity, atmospheric conditions,
the stray voltage problem tem
porarily disappears,’’ he ex
plained.
Even though it might seem like a
wild goose chase, Matson said
most utility companies will work
with fanners to try to find where
the stray voltage problem is
originating and bow they might
work together to solve it.
Where does a person even begin
to look for a stray voltage source?
One place, said Matson, would be
tbe water lines has a corroded,
rusted section of metal line been
replaced with plastic? When
concrete was poured on the floor of
the milking parlor, were iron mesh
and reinforcement bars bonded
and grounded to all tbe water cups,
gates, etc.?
Matson claimed that pipeline
milkers should no longer be
suspected as a stray voltage
source unless the system was
installed a number of years ago.
He pointed out that the
manufacturers and dealers of
these systems learned their
lessons about stray voltage during
the past several years and are
bonding and grounding all new
installations.
The REA general manager also
noted that metal buildings with
improper grounds also could be a
potential source. He recommended
that these types of buildings be
grounded at a minimum of two
corners, if not all corners. And the
depth of the driven ground, 4 feet, 8
feet, or 16-24 feet deep, would
depend on the type of soil in the
area.
How does a fanner know if there
is a stray voltage problem? Ac
cording to Matson, most farmers
will have “gut instincts that
there’s something wrong.” Other
times it’s as obvious as squealing
pigs that stick their snouts in water
bowls only to get shocked.
If a farmer eliminates all the
possible on-farm sources for stray
voltage, and the utility company
comes away from the investigation
with no apparent blame, can it still
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