If you have worked with livestock, you’ve probably heard of stray voltage, witfully known to some as “tickle” or “phantom voltage.”
Stray voltage can be the culprit — or the scapegoat — of lower production, animals bunching in certain areas of the barn, or preferring certain water tubs to others. No matter how it affects livestock, it’s generally not comfortable.
Stray voltage is a funny concept, and it’s a little tough to comprehend if you’re not handy with electricity. Yet it’s a good thing to know and keep in mind if you are on a farm.
So, here’s the skinny on stray voltage: Charged electrons (electricity) flow from a battery or transformer, through “hot” wires to the thing that needs to be powered; the spent electrons go back to the battery or transformer through the neutral wire to be charged up again.
Neutral wires are “grounded” which means that they are tied to a wire in the earth, which protects us if there is excess energy in the system.
Stray voltage happens when less than 10 volts of charged electrons “leak” onto the neutral wires. When electricity leaks onto the neutral wires, it should pass through to the ground wire, which essentially discharges the excess energy into the earth. It’s likely that you have seen this concept happen in your home.
If you have a window unit air conditioner, and have noticed that the lights flicker on when the ac kicks up, that is excess energy in your electrical system. Appliances like fridges, air conditioners, or water heaters take a big slug of energy to start but require less energy to maintain itself. When these slugs of energy go through the system, that’s when you should be happy to have a ground wire in your home!
If you didn’t have a ground wire, that’s where some stray voltage would come into play. You might experience shocks when touching conductive objects and water.
If that doesn’t make sense, think about your battery or transformer like a big kitchen in a restaurant, it creates food to feed all the customers, whether there’s one customer or a whole dining room full. Your hot wire would be like waiters whose only job is to bring food to the table, and the neutral wire would be like waiters whose job is only to bring empty plates back to the kitchen.
With that scene in your head, you can imagine how it all works. The “hot wire” waiters bring food from the kitchen to customers, and the “neutral” clean up waiters take the empty plates back to the kitchen to be filled up with food for the next customer.
In the real world of electricity, we have outlets — in our analogy customers are the only “outlet” for food. Fresh food is delivered to the table, just like charged electrons are delivered to an outlet.
Remember, stray voltage comes from a surplus of charged electrons that “leak” onto the neutral wire. In our analogy that surplus of charged electrons is the food left over on customers’ plates when they leave. The “neutral” waiters have to do something with it, so they throw it in the garbage, making sure not to clog up the system of the kitchen receiving empty plates (spent electrons) and sending out full plates (charged electrons). Grounded wires act as the disposal system for surplus charged electrons.
But what happens when food goes astray? Let’s say our “neutral” staff for whatever reason decided to scrape the extra food off of customers’ plates on the tables and floor rather than the garbage. It’s not that big of a deal … unless you step on or sit in it! There won’t ever be many food scraps on just one plate, but over time it would pile up, eventually making it nearly impossible to avoid touching the food scraps.
When you have stray voltage, it’s because your neutral wire isn’t delivering the surplus charged electrons to the ground wire. These surplus charged electrons are “piling up” in conductive materials, like water, metal, and close to electricity sources.
Stray voltage can be hardly detectable, but can also be strong enough to really bother livestock, which are more sensitive to electricity than people are.
Stray voltage can be caused by improperly installed equipment, bad wiring, or a faulty ground wire, among other issues. If you suspect that you have stray voltage that is affecting a certain area of your home or farm, you can use a common voltage meter to detect it. Your local electrician should be able to easily detect stray voltage if it’s happening.
It’s hard to say how common stray voltage is on a farm, but what is certain is that farms are added on to slowly, and no two barns are made the same. As things are added in just a little at a time, it’s easy to overload your electrical system, or pull out a wire that you thought wasn’t needed in a system. These constant additions create opportunities for issues.
Let’s not forget about the mice who chew wires or create their homes in conduit and insulation, which can affect wiring.
Livestock also like to chew and pull at things they shouldn’t — especially jersey cows, roosting chickens, or mischievous pigs!
If you have stray voltage, you may see bunching, which is when all the animals in the group bunch up into one spot in the pen, avoiding certain areas. Or you may see hesitation at water troughs, especially if a thirsty animal is anticipating a zap when she goes to take a drink!
Electricity is no joke, small issues can turn into big ones fast. Don’t let stray voltage tickle your livestock, or be a phantom on the farm!
Elizabeth Maslyn is a born-and-raised dairy farmer from Upstate New York. Her passion for agriculture has driven her to share the stories of farmers with all consumers, and promote agriculture in everything she does. She works hard to increase food literacy in her community, and wants to share the stories of her local farmers.
