On Wed, 04 Nov 2015 05:55:37 -0600, "Dean Hoffman"
wrote:

I've read of livestock not drinking because they get shocked from
the waterers. Dairy cows have supposedly held milk due to the shock from
the milkers. Both of those were from bad or inadequate neutrals. The
modern
code has all sort of neat stuff to prevent that. It must cost a bunch for
a modern barn.

What you said is a fact. Just google for "Stray Voltage". My power
company checked for this (at no cost to me), because I had a horse quit
drinking water, who became ill due to it. Fortunately I caught this in
time, and he guzzled a 5 gallon pail of water when I carried it out to
him, even though there was a filled 100 gal. stock tank in there.

It was winter, there was a stock tank heater in that tank which was
plugged into a GFCI outlet. The GFCI (should) have tripped, but didn't.
I took a multimeter and tested between the tank and a metal fence post,
and saw a very slight voltage. I then touched the tank and felt a very
slight "tickle". That's when I called the power company. They have
special meters for testing, and said they saw a voltage at that tank,
but got no stray voltage readings anywhere else on the farm.

I replaced the tank heater with a brand new one, and STILL had that
slight voltage at the tank. This even puzzled the guys from the power
company, who said that I must have a defective *NEW* heater too. I had
one more NEW heater on hand. I installed that one and still nothing
changed. I got an extension cord and plugged that heater into another
outlet. Problem GONE!

The power company said they can not work on "MY" electrical system and
said to call an electrician. After they left, I carefully checked that
entire circuit and everything was tight, the box had a good ground and
so on. That's when I found the reset button on that GFCI would not trip.
I replaced that GFCI and everything was fixed. Somehow, that defective
GFCI was actually causing the voltage leakage.

---

Another incident was when I had a neighbor feed my livestock when I was
away for a weekend. The guy left a garden hose in a stock tank, which
was touching an electric fence. The animals quit drinking and I could
see they were not doing well during hot weather. I quickly found they
drank from a 5 gal. pail. The hose was a black rubber, and somehow it
conducts electricity, because I touched it and felt a tingle.

The problem is when animals get shocked by their water, it takes weeks
for them to trust that water tank again. They dont forget! The solution
is to get a different looking tank (color, shape, size, etc). and MOVE
IT to a different location. Even then, I've watched them be very
suspicions and just sort of touch the water ever so slightly, before
actually drinking it. Once they find it "safe" they are ok with it. In
this incident, I eventually replaced that original tank in the original
location (after a few months), and they were fine with it.

* I told that neighbor to NEVER leave a hose laying in a stock tank and
never allow a hose to touch the electric fence.
Besides that, if a hose is left in a stock tank, it will siphon all the
water out of the tank.