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Question about cattle and high voltage power line

D

Deluxe

Member
We are supposed to be getting a high voltage power line that is cutting across our pasture . My question is , is it harmful to cattle ? I have heard that it hurts milk production and causes cows to abort calves . Is there any truth to this or is this a myth ? Thanks Deluxe
 
If it is harmfu;l then we should have no milk in Northern Ireland!
There is barely a farm over here without a line running across it somewhere. The only problem I have ever heard of was when lightening brought down a line and killed a fox!
Sam
 
If High Voltage is in the 500,000 or more range AC then it will make some impact on stray voltage (not much to the cows particularly but the fence will have a charge in it that will keep you from holding on to it). If lower voltage, not much. If DC high Voltage, none, as there is no induction. I worked under 750,000 volt system lines, they would charge a car to 80 volts or so. DC is common now and free of that issue. Jim
 
Had a high voltage line cross a farm we used to rent. It would crackle and snap. I swear when I worked under that line I'd get irritable and mean. One day plowing under the line with a gas 460, the tractor just stopped like you turned off the key.
 
I have been told that the difference is most of Europe is 3ph whereas America is mainly 1ph with an earthen ground, the ground is what affects cattle, it does exist but the utilities won't admit to it
 
Some friends of ours have a high voltage line that runs behind thier barn and shed. They milk 100-150 cows with no adverse affects. The only thing they have noticed is in hummid weather they will get a tingle when hooking up to equipment under the power line.
 
explain how the power in the U.S. is not three phase???? you may not have 3 phase service to your house but the distribution system is last time i checked anyways. Also both CENLEC and BS call for earthed grounding. The two main differences between European electrical grids is the voltage and frequency. Neither of which I suspect cattle can tell the difference.

-paul
 
I remember learning that when electricity was invented.... One fella wanted all DC as a standard, and another wanted AC as a standard.

Turned out DC woulda been bad, as it would have needed a power station every few miles, as DC didnt travel well....

But now they make big DC transmission lines after all, so something must be different.

Paul
 
Ah yes. The debate between George Westinghouse and Thomas Alva Edison. When TAE finally understood that AC was the better choice he took off with it and you'd think he invented it. George Westinghouse became a forgotten man. Almost. (;>))
 
I told you before that ground is there to sell wire it is not connected to and part of the system at your home the ground wire that goes to ground right there is to get 110 from 220. Or half of the cycle in Europe they use the full cycle or 220 volts for everything. Don't grab one of their lines.
You can hold the neutral or ground wire in your hand and not feel anything as long as a capacitor motor doesn't startup.
When I took my course on basic electricity one test was to check the currant direction on each side of the 220 circuit.
Walt
 
(quoted from post at 21:34:36 12/15/13) I have been told that the difference is most of Europe is 3ph whereas America is mainly 1ph with an earthen ground, the ground is what affects cattle, it does exist but the utilities won't admit to it
Click to expand...
on't believe everything you "have been told"....in this case, believe none of it.
 
This is my 13th year, raising black angus, under 3 sets of Bonneville transmission lines. 3 cows, give me 3 calves a year,so it doesn't make the bull sterile, nor turn the cows into freemartins. The only thing that it bothers, is me, when I am under a center wire, on my old allis and get a tingle when my hand touches the steel on the steering wheel. I park the truck, with fencing supplies on it, under the lines, and have to leave the door ajar, cause the door handle shocks too much to push the chrome button in, but if I lean a steel T post against the cab then everything is OK.NOW you folks know why I come off, kind of silly on this forum!
 
We had one through our first place- no problems for the cattle, but you had to make some adjustments with fences- All the fences were hot in the summer, when the wood posts dried out- and the electric fences were hot, whether they were plugged in or not. I got to where I carries a piece of wire with an alligator clip on one end, and a spike to push into the ground on the other, to ground out the electric fence before I worked on it.

Neighbor did a masters degree thesis on effects of high voltage lines on animals, both domesticated and wild- couldn't come up with any adverse effects.
 
I didn't know about the Westinghouse/Edison feud although I remember a few years ago, a documentary on either the History Channel or Nova, that Tikola Tesla (sp?) and Edison had a disagreement about AC vs DC and a bet. DC had to have a generating plant every mile while AC could be transmitted more efficiently over long distances.
Tesla was working for Edison, lost the bet and Edison wouldn't make good so Tesla quit.
Edison thought AC too dangerous and did all he could to discredit AC power at the time and later had to accept defeat.
Wasn't Westinghouse the builder of the first AC generating plant at Niagara Falls?
 
have had a big transmission line going across my pasture since 1960's. first problem we noticed was getting the fencers to work reliably. finally took a bare wire and run it across all of the t posts, with no insulators, it worked.also had problems with cattle aborting, maybe 4-5 a year, moved the fence so they wernt directly under the line, seemed to help, but no way tosay exactly if that was the problem. yes you will be reminded of the line when you park under it. just for fun take a 4ft flourescenct bulb out there at nite and hold it in the air in your hand. it will light up from your hand up, but only about half bright. amaizing how much juice is in the air
 
Ditto in The UK mainland. We had a 20 acre grass field with two huge pylons in it and we never had any problems with cattle grazing under them. One weird thing I did notice though, although grass grew happily under the 4 legs of the pylons themselves, I NEVER ever saw a thistle growing there. If it was a foggy morning or evening those power lines used to fizz like crazy.
 
Had a steel-sided house more or less under a 69kv 3-phase transmission power line, and the renters complained the siding "bit" them. The children wouldn"t touch the house. I made the owners disconnect everything, city electric, water, phone, cable, gas, everything, made no difference. Still a wavering unpredictable voltage, from 1 to 10 volts AC. The power company EE said he could not determine what was causing it. Finally made the owners drive ground rods in two places, and ground the steel siding. Took care of it, no voltage on the siding any longer, but I feel the problem is still there, it"s just been grounded to earth.
 
where i grew up (herefordshire) we had 2 sets of pylons, one with just 6 wires, the other with 24... the 6 was fine, the 24 was great fun moving electric fence for sheep on beet tops... on foggy mornings had to use a metal bar to ground the fence so the wire could be moved, fun times
 
Whats NOT a myth is theres an electromagnetic field generated when current flows in a wire, and the more the current and closer you are the stronger the Field strength......

As to how it affects cattle, it depends on the current and how close and other wire/structures etc that can have a voltage induced into them which may have a potential higher then the earth upon which old bossy is standing AND THAT COULD POSSIBLY BE SIGNIFICANT ENOUGH TO AFFECT BOSSEYS DISPOSITION OR PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES in my unreseaerched opinion with no data or specs etc.

John T
 
Argument was Tesla and Edison, Tesla worked for Edison as an apprentice for awhile. He wanted DC, Edison wanted AC.
 
(quoted from post at 10:25:39 12/16/13) Argument was Tesla and Edison, Tesla worked for Edison as an apprentice for awhile. He wanted DC, Edison wanted AC.
Click to expand...

Tesla was the AC proponent and Edison was the DC advocate.
 
The only thing that might be effected would be your fences. There's a big one 3/4 mile south of me. A guy west of me had cattle under it. He said that if he fixed fence that ran under it,he learned to ground the fence before he worked on it. He said too that if you were working a field under it and going back and forth,when you got off the tractor,you wanted to jump and not touch the tractor and the ground at the same time or you'd get a static shock.
 
There is a 230KV tower line and three 500KV tower lines at the back of my farm located 3/4 mile from the buildings. No problems other than reception of weak AM Ham radio and shortwave reception is ruined. Storms with wet snowflakes cause an eerie crackling hum that is loud even at that distance.
As previously stated everything has to be grounded , very grounded.
 
Rented farm back in the 60's had a they said was a 69,000 volt line put up. You get close and yopu could feel the electricity in the air and it would make the hair on your arms stand up. Was like this a few years and then problem stopped. Was told they turnd down the voltage to stop it. Line goes from Ohio river to Chicago. Never any livestalk on the rented farm. If you can feel it tingling either driving on the road in the car or on the tractor in the field or walking under it then the livestalk wil also feel it, if you don't feel that tingleing then they should not either. New lines may be coated to reduce that stray voltage. After they said they adjusted the voltage has been no problem for over 40 years.
 
We have towers on our land, although Consumers owns the land under the lines. I lease the section that crosses us for $17.50 per year approximately 7 acres. Weather does make them "talk" a bit but I've never experienced any static electricity. I don't know how much juic they carry.

Larry
 
If you will spend the time to research the difference, there is no
way we could have what we have today with dc. Not going to
explain it to you but it is fact.

Mark
 
you have that wrong, Edison was a DC promoter, Edison didn't wan't to pay Tesla what he was worth so Tesla went to Westinghouse and worked on AC, Edison was going to sue Westinghouse over the Niagra Falls generation plant, Tesla forfeuted his royalties so Westinghouse could survive, Edison is remembered , Tesla is all but forgotten but he was a true genious
 
S0orry for not answering, this is a few days later. This is in a real old part of town, the power line and house have been there for decades, and the house actually sits probably 10' - 20' away from where the lines would physically drop. I imagine the lines been upgraded many times, voltage increased many times, over the decades, and we just have a situation.
 
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