Rules and Guidelines
Want to participate in the discussions? Please read our Community Rules and Guidelines. Need some help? Visit Support and Answers.

  • State Not Answered
  • Locked Locked
  • Replies 45 replies
  • Subscribers 32 subscribers
  • Views 4054 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
You may also be interested in
This discussion has been locked.
You can no longer post new replies to this discussion. If you have a question you can start a new discussion

Cattle deaths

lyledunn
Some 10 prize bullocks died in quick succession whilst housed over winter in a cattle shed. The government vet was unable to reach a conclusion on cause but apparently does not discount electric shock as an indirect cause. 

The shed comprises steel columns and trusses with corrugated iron sheeting over. The floor comprises re-Inforced concrete slats over the slurry tank. The pens have steel barriers supported by steel posts all of which are heavily corroded but still making contact with other albeit fortuitously.

The earthing system is TT with the shed steelwork on its own providing a substantially low impedance of 5 ohms using a loop tester. A 100mA RCD protects the rather ropey lighting circuits.defccf32df3c757507a0db6ad0a35f87-huge-a5af3537-8eae-4a3c-9126-68fa60b61ac7.jpg

whilst the floor could be wet, I can’t conceive how a voltage difference could be established even if the steelwork was at 230v

Parents
  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member

    lyledunn:

    Many thanks for your input WB, it was over a short time period of a few weeks in winter 2017/2018. The common factor as far as the farmer was concerned was that the deaths followed a night of rain. You can see why he is then tying this to a possible electrical fault. Random positions in shed. Interestingly, most of the deaths occurred in the part of the shed that has a rubber covering over the floor slats but others occurred where there is no rubber covering. The shed roof is deliberately not continuous and with relatively open sides to both gable ends it must be a dreadful place in the middle of a cold wet winter!

     




    Thanks Lyle, though it does seem a bit late now to be investigating the electrical arrangement of 10 consecutive occurrences that happened not last winter but the one before that! Were any electrical checks or alterations made at the time, and has the shed been used since? I wouldn't discount foul play, it is not usual for cows to randomly drop dead in sheds that happen to have rusty/iffy looking light fittings...

Reply
  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member

    lyledunn:

    Many thanks for your input WB, it was over a short time period of a few weeks in winter 2017/2018. The common factor as far as the farmer was concerned was that the deaths followed a night of rain. You can see why he is then tying this to a possible electrical fault. Random positions in shed. Interestingly, most of the deaths occurred in the part of the shed that has a rubber covering over the floor slats but others occurred where there is no rubber covering. The shed roof is deliberately not continuous and with relatively open sides to both gable ends it must be a dreadful place in the middle of a cold wet winter!

     




    Thanks Lyle, though it does seem a bit late now to be investigating the electrical arrangement of 10 consecutive occurrences that happened not last winter but the one before that! Were any electrical checks or alterations made at the time, and has the shed been used since? I wouldn't discount foul play, it is not usual for cows to randomly drop dead in sheds that happen to have rusty/iffy looking light fittings...

Children
No Data

Community Rules & Guidelines