How much electrical current is ok in a dairy herd?

Let's start with a very basic problem with at least a few studies that are commonly used to downplay the effect of stray voltage on cows. Some of these studies had cows removed from the study due to refusal to drink water or other health problems that began during the study. This is a common observation on farms with stray voltage. Obviously, any negative change in animals' drinking habits will have a negative effect on a cow's health and production. This is a truth that needs not be studied. One cannot remove the animals with the worst reaction to the treatment and pretend they never existed and still consider it to be sound science.

The study, "Effects of neutral to earth voltage on the behavior, production and water intake in dairy cattle" conducted in 1987 at Cornell University did a study with 30 cows. Of those 30 cows, 2 cows subjected to stray voltage had to be removed from the study because they refused to drink for 36 hours. Because they were removed from the study, their resulting poor performance was never a part of the final conclusion that said there was no negative affect on milk production. 2 out of 30 cows is 6.7%. If 6.7% of a herd of 500 cows didn't drink or reduced their water intake due to stray voltage, that would be 33-34 cows. There are several other problems with this study that are highlighted by Drs. Rendahl and Martin in their reviews of literature found on the Resistance page of this website. They go into the details of the use of incorrect statistical analysis of the data collected and the problem of averaging each week's data and all the cows in each test and control group which in turn negates the true results. When looking at each individual cow's production for the before, during and after periods of the study, the only conclusion to make is that milk production WAS negatively affected by the various levels of stray voltage. Another problem with this study, is the cows were only subjected to stray voltage for 3 weeks. While many cows on real farms are subjected to it from birth to death.

A follow-up study done at Cornell University tried to look at the affect stray voltage has over an entire lactation. Again, Martin goes into more detail surrounding the problems with the collection and analysis of this data. Subpoenaed records and subsequent depositions of the study's authors show cows were brought in and out of the study in each of the groups. This means they were NOT truly following all the cows for the duration of her lactation. Another problem with the "full lactation" study was that it did not begin until each cow was past the transition portion of her lactation. Every farmer will tell you, if you have problems in the transition period, it will affect the entire lactation of the cow. AND, if a cow in transition is subjected to stressors, such as stray voltage, there will be significantly more fresh cow problems. This is exactly what is observed in dairy farms with stray voltage and why it is imperative to follow each cow from pre-calving through dry off to get a true and accurate account of the affect stray voltage has over an entire lactation.

 Aaron Rendahl, PhD of statistics goes into detail starting on page 7 of "Rendahl Expert Disclosure" how the statistical analysis that was done in this study was not correct and when looking at the actual data, it shows there were effects on the lactation curves of cows subjected to stray voltage. Furthermore, there is a very detailed account on the fraud which took place in the Cornell study, in the affidavit provided by Dr. Michael Behr as he successfully defended himself against a lawsuit filed by one of the key authors on the Cornell study after Behr accused him of fraud. This affidavit is filled with many more reasons this study is not to be relied upon.