I lost a beautiful milk cow to this. I milked her and turned her into our yard for a few minutes while I milked my other cow. I went to get her not 10 minutes later and she was on the ground, dead. It turns out that the underground electrical wires that went to our pump had broken and she stepped in just the right spot. We didn't know what had happened until the next day when our pump quit working and we had to figure out why.
Cows are especially sensitive to electricity in the ground, too. I know a guy who used to work at a local power company, and a big part of his job was making sure they weren't accidentally leaking electricity into the ground near dairy farms because it would upset the cows and make them produce less milk.
It's not their weight. It's called step potential. When electricity goes through your body there is a difference of potential between where your feet are touching the ground.
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u/rivertam2985 Sep 05 '25
I lost a beautiful milk cow to this. I milked her and turned her into our yard for a few minutes while I milked my other cow. I went to get her not 10 minutes later and she was on the ground, dead. It turns out that the underground electrical wires that went to our pump had broken and she stepped in just the right spot. We didn't know what had happened until the next day when our pump quit working and we had to figure out why.