In recent years, cattle farmers in France’s Brittany region have lost hundreds of cows to deaths that veterinarians simply cannot explain. After running various tests on their land, some now claim that the solar panels and wind turbines in the area are releasing too much electricity into the ground, which is slowly killing their animals.
Although mysterious cattle deaths have been reported in various parts of Brittany, the situation is particularly dire in Cote-d’Amour, where several farmers have sustained hundreds of losses in mysterious conditions. According to local farmer Patrick Le Nechet, his cattle just started losing weight a few years back and many of them ultimately died. The strange thing was that the animals didn’t seem to be suffering from any diseases and the veterinarians couldn’t explain the cause of death. After conducting his own investigation, Le Nechet concluded that the mysterious deaths started occurring around the time that a photovoltaic installation appeared in the area.
Photo: Couleur/Pixabay
“The cows started losing weight, and we’ve lost 120 of them in the last five years,” Le Nechet told Europe1. “It can not be explained, not even veterinarians know what to do.”
After beginning to suspect that the solar panels near his farm may be to blame for the mysterious deaths of his cattle, Patrick Le Nechet conducted tests on his land and found that there were electrical currents of over one volt both in the ground and in the water, three times the accepted threshold for animals.
“There is a direct electrical current going into the earth,” the desperate farmer said. “Watching all the animals die, it’s unbearable.”
Stéphane Le Brechec, another cattle farmer from Allineuc, 30 kilometers Cote-d’Amour, has lost even more cows in mysterious conditions. He started suspecting something was wrong after 37 of his cows died in six months. Today, the death count is over 200 and he is extremely worried.
Photo: distel2610/Pixabay
“I’m panicking. So far, I’ve invested 500,000 euros, I can not pay my bills, the situation is dramatic,” Le Brechec complained, adding that he has identified at least 17 probable culprits for the unexplained deaths, including wind turbines, antennas and transformers.
At this point, French cattle farmers are merely speculating, because there is no irrefutable proof that the electrical current from sustainable energy installations is killing the cows. However, the negative effect electricity has on cattle is well documented. Two years ago, another French farmer from Val de Saône, in Rhône, reported problems related to the electrical current from a nearby industrial area. He claimed that the electrical current sent into the ground by large transformers influenced the health and behavior of his cows.
“When there are power spikes, some cows gather in one corner, others start to limp, calves that felt good the day before, die,” the farmer told Le Progres, adding that many of his cows were also losing weight and producing considerably less milk.
Thibaut Bouchut, Building Advisor of the Sanitary Defense Group, confirmed that electricity can indeed cause problems for cattle farmers.
“The human body has an electrical resistance of 1,500 Ohms, while the cows, only 500 Ohms, not to mention that they are not separated from the ground by rubber soles,” Bouchut said. “Breeders are not always aware of electrical disturbances, and sometime the seemingly-unexplained problems they face discourage them, even if they are competent. Farms close down because of that.”
sunshine hours 
C’mon man! Seriously??
“This paper discusses the impact of photovoltaic (PV)-oriented dc stray current corrosion on large-scale solar farms’ grounding and third-party infrastructure. The dc stray current may result from a fault or may be facilitated by buried cables’ condition that allows dc leakage to flow into the earth. In particular, such abnormal conditions can impact the grounding electrodes of the PV plants as well as third-party metallic infrastructures (e.g., natural gas pipelines) that are laid in the nearby vicinity of a solar plant. This paper unfolds by thoroughly addressing three specific objectives: 1) defining the origin of the problem; 2) modeling the problem in commercially available software; and 3) discussing the arising implications.”
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277574968_Impact_of_Photovoltaic-Oriented_DC_Stray_Current_Corrosion_on_Large-Scale_Solar_Farms'_Grounding_and_Third-Party_Infrastructure_Modeling_and_Assessment
“The Minnesota Stray Voltage Guide outlines the
steps farmers, licensed electrical contractors,
utilities and their advisors can take to discover
and resolve stray voltage concerns on livestock
farms. When farmers and utility companies work
together, stray voltage concerns are more likely
to be satisfactorily resolved. This compilation of
information was a collaborative effort of Minnesota
Rural Electric Association, Minnesota Department
of Labor and Industry, Minnesota Power, Xcel
Energy, Otter Tail Power, Minnesota Farm Bureau,
Minnesota Farmers Union, Minnesota Milk
Producers Association, Minnesota Department of
Agriculture, Cooperative Network and Minnesota
Municipal Utilities Association. ”
Click to access MN_StrayVoltageGuide_HR.pdf
https://energynews.us/2016/02/03/midwest/amid-pushback-minnesota-solar-developers-expand-stray-voltage-testing/
Stray voltage has a real and long-described effect on dairy cattle farms of the upper Midwestern U.S. Laugh all you will, but if you had to be continuously subjected to a low-voltage current running through your body 24/7, you’d eventually suffer some real problems as well.
Reblogged this on Climate Collections.
Dans ce coin que je connais bien, il y a 20 ans, pour les mêmes faits, on accusait l’Ankou https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankou .
Bretagne, mère de légendes et de coupables très vite trouvés. Et les 30 000 autres éleveurs qui n’ont pas de problème, que disent-ils? Que l’Ankou les a épargnés?
“electrical currents of over one volt”
Oh dear…
Just down the road from where I live (in the US) cows graze under the massive towers of high power lines. Area ranchers have never noticed a problem from the strong electrical fields that emanate from these power lines.
https://phys.org/news/2009-03-cattle-magnetic-fields-power-lines.html
And …
“Stray voltage, on the other hand, is caused by electrical problems. It takes
the form of an undesirable difference in electrical potential between two objects.
For example, if a cow touches a trough with her nose and the damp floor with
her hind legs, and if the trough and the floor have different electrical potentials,
a weak current will circulate in the cow’s body. This current, when it is strong
enough for the animal to perceive it, may cause some discomfort.
On a farm, stray voltage problems usually arise from two possible sources:
the farm’s electrical system or the power grid located nearby. They most often
result from faulty grounding of farm equipment or current leaking from
defective machinery.
Sometimes, the power grid supplying the farm is the cause
of the problem.:
Click to access pop_24_01.pdf
Reblogged this on ecoliberty and commented:
Talk about animal cruelly. Not only Wind Turbine kills birds but cattle and animals. Wind Turbine should never be build near farms or where birds fly in that area often.
Dutch cows have it worse than French cows.
‘Cow toilets’ in Netherlands aim to cut e-moo-ssions (29 Mar)
Oh man …
Reblogged this on Climate- Science.