By ROBERT IRWIN

For six years, the Marjerrisons of Apple Hill on
eastern Ontario's far eastern fringe grappled with an invisible
force destroying their dairy herd. They never really
noticed when their 40 milking Holsteins began urinating
in spurts. Eventually, they would learn that each time an
animal's urine hit the cement floor, up to 40 volts of
alternating current surged back up through the stream.
More noticeable were the figures on the milk cheque.
Before the troubles started, the herd milk production
averaged about 15 per cent above the provincial average;
at the height of the troubles, it averaged 15 per cent
below.

When plummeting milk production was finally sorted out,
experts told Glenn Marjerrison the charged environment
could have killed him or his elderly parents. The
Marjerrisons' costs for lawyers and expert witnesses hit
$70,000 before they eventually settled their $750,000
power quality claim against Ontario Hydro in October,
1995, for an undisclosed amount.

There are no easy answers to the power quality question,
but families such as the Marjerrisons know the
devastating results too well. While Ontario Hydro is
reluctant to release details, according to documents
obtained by Farm & Country through provincial Freedom of
Information legislation, the giant Toronto-based utility
alleges it received 35 complaints about stray voltage
over the five-year period ending Nov. 20, 1995. There
were five successful claims totalling $766,052. Another
three claims were unsuccessful.

The terms are all too familiar to livestock farmers -
tingle voltage, transient voltage, stray voltage. But
it's pinpointing the cause and the culprit that has led
to so much heartache and financial losses in barns across
the province. The terms describe a condition which may
not be felt by farmers but can shock sensitive livestock.
Fluctuating voltages may also occur, enough to cause
light bulbs and motors to fail prematurely.

The usual cause involves a variation in voltage between
an electrical neutral line and the earth. It can
originate through Hydro's transmission lines, or faulty
farm wiring. A simple loose connection or defective motor
is all it takes.

In the Mar-jerrisons' case, the cause was traced to a
disconnected primary neutral wire on Hydro's transmission
line. But others are not so clear cut; when a farmer
guesses that power quality is suspect, he quickly enters
a twilight zone where the only certainties are falling
milk production and distressed animals.

Even probing the extent of the damages is difficult. In
Ontario, power quality is a battleground where
settlements are kept secret and victims consider it
unusual when experts agree on the time of day. Even in
the Marjerrison case, with both government and private
sector experts in agreement, and a large but unspecified
cash settlement completed, Ontario Hydro has admitted no
liability.

The documents obtained by Farm & Country show, however,
that the utility is working on a new power quality
complaints strategy. Farm & Country has now lodged a
Freedom of Information appeal to obtain the many portions
deleted from a copy of Hydro's new Power Quality Kit
already released through the first request.
The giant public utility, which restricted Farm & Country
interviews to written responses, says release of these
sections would, "adversely affect Ontario Hydro's
competitive and economic position." Documents obtained
say "power quality is becoming an increasingly important
topic."

Several Hydro employees speaking on condition they
wouldn't be named have confirmed there were many more
stray voltage complaints than the 35 Hydro admits to in
the five-year summary released to Farm & Country. While
the documents listing complaints cite the Trent area as
the farthest east complaint area, Marjerrison, in
Glengarry county, does not appear; nor do a raft of
complaints from Prescott county; nor does dairyman
Fran¨ois Cayer in Russell county.

Hydro's newly developed power quality kit cites unnamed
surveys which blame customers for 80 per cent of the
mishaps. Across the Canada-U.S. border, however, it's the
reverse. The state of Wisconsin's comprehensive database
shows 77 per cent of farm stray voltage in recent years
originated on the suppliers' distribution system.

Federal researchers at Lennoxville, Quebec, administered
between 0.2 and nine volts of both steady and
intermittent current to pigs between nine and 21 weeks of
age. Rate of gain and feed conversion results were
inconclusive.

A 1989 study published in Poultry Science showed that
correcting alternating current voltage between waterers
and floor of between 0.2 and 2.5 volts eliminated
mortality in a turkey flock, which had ranged between 10
and 26 per cent.

When he started seeing fewer eggs each day in his
10,000-bird flock, Marcel Leroux of St. Isidore, about 50
km east of Ottawa, battled Hydro for permission to
install transformers on two of his barns.

Leroux is careful not to attribute the improvement which
followed solely to the transformers. "We changed a lot of
things at the same time," he points out.

Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs
dairy adviser Jack Rodenburg estimates 4,000 to 5,000
farmers solved stray voltage with Hammond filters during
the 1980s and early 1990s. Installed at the farmer's
electrical service, the Hammond Filter was originally
developed in conjunction with Ontario Hydro.

Troubleshooting and installation costs used to average
well below $1,000. But that average shot up in the past
year. "I think this is a problem that has run its
course," Rodenberg says.

If he were comfortable speaking English, St. Albert
dairyman Fran¨ois Cayer would probably be the first
person to pick up the phone to enlighten Rodenburg.
Cayer, who has been widely featured in the French media
for tensions parasites (stray voltage) in his 40-cow
milking herd, says it all started after he built a liquid
manure storage behind his barn in 1989.

Almost immediately, Cayer noticed the often-reported
stray voltage symptoms such as nervousness and failure to
let down milk. Despite the installation of a Hammond
filter, his animals still showed signs of stress. Milk
production and herd health plunged.

Between 1989 and 1994, he sent 176 cows to slaughter.
During 1991 and 1992, veterinary, medicine and artificial
insemination costs which had been about $3,000 per year,
rose by an extra $28,200. Detailed OMAFRA Farm Management
Analysis Program records show losses attributable to
power quality, totalling $204,000 over five years.

"I often thought about quitting," recalls Cayer, whose
cash flow was especially precarious because he had bought
the farm from his father three years before the problem
began. Several times during his ordeal Ontario Hydro
testing blamed Cayer's own electrical system.

Cayer has meticulous records, including a detailed
chronology highlighting countless meetings with experts.
He tried repeatedly to convince Ontario Hydro and OMAFRA
staff that a Quebec company, Filter Expert, might be able
to help. He eventually won Hydro approval and on July 15,
1993, became the first Ontario producer to install the
NCV 1000, sometimes called an electronic grounding system
or active suppression device. His records show labour,
materials and equipment cost $18,036.

Production rose by an average of 1,218 kg;1994 Breed
Class Average went from 173 to 204. "Now I can rebuild
the lost genetic potential of my herd for my two sons,"
Cayer says. "Today, the future looks bright."

Filter Expert dealer Serge Quesnel, of Quench Electric in
nearby Embrun, is a stray voltage specialist. His tests
show Cayer's cows were being shocked by the
approximateenergy equivalent of a flashlight battery. Actual
readings showed 100 milliamps of alternating current at
less than two volts.

Quesnel speculates the unwelcome electricity could be
escaping from a neighbouring farm or an Ontario Hydro
transmission line. His equipment and theories are widely
accepted in Quebec where lucrative grant and research
funds only recently dried up.

More than a dozen farms across Ontario credit Filter
Expert with improved milk production. Quesnel suggests
every farm should at a minimum install a stray voltage
meter to monitor levels around the barn. "At the least it
might prevent some fires by warning you about electrical
problems."

These producers don't show up anywhere in the list of 35
complaints Hydro released to Farm & Country, and the
utility insists no other records exist. But a number of
Prescott county farmers have reported stray voltage to
Ontario Hydro in recent years. Many are curious about
Filter Expert's theories and equipment. Last year, the
Prescott Federation of Agriculture, aided by funding from
several other counties, commissioned a $5,500 research
project at Alfred College Alfred research engineer William
Koolaard, who conducted the research, agrees. "They
(Filter Expert) inject current into the ground at the opposite
phase of what the stray voltage is in the barn. That idea
makes sense, but whether or not you need the whole
system is questionable."

Koolaard's report, due for release later this month,
lists available equipment and prices but draws no
conclusion on the efficacy of any product. One of the key
recommendations in his report is for farmers who can't
find an obvious stray voltage cause to take advantage of
the four free hours of diagnostic service provided by
Ontario Hydro.

Like Farm & Country, Koolaard was unable to obtain
accurate Ontario Hydro summaries of stray voltage
reports. But he says stray voltage is increasing. "In
areas where the soil is more humid it is easier for
current to pass through soil. It has a lot to do with the
location on the line, although Ontario Hydro will
disagree with that."

Koolaard says Hydro's neutral wire will normally have
much less resistance than the ground so there can be a
slight difference between the neutral and the ground
which can be transferred to a barn. "Anything over 10
volts Ontario Hydro has an obligation to correct."
Koolaard's study didn't establish a comfort level for
cows because the literature reviewed was contradictory.
He says 10 volts is a North American utility commercial
standard.

That kind of talk is sure to get a rise out of
Wallaceburg, Ont., private consulting engineer Alex Furo,
who insists there is no North American standard, as
claimed by OMAFRA and Hydro. Furo was the consultant in
the Marjerrison case and several other high-profile ones
such as the 10-year power quality dispute in which
Ontario Hydro turned off Kent county dairyman Lee
Montgomery's power for six months last year.

In some U.S. states, there is no 10-volt cushion.
Following hearings in June 1995, the State of Connecticut
Public Utility Control ordered utilities to conduct
testing when farmers complain. The utility is obliged to
take action on any readings exceeding 0.5 volts per one
milliampere in the cow contact area and one volt between
primary neutral and earth. A voluntary stray voltage task
force to solve problems and mediate disputes has also
been recommended there.

A stray voltage bill was introduced in the Vermont
legislature in January 1994. By the fall of that year,
state utilities averted tough new regulations by agreeing
to a voluntary program, which makes them responsible when
neutral-to-earth voltage exceeds 0.5 volts on farms. Only
a few small power companies have failed to sign up.
Dr. John Roberts, the veterinary member of Wisconsin's
five-year-old Stray Voltage Analysis Team, says utilities
in his state must take corrective action "when the cow is
the pathway for one milliamp of steady state AC current,"
a fraction of the Ontario level. Then, if required,
devices such as filters are supplied by the power
company.

Team staff estimates between 9,000 and 12,000 of
Wisconsin's 30,000 dairy herds are affected. However,
Roberts concludes there is no clear link to changes in
somatic cell counts or production.
"Stray voltage is not a
fix-it-once-and-it-is-gone-forever event."

KENT DAIRYMAN IN THE DARK I'm not a big fan of going after Hydro. You might lose
your farm over that," says Prescott Federation of
Agriculture past-president Germain Mallette. He
spearheaded the soon-to-be-released Alfred College stray
voltage study after watching a number of Prescott farmers
grapple with financial losses caused by stray voltage.

Both the Alfred study and Mallette conclude farmers
should take advantage of the free diagnostic services
Hydro offers. Eventually, though, many who have been hit
by stray voltage wonder who should pay for losses.

Allan O'Brien, a former farm boy and senior counsel at
the prestigious Ottawa law firm, Nelligan Power, won a
recent stray voltage claim for the Marjerrison family of
Apple Hill, Glengarry county. He says "if you're taking
on an institution like Ontario Hydro, in a sense they're
funded by consumer dollars but also by taxpayer dollars.
They have this huge operation with in-house experts and
in-house lawyers. If you're the little David it's a
daunting task." He also warns Hydro is covered by the
Public Authorities Protection Act which bars claims made
more than six months after a problem is discovered.

"If you've lost about $20,000, a lawyer would be foolish
to suggest you take on Ontario Hydro. I would tell the
individual to lick your wounds and get on with it," says
O'Brien. He suggests one exception might be a group of
affected farmers who could share costs of a class
proceedings action.

O'Brien and other experts who worked on the Marjerrisons'
$750,000 claim say solid evidence of improper line work
by Ontario Hydro and the Marjerrisons' good management
and records were crucial to the family's success.

There's another case simmering in southwestern Ontario.
This month, Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA)
president Tony Morris and vice-president Ed Segsworth
were trying to schedule a meeting with Hydro officials to
obtain some compensation for Kent County dairyman Lee
Montgomery, who says his operation was ruined by a decade
of poor power.

In 1994, Hydro pulled the plug on Montgomery's
electricity when he refused to pay for power he said was
unfit. In April, 1995, after six months in the dark,
Montgomery had his power switched back on, after then-OFA
president Roger George convinced the utility to accept
$3,500 on his bill, which totalled nearly $7,500.

In some American states, mediation has been chosen over
lobbying or litigation. Panels have been set up to
mediate disputes with electric utilities. - RI