Does electric current go through goat hooves?

[Angie]

Does anyone know if electric current will go through the hooves of a goat? For example, if she walks on ground that has a chewed cord with current going through it...can she get electrocuted? I ask this because 2 years ago I had an old freezer in the barn that a mouse had chewed through and it was puting electric current through the floor which was covered in wet manure (it was where the cows came in and out of the barn). I saw 2 of my goats run into that side of the barn as I was coming to the barn and when I got in there they were laying on the ground making a horrible noise. i ran over and picked them up and put them on their feet and they were fine, walked away like nothing had happened. The palms of my gloves and bottom of my boots were rubber so i didn't realize what had happened until the next day when i found the frayed cord still plugged in. 2 days before this happened to my goats, I had found my bull laying in the same spot, dead. It was seeing what happened to the goats that helped me figure the whole thing out. I am guessing that the electric current cannot travel through their hooves but that doesn't seem quite right either. Does anyone have any ideas on this?

[Alice In TX/MO]

If electricity *did not* travel through hooves, then electric fences wouldn't work. The electricity has to follow a path to a ground. For example, the goat's nose to the earth, through her body, down her legs, to the ground.

If you have on rubber boots, you won't get shocked unless you touch something that grounds you. For example, your right hand is on the hot wire, and your left hand touches the post. The electricity will flow through through you to the post which is the 'ground.'

So, the answer is yes. Electricity flows through hooves.

[Bearfootfarm]

You can put a "ground fault" outlet on anything in a dangerous area, and it will turn itself off when something like that happens.

It has it's own breaker circuit that detects shorts, and a reset button on the outlet itself

[okiemom]

As an aside... I believe I was just told all electrical outlets in a garage must have GFCI plugs. I am not sure if that is also for Shops/barns. Might not be a bad idea if water/animals are around.

Yes electricity can go though hooves. We went to the Ag trade show here in Dec. and saw a cool product. It is an electrical mat that you put in fromt of a drive to act as a gate so goats/sheep/horses don't go though but you can drive your truck/care across. don't have to dig a cattle guard pit. Just roll out the electric mat.

The animal is trained to go for feen placed on the mat. If the front feet are on the mat and the back feet is on the ground they will get shocked and learn the mat is hot.

I would really like this for our place. It will also hook up to the existing electric fence.

Sorry your animal was hurt.