Itchy cows to blame for several power outages

WINCHESTER — There have been multiple intermittent power outages between Nov. 13 and Nov. 18 between Quincy and Ephrata. The Grant Public Utility District began investigating the outages which were impacting the Winchester area with patrols searching for the problem. After several days of searching and a two-night investigation, the district believes it has discovered the culprit — itchy cows.  

“Every time we received a call, our crew would go out and try to find the problem,” Grant PUD Public Information Officer Christine Pratt said. “But because the system automatically resets, automatically re-energizes after a few minutes, when it no longer senses a fault exists. By the time our crew got out to the scene, they couldn't find a problem because the grid had already reset and re-energized in that area. And so this went on for days.” 

The first cow-related outage was reported to the PUD on Nov. 13. Grant PUD began searching for the cause throughout the week, according to its statement. Then the following week on Nov. 18 there was a reported flash seen from the electric equipment. However, the district was pretty sure the cows were behind the incident.  

Grant PUD said they think the outages were caused by one or more cows that had discovered a “scratching post” — the PUD’s guy wire which secures the power poles. A guy wire attaches to the top of a power pole and extends diagonally to the ground, where it’s anchored to keep the pole upright and stable. The guy wire does not have electricity, so no cows were harmed. 

However, as a cow rubs against the guy wire to conquer its itch, it shakes the entire pole, causing the attached power lines to sway and touch one another. This can cause electrical faults and flashes that could and did result in outages.  

The electric system usually restores itself a few minutes after the cow moves along and the swaying lines fall into the correct position where the wires are not touching one another. The intermittent outages are harder to diagnose, according to the PUD, because the power has reset by the time crews are at the scene.  

“They started using some kind of specialized equipment to try to isolate the problem,” Pratt said. “Using that equipment, they were pretty much able to rule out anything else it could be.” 

According to a statement from Grant PUD, no cows were caught red-handed, however this has been an issue in the past. According to Pratt, this happened in 2022 in Quincy, where a cow was caught by a PUD lineman relieving a hard-to-reach itch. The video Grant PUD posted regarding the Quincy incident can be viewed at https://bit.ly/4eHKmTl. 

“There was a corn stubble field and during this time of year, people who own cattle, they let their cows graze in there, kind of gleaning the corn cobs and stuff off the ground and whatever else they can graze from there,” Pratt said. “There was a herd of cows in a field right where the post with the guy wire was located. I guess it would be considered circumstantial evidence. The cows were there. They had access to the guy wire and the crew had already ruled out other causes for the outage.” 

On Nov. 20, the PUD personnel worked with the owner of the itchy cows to reroute an electric fence to keep the cows away from the guy wire. According to Pratt, the PUD has not had any outages in the area as of Friday after the electric fence was rerouted.