On Mon, 10 May 2004 14:41:03 -0700, Adam Russell wrote:

Now as to the matter of electric fences, when I was a child my grandpa
told me to stay away from the electric fence surrounding the cow field.

He never showed you how to take a stalk of timothy, start by holding the
end and touching the other end to the fence ... then shortening the
distace between your hand and the wire until you felt the electricity?

He said it would kick me like a sledgehammer. He could have been
pulling my leg, but I imagine that anything meant to coerce a cow would
hurt a human. OTOH, a raccoon is not a cow. The question is open
whether you could make a fence with enough jolt to keep out racoons but
not enough to hurt 3 year olds. I personally doubt it.

Dairy cattle are more sensitive than humans to electricity. "Stray
voltage" that humans don't notice can decrease their production. My REC
(rural electric company) will come out and check the barn if a problem is
suspected. With any animal, you want them to touch their nose (wet and no
hair) to the fence. A trick with bear is to hang bacon from the wire.

I wouldn't have an electric fence positioned-so and/or on-when a 3-year
old could get to it. But, worst case, it could certainly hurt, but I
don't think harm him/her. An additional precaution is to use a battery
operated fence to limit the amperage in case the tranformer malfunctions.