Cow tipping

koala · Site Admin Joined: 12 Oct 2006 Posts: 712

Cow tipping is a pastime allegedly common in rural areas, in which participants sneak up on an upright sleeping cow and then push it over for amusement. Some variants of this urban legend state that the cow is then unable to get up.

One popular variant relies on a supposition that cows lean into a steady wind while asleep in order to keep balance. Based on this, the cow tipper lightly pushes against one side of the cow's torso, and gradually increases the force of push. The cow, while asleep, leans into the push and remains upright. Then when the cow tipper has all of their body weight on the cow, they jump to the side. The cow, still leaning into the ‘wind’, tips over in that direction.

There is no evidence, aside from mostly unreliable eyewitness reports, that any cows have ever been tipped in the purported manner. In particular, nobody has ever produced any video or other reliable photographic evidence showing that it has been done.

Evidence against cow tipping
The concept of cow-tipping requires that the cow be unaware and asleep. Cows are descended from prey animals and hence have good hearing and are easily awakened.

In addition, there are a number of problems with typical accounts of cow tipping. Unlike horses, cows do not 'lock their legs' when they sleep. Cows lie down while sleeping and most of their sleep is very light and easily disturbed — typical of herd prey animals; they take only short naps at regular intervals throughout a 24 hour period, which means that at any given time, some members of the herd are aware and alert. A cow's field of vision is larger than that of a human, and they have acute senses of hearing and smell. Thus, cows are not easy to sneak up on. If startled, they quickly communicate to the rest of the herd that something is amiss.

Cows are large, and would be very difficult to tip, even for several people working together. A grown cow can be over 1.5 m (5 feet) high with a mass in the order of 540 kg (1,200 lb) all the way up to 900 kg (2,000 lb). By way of comparison, a typical sumo wrestler masses only 140 kg (310 lb). The four corners of a large "American-style" domestic refrigerator fairly closely approximate the spread of a cow's legs. If the refrigerator were cut down to 1.5 m (5 feet), filled with 400 kg (880 lb) of weights, and placed in a muddy field, tipping it would offer a comparable challenge to tipping a cow.

Variants of the legend claim that successfully tipping a cow will result in its death. Although cows can die if prevented from sitting upright for an extended period of time[citation needed], briefly forcing a cow onto its back will not kill it. Under typical circumstances, a cow knocked onto its back would be able to restore itself to an upright position.

Other versions of the cow tipping story attempt to evade these objections by claiming, for example, that although cows lie down to dream, they can still doze while standing. Others appeal to a paper published by the University of British Columbia which calculates that, in certain circumstances, five people could topple a cow. Such a situation, however, would be highly unlikely, meaning they effectively debunked it as an urban legend.

Finally, attempting to tip a cow is a potentially dangerous activity. Despite the animal's reputation for being placid and slow-moving, a cow is easily capable of hurting someone when provoked or nervous; a herd of cows or a bull (easily mistaken for a cow in the dark) would be even more dangerous. It is also a common practice among dairy farmers to keep lactating cows inside and to keep pregnant cows who are not in milk outside until they calve. Thus, if cow tipping is attempted where most cattle are kept inside in large barns but only a few by comparison are kept in pasture, there is an increased chance that the target of cow tipping may be pregnant. Whether an attempt at cow tipping is effective or not, even startling a pregnant cow or heifer could cause her to run and fall unnecessarily and could damage the unborn calf or the freshening cow or heifer.

scary · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 32

It would be cruel to push a cow over just for fun. I think some teenages just made up the idea to see their friends try it out. Like the story says, it probably doesn't work.

whimps · Joined: 29 Oct 2006 Posts: 50

Yeah, cows are a lot bigger and stronger than humans so if cow tipping did work it would take a lot strength.

scar123 · Joined: 17 Nov 2006 Posts: 32

That is very wrong no human should hurt a creature like that.

whimps · Joined: 29 Oct 2006 Posts: 50

I agree scar123, cows do nothing but eat grass all day anyway. It's not like they would hurt anyone. I'd stay away from bulls all together though, they can be deadly.

bitterbuck1 · Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 5:35 pm Post subject:

Cow tipping? Laughing

Trust me, you cannot "tip" over an adult cow and or bull!!

Laughing

lea · Joined: 18 Nov 2008 Posts: 3 Location: south wales

coming from a rural community i can assure you that cow tipping is a myth originating from a story locals told a stupid city dweller. After enduring the bloke rabbit on about how there was nothing to do in the countryside where as the city was so much better he asked what the locals did for fun when the pubs were shut, the locals couldnt help themselves ( i guess thats the rural sense of humour for you!)

Ps can i just say that i am not calling city dwellers stupid!

damaralenoire · Joined: 19 Oct 2008 Posts: 334 Location: South Wales UK

bitterbuck1 · Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2014 4:00 am Post subject: Re: nice