Cow tipping verdict?

[PaterDeus]

Link to original article from 1990: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/...as-cow-tipping

I think this one's definitely false.

Seems to me that if it truly were possible, some clown with a camera would've put up a video of it on youtube by now. Given the lack of evidence and the tone of the original article, it seems to me that this could be another great example of an often-repeated-but-never-witnessed urban myth.

[TriPolar]

If the service is reasonable, I always tip the cows.

[Kimballkid]

Originally Posted by TriPolar

If the service is reasonable, I always tip the cows.

Bull!

[Anthony Kaye]

I'm a retired large animal Vet. in 'England's green and pleasant land' (where've you heard that phrase recently?). If by 'cow-tipping' you mean the use of legerdemain and minimal force to flip over a cow- forget it. It's possible with a calf of course, but nothing bigger.
Very occasionally it was necessary to turn a cow on its side for various procedures. Hobbling it was one way-pull on the hobbles via a rope, let it fall, jump on its head to keep it down. The other way is heavy sedation-and even then brute force and manpower is required. It helps if the beast has horns to give you better leverage when twisting its head to help it over.
It's worth remembering that a ruminant on its side will eventually die. In this position it cannot belch up the gas continually produced in the rumen. The rumen swells, presses on the diaphragm and lungs-curtains.

[Ethilrist]

I've always felt this was a mis-attributed practical joke: the real idea was to get a bunch of city slickers to run around in a cow pasture at night with their fancy shoes on.

[TriPolar]

Originally Posted by Anthony Kaye

... in 'England's green and pleasant land' (where've you heard that phrase recently?).

Heard a phrase similar to that while working on something for the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society last week. Sounds like Shakespeare.

[Lord Mondegreen]

Originally Posted by TriPolar

Heard a phrase similar to that while working on something for the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society last week. Sounds like Shakespeare.

A different William actually. William Blake

Of course it's now known as the hymn Jerusalem, featured prominently during the opening ceremony of the London Olympics.

[Elendil's Heir]

Originally Posted by PaterDeus

...Seems to me that if it truly were possible, some clown with a camera would've put up a video of it on youtube by now....

I've long thought that.

Cow-tipping is spoofed in the Pixar movie Cars, by the way, but in that automotive world, the "cows" are actually tractors.

[gazpacho]

Originally Posted by Ethilrist

I've always felt this was a mis-attributed practical joke: the real idea was to get a bunch of city slickers to run around in a cow pasture at night with their fancy shoes on.

Well you have to try something else when snipe hunting gets old.

[Sailboat]

Originally Posted by Lord Mondegreen

A different William actually. William Blake

Of course it's now known as the hymn Jerusalem, featured prominently during the opening ceremony of the London Olympics.

Great user name/post topic combination -- Lord Mondegreen informing us of song lyrics!

[jbaker]

I've never quite known what to make of this. I have talked to a guy who claimed to have tipped cows. I grew up on a farm with cows, and the cifficulties with cow-tipping would be large, but not necessarily insurmountable.

Cows do not stand when they are fully asleep, but they do stand around at times at night in a sort of doze, and it might be possible then to sneak up on a cow. I would have no difficulty in walking up to and surprising one of our cows. Would this work for a group of young men that the cows did not know? I don't know. Certainly it would not if the young men were noisy, as you might expect them to be if, say, they had had a drink or two beforehand.

Cows are large, heavy animals and are not particularly unstable. Two ordinary athletic young men could not tip over a cow. Three or four probably could, but they would have to work quickly; the cow isn't going to just stand there and let you tip her.

On the whole, I'm influenced by the fact that we don't have Youtube videos of cow-tipping (at least, I assume we don't; I haven't checked) and we don't have people coming forward to say "I've tipped cows!" I think you probably could tip a cow under ideal conditions, but it would be difficult and there doesn't seem to be much evidence that this is something people actually do (my acquaintance's claims notwithstanding).

[jbaker]

One other thing: According to my source (a guy of unknown veracity whom I talked with once), tipping a cow is a two-step process. First, a couple of people push the cow from one side. This makes the cow brace itself against pressure from that side. Then, the remaining people push the other way. Since the cow is already leaning against the first push, it goes over more easily.

[gnoitall]

Originally Posted by jbaker

One other thing: According to my source (a guy of unknown veracity whom I talked with once), tipping a cow is a two-step process. First, a couple of people push the cow from one side. This makes the cow brace itself against pressure from that side. Then, the remaining people push the other way. Since the cow is already leaning against the first push, it goes over more easily.

And this factors nicely into the "snipe-hunting/practical joke" angle. If cows really are tippable, the idea would be to get the newb (joke victim) to be the guy doing the initial pushing, so that the cow falls over onto them when the "remaining people" do their bit.

[jbaker]

Originally Posted by gnoitall

And this factors nicely into the "snipe-hunting/practical joke" angle. If cows really are tippable, the idea would be to get the newb (joke victim) to be the guy doing the initial pushing, so that the cow falls over onto them when the "remaining people" do their bit.

Not described to me that way, and I see no reason why the initial pushers couldn't jump out of the way. Presumably they would know that the other push was coming. As a joke, having a cow fall on you would be, shall we say, a significant increase in intensity from stepping in a cowpile, with broken bones and other bad things a not unlikely result.

[control-z]

The suggestion was brought up at times during my young wild nights on the rural back roads. We talked about it, but never did it. It was basically equivalent to "let's go do something crazy."

[Lanzy]

If you talk about tipping cows and you actually get someone to try it, you have won.

[samclem]

Urban legend and udder falsehood.

[Elendil's Heir]

Nothing to see here. Just moooove along.

[Farmer Jane]

Iowan ringing in here.

"Tipping cows" is a euphemism for doing stupid shit, e.g., road tripping. Only city slickers would try something like that, because they're the type who get a kick out of being mean to animals.

[TriPolar]

Originally Posted by samclem

Urban legend and udder falsehood.

Rural legend maybe?

[Cheshire Human]

Originally Posted by Ethilrist

I've always felt this was a mis-attributed practical joke: the real idea was to get a bunch of city slickers to run around in a cow pasture at night with their fancy shoes on.

My mother grew up on a farm. Years ago I asked her about it. Her response was that it was bullshit that they pulled on visiting city folk. Just another form of snipe hunt. With cowpies.

[samclem]

Originally Posted by samclem

Urban legend and udder falsehood.

Originally Posted by TriPolar

Rural legend maybe?

Nope. Folks out in "rural" land know it ain't true. Only the Urban folk believe it.

[astorian]

Perhaps cows sometimes sleep while standing, but when I used to spend summers in Ireland on my cousins' farm, we usually found the cows lying down in the fields, when we went to round them up for morning milking.

Hard to tip a cow that's lying down on its stomach.

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

I saw someone a video of someone tipping a cow over, but there were extenuating circumstances: In an episode of When Vacations Attack, a paraglider comes in a little off course and slams into a cow, knocking it over.

[stw004]

FWIW Snipe are real birds and I have shot several.

End Highjack

[DSYoungEsq]

Originally Posted by stw004

FWIW Snipe are real birds and I have shot several.

Making you a sniper.




Really.

[kyogi]

Here's an ambiguous answer just since I have some experience on the subject. I was raised surrounded by cows, and made several attempts at cow-tipping. I was successful once. I caught her on a steep pond bank with precarious footing. I hit from the uphill side with three steps' momentum and pushed on. I was a fairly stout country boy, and even so only with the terrain advantage did I ever pull it off.

[samclem]

Originally Posted by kyogi

Here's an ambiguous answer just since I have some experience on the subject. I was raised surrounded by cows, and made several attempts at cow-tipping. I was successful once. I caught her on a steep pond bank with precarious footing. I hit from the uphill side with three steps' momentum and pushed on. I was a fairly stout country boy, and even so only with the terrain advantage did I ever pull it off.

Other than youthful stupidty, what caused you to do this? Why would it occur to you to try to tip a cow?

[kyogi]

"Other than youthful stupidty, what caused you to do this? Why would it occur to you to try to tip a cow?"

Really, the fields surrounding the house had cows in them as I grew up. I hunted frogs with a gig and did other things to keep myself occupied running around the fields at night as well as during the day. Only child coming up in BFE. Had to amuse myself, no one else was gonna. Being that familiar with the critters and hearing that it could be done, it seemed natural enough to try.

[gamerunknown]

Originally Posted by kyogi

I tried A LOT. Succeeded once under exceptional circumstances.

Did the cows not try and fight back?

[Elendil's Heir]

Yeah, did it get up and chase you?

[kyogi]

Originally Posted by gamerunknown

Did the cows not try and fight back?

Depending on the critter, they fled me, chased me or looked at me funny.

[-getitrite]

The Argentine cowboys tip from a seat on their horses, by using the tail as leverage. bringing the tail over the back and twisting it to move the back legs off the ground, no real weight in it. As a cow person myself have used this leverage to put a fractus bull of his feet once, no damage to the animal, but they do tip