# Barnyard smarts **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 8, 2007, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnyard-smarts/387220 "2007-01-08T23:37:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jeffr062](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f04885/32.png) [@Jeffr062](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeffr062)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnyard-smarts/387220/1 "2007-01-08T23:37:07Z")
Which is smater, a pig or a cow? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnyard-smarts/387220/2 "2007-01-08T23:47:34Z")
Oh boy. I see you have never visited a single farm in your life. My family has a cattle farm with pigs. The Farm Intelligence Hierarchy is: 1. Dogs 2. Cats 3. Horses 4. Dirt 5. Geese 6. Cows 7. Sheep. 8. Turkeys Pigs are so obviously and overwhelmingly smart than cows that I wonder what prompted this question. You can train pigs and the can go ferrell and do just fine on their own. They make good scent animals as well for things like truffle hunting. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnyard-smarts/387220/3 "2007-01-08T23:48:36Z")
Oh boy. I see you have never visited a single farm in your life. My family has a cattle farm with pigs. The Farm Intelligence Hierarchy is: 1. Dogs 2. Pigs 3. Cats 4. Horses 5. Dirt 6. Geese 7. Cows 8. Sheep. 9. Turkeys Pigs are so obviously and overwhelmingly smart than cows that I wonder what prompted this question. You can train pigs and the can go ferrell and do just fine on their own. They make good scent animals as well for things like truffle hunting. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnyard-smarts/387220/4 "2007-01-08T23:52:12Z")
I inserted pigs in the one above. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnyard-smarts/387220/5 "2007-01-09T01:24:24Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] I inserted pigs in the one above. [/QUOTE] I did about four reads of your post before I stopped trying to understand and continued reading to find the correction. You owe me 🙂 And yes, pigs are wicked smart. Cows, well, they are pretty. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnyard-smarts/387220/6 "2007-01-09T01:29:11Z")
Although my experience is probably much more limited than yours I’d rate 1. Dogs/Pigs/Cats 2. Goats/Mules/Donkeys 3. Horses 4. Dirt 5. Geese/Ducks 6. Rocks 7. City kids 8. Cows/Sheep 9. Carp/Trout 10. Turkeys ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnyard-smarts/387220/7 "2007-01-09T01:44:59Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] You can train pigs and the can go ferrell and do just fine on their own. [/QUOTE] Is this supposed to be “they can go feral” ? (Sorry if that sounds snarky - it isn’t meant to be. I was seriously confused.) ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnyard-smarts/387220/8 "2007-01-09T01:48:15Z")
[QUOTE=groman] Although my experience is probably much more limited than yours I’d rate 1. Dogs/Pigs/Cats 2. Goats/Mules/Donkeys 3. Horses 4. Dirt 5. Geese/Ducks 6. Rocks 7. City kids 8. Cows/Sheep 9. Carp/Trout 10. Turkeys [/QUOTE] I’m glad to see that humans outrank at least some of the animals. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnyard-smarts/387220/9 "2007-01-09T01:51:57Z")
[QUOTE=Xema] Is this supposed to be “they can go feral” ? (Sorry if that sounds snarky - it isn’t meant to be. I was seriously confused.) [/QUOTE] Sorry, you are right. Damn checker. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnyard-smarts/387220/10 "2007-01-09T01:52:05Z")
[QUOTE=Xema] Is this supposed to be “they can go feral” ? (Sorry if that sounds snarky - it isn’t meant to be. I was seriously confused.) [/QUOTE] Sorry, you are right. Damn spell checker. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnyard-smarts/387220/11 "2007-01-09T02:10:28Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] Sorry, you are right. Damn spell checker. [/QUOTE] Ok, I give up. What’s the correction in that one? ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnyard-smarts/387220/12 "2007-01-09T02:18:16Z")
[QUOTE=groman] Although my experience is probably much more limited than yours I’d rate 1. Dogs/Pigs/Cats 2. Goats/Mules/Donkeys 3. Horses 4. Dirt 5. Geese/Ducks 6. Rocks 7. City kids 8. Cows/Sheep 9. Carp/Trout 10. Turkeys [/QUOTE] I’d add ponies to number 2, and guinea fowl to number 10. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnyard-smarts/387220/13 "2007-01-09T03:13:29Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] Cows, well, they are pretty. [/QUOTE] Pretty damn tasty, you mean! ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnyard-smarts/387220/14 "2007-01-09T03:57:42Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] Cows, well, they are pretty. [/QUOTE] Pretty damn tasty, you mean! ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnyard-smarts/387220/15 "2007-01-09T04:07:29Z")
[QUOTE=groman] Although my experience is probably much more limited than yours I’d rate 1. Dogs/Pigs/Cats 2. Goats/Mules/Donkeys 3. Horses 4. Dirt 5. Geese/Ducks 6. Rocks 7. City kids 8. Cows/Sheep 9. Carp/Trout 10. Turkeys [/QUOTE] 11. Hen Food 12. Hens ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnyard-smarts/387220/16 "2007-01-09T07:47:32Z")
This has got to be the most screwed-up thread I’ve ever seen. So I guess I’d have to add to the list: 1. Humans (excluding city kids). ---
**Author:** ![FRDE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e68b1a/32.png) [@FRDE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FRDE)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnyard-smarts/387220/17 "2007-01-09T10:47:47Z")
Winston Churchill > [@](#): > > Odd things animals. All dogs look up to you. All cats look down to you. Only a pig looks at you as an equal. Buried in: [http://www.llywelyn.net/docs/quotes/churchill.html](http://www.llywelyn.net/docs/quotes/churchill.html) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnyard-smarts/387220/18 "2007-01-09T13:51:42Z")
This thread is hilarious. Between “smater” and “ferrell” (I know a guy named Steve Ferrell), the insertion of pigs and the double posts, it would seem that perhaps there is something to be learned from our barnyard friends. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnyard-smarts/387220/19 "2007-01-09T14:45:59Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] I inserted pigs in the one above. [/QUOTE] We don’t want to hear about you inserting things into pigs. Keep your Deviance to yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnyard-smarts/387220/20 "2007-01-09T15:14:51Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] You can train pigs and the can go ferrell and do just fine on their own. [/QUOTE] I’m not at all sure I’d associate [ferrell](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Ferrell) with proof of smarts. :dubious: Sailboat [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnyard-smarts/387220.md?page=2)