# Cow tipping--real or urban legend? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 29, 2003, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-real-or-urban-legend/191565 "2003-07-29T01:05:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Vlad\_M.Paler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d26b3c/32.png) [@Vlad\_M.Paler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vlad_M.Paler)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-real-or-urban-legend/191565/1 "2003-07-29T01:05:28Z")
…or is that **sub** urban legend? My friends in college (who lived in the sticks growing up) swore up and down that cow tipping can’t really happen, that if you go up to a “docile” cow, it’ll either run away or even get belligerent with you. Anyone got any experience with this? ---
**Author:** ![Winsling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Winsling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winsling)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-real-or-urban-legend/191565/2 "2003-07-29T01:10:43Z")
Cecil addressed it [here](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_363.html). Opinion is divided to say the least. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-real-or-urban-legend/191565/3 "2003-07-29T01:24:58Z")
It is bunk in my humble opinion. Here are other reasons why it is the greatest rural legend of our time. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=181127&highlight=tipping](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=181127&highlight=tipping) ---
**Author:** ![Jon\_the\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@Jon\_the\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jon_the_Geek)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-real-or-urban-legend/191565/4 "2003-07-29T01:39:53Z")
Well, I guess I have to be the farm boy who goes against all of the other farm boys… but from what I hear, it has been done (maybe just locally, since all of the other farm boys are so certain that it never happened). Cows (or, again, at least our cows) sometimes doze in the pasture without laying down. My uncle swore that tipping the cows (on our dairy farm) had previously caused big problems in their milk production (tipping a cow isn’t easy, of course, and once it’s been smacked hard enough to fall down and then also hits the ground, things get messed up). Then again, my uncle could have just been pulling my leg. I never actually performed the required experiment. ---
**Author:** ![Super\_Gnat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Super\_Gnat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Gnat)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-real-or-urban-legend/191565/5 "2003-07-29T02:00:53Z")
One of my friends tipped a cow once. It stopped breathing, and he got all scared, but then it started breathing again. So it’s happened at least once. ---
**Author:** ![CharlesW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/87869e/32.png) [@CharlesW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CharlesW)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-real-or-urban-legend/191565/6 "2003-07-29T02:17:58Z")
Me and some friends tried when living out near a farm. We couldn’t get close to them. The few times we did, and we tried to tip it the thing would just move over instead of falling. Unless there is a special tactic that I don’t know about. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-real-or-urban-legend/191565/7 "2003-07-29T02:47:37Z")
I know we’ve done it here before. Urban Legend. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-real-or-urban-legend/191565/8 "2003-07-29T03:16:16Z")
It’s a _fricking_ urband legend. [Here’s](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62070&highlight=tipping+legend) another thread we did about this. It’s always “Well, my cousin said…” or “my uncle told me” or some such. If you did it yourself, then speak up and give the details. I’ll still call you a liar, unless you pushed poor Bossy over with a Humvee! ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-real-or-urban-legend/191565/9 "2003-07-29T03:18:28Z")
Well, the service was awesome, so of course I tipped her. Oh, that sounded worse than I intended… ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-real-or-urban-legend/191565/10 "2003-07-29T03:21:18Z")
YOu got me so upset. I know it’s “urban.” :o ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-real-or-urban-legend/191565/11 "2003-07-29T04:08:12Z")
Cow tipping can be done if you know the 3 words that end in “gry” AND you eat Pop Rocks™ while drinking Coca Cola™. I know this is true because it happened to my brother-in-law’s cousin’s sister’s friend’s former roommate. ---
**Author:** ![Bandersnitch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@Bandersnitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bandersnitch)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-real-or-urban-legend/191565/12 "2003-07-29T04:34:24Z")
Here is how the process was explained to me by my country cousin: You need three people. You find a dozing cow. One person kneels beside the cow’s front leg, one person kneels beside the cow’s hind leg. The third person pushes. Of course the pusher should be the country kid, who knows the territory and has experience with cows! This was the same cousin who told me I could get rid of my freckles by merely touching my nose to the electric fence. Tried that one . . . ---
**Author:** ![badmana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@badmana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badmana)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-real-or-urban-legend/191565/13 "2003-07-29T04:58:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bandersnitch \* > \*\*Here is how the process was explained to me by my country cousin: > > You need three people. You find a dozing cow. One person kneels beside the cow’s front leg, one person kneels beside the cow’s hind leg. The third person pushes. > > Of course the pusher should be the country kid, who knows the territory and has experience with cows! > > This was the same cousin who told me I could get rid of my freckles by merely touching my nose to the electric fence. Tried that one . . . \*\* And when the 1000+ lbs cow crushes them both to ground human… ---
**Author:** ![Bob55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Bob55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob55)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-real-or-urban-legend/191565/14 "2003-07-29T06:25:47Z")
A friend of mine from Alabama says that cowtipping was used to leave people in the middle of nowhere - you trick them into thinking cowtipping is real, they hop out of the car to push one over, and the car takes off! Not sure how many times this would work though. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-real-or-urban-legend/191565/15 "2003-07-29T06:38:46Z")
Repeat after me: _Cows sleep lying down._ ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-real-or-urban-legend/191565/16 "2003-07-29T06:52:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by badmana \* > \*\*And when the 1000+ lbs cow crushes them both to ground human… \*\* Perzackly . . . Fortunately you need TWO city suckers . . . er, I mean slickers . . . because obviously I was gullible enough to have fallen for it, but none of my other city cousins was. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-real-or-urban-legend/191565/17 "2003-07-29T06:57:44Z")
I’m sure some morons - anti-bovines? - out there have knocked over cows. Sorry, no cite. As to whether it’s a common passtime, well, that’s different. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-real-or-urban-legend/191565/18 "2003-07-29T06:58:30Z")
Some friends near here have gone cow tipping, and have tipped a cow. They also ended up slipping in and covering themselves in fresh cow droppings. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-real-or-urban-legend/191565/19 "2003-07-29T08:15:02Z")
What the f is wrong witch y’all? I think the right term is “cow-knocking.” I don’t think it’s one or the other. Determined humans can knock over cows. It’s a bitch to do so. Most line-ups of bovine re-alignment involve adult beverages and a certain lateness of evening. The least initiated folks along have to assume that their buddies are telling the truth. I asked my friend whode family owned a dairy farm up in Idaho about this. She said, “Yes. It’s true. Go do it any time you want. The cows don’t seem to mind much.” ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-real-or-urban-legend/191565/20 "2003-07-29T08:16:04Z")
Small humor, there, folks… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-real-or-urban-legend/191565.md?page=2)