# Cow tipping verdict? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [August 7, 2012, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-verdict/630779 "2012-08-07T19:56:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-verdict/630779/21 "2012-08-12T17:20:00Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-verdict/630779/22 "2012-08-12T19:29:35Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Urban legend and udder falsehood. > [@TriPolar](#): > > Rural legend maybe? Nope. Folks out in “rural” land know it ain’t true. Only the Urban folk believe it. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-verdict/630779/23 "2012-08-20T19:49:15Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-verdict/630779/24 "2012-08-21T15:12:11Z")
I saw someone a video of someone tipping a cow over, but there were extenuating circumstances: In an episode of [When Vacations Attack](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2173909/), a paraglider comes in a little off course and slams into a cow, knocking it over. ---
**Author:** ![stw004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@stw004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stw004)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2012, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-verdict/630779/25 "2012-08-22T22:32:25Z")
FWIW Snipe are real birds and I have shot several. End Highjack ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2012, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-verdict/630779/26 "2012-08-23T02:07:46Z")
> [@stw004](#): > > FWIW Snipe are real birds and I have shot several. Making you a sniper. Really. ---
**Author:** ![kyogi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/51bf81/32.png) [@kyogi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kyogi)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-verdict/630779/27 "2012-08-31T23:59:55Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-verdict/630779/28 "2012-09-01T01:16:25Z")
> [@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? ---
**Author:** ![kyogi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/51bf81/32.png) [@kyogi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kyogi)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-verdict/630779/29 "2012-09-01T01:24:46Z")
“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. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-verdict/630779/30 "2012-09-02T12:50:06Z")
> [@kyogi](#): > > I tried A LOT. Succeeded once under exceptional circumstances. Did the cows not try and fight back? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-verdict/630779/31 "2012-09-02T16:06:31Z")
Yeah, did it get up and chase you? ---
**Author:** ![kyogi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/51bf81/32.png) [@kyogi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kyogi)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-verdict/630779/32 "2012-09-02T18:30:17Z")
> [@gamerunknown](#): > > Did the cows not try and fight back? Depending on the critter, they fled me, chased me or looked at me funny. ---
**Author:** ![getitrite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@getitrite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/getitrite)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-verdict/630779/33 "2012-09-02T18:59:45Z")
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 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping-verdict/630779.md?page=1)