# Cow Tipping **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [May 15, 2007, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping/404209 "2007-05-15T17:51:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping/404209/1 "2007-05-15T17:51:46Z")
[Cecil’s column on cow tipping](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_363.html) really isn’t up to his usual standards. His sole evidence is one single person who claims to have seen a cow tipped. At the time, said person was drunk and unable to see the cow clearly in the dark. Give me a break. My cattle sleep laying down. So do the thousands of cattle on surrounding ranches. I have never met a single person who has tipped a cow, nor a single person who claims to have witnessed it while sober. You blew it on this one, Cecil. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping/404209/2 "2007-05-15T18:04:57Z")
One thing I’ve noticed about Cecil’s columns are that the amount of snark he produces is often in inverse proportion to the amount of real knowledge he has to impart on that particular subject. I guess that makes sense, seeing how he has a set amount of space to fill. ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping/404209/3 "2007-05-15T19:12:52Z")
I had the distinct impression that _Robin_ :dubious: who is female, incidentally :dubious: may be a close friend of Cecil’s. Life isn’t all science ya’know! ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping/404209/4 "2007-05-15T20:48:09Z")
This one has had many a go since that report. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=415000&highlight=tipping+cows](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=415000&highlight=tipping+cows) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=375874&highlight=tipping+cows](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=375874&highlight=tipping+cows) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=200843&highlight=tipping+cows](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=200843&highlight=tipping+cows) Many times this gets asked and discussed in GQ. Make up your own mind from the answers. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping/404209/5 "2007-05-15T21:47:39Z")
Sorry, **Sam**. It didn’t register on me at the time that this was a “classic” column, so I didn’t search for old threads on it. ---
**Author:** ![balok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@balok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/balok)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping/404209/6 "2007-05-28T13:16:21Z")
No need to read all of those old threads. Those of us of a certain age learned as children that cow tipping is impossible, because we bulls wobble but we don’t fall down. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2007, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping/404209/7 "2007-05-28T13:48:55Z")
Cow tipping is indeed an urban legend. Us rural folk know better. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping/404209/8 "2007-05-29T01:03:27Z")
[QUOTE=John Carter of Mars] Cow tipping is indeed an urban legend. Us rural folk know better. [/QUOTE] And who could be more rural than someone from Mars??? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping/404209/9 "2007-05-29T17:39:16Z")
Apparently it’s easier to push a cow when you’ve got four arms. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping/404209/10 "2007-05-30T05:43:26Z")
And, after all, four-armed is forewarned. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping/404209/11 "2007-05-30T09:22:46Z")
The most plausible explanation I’ve heard for the cow-tipping phenomenon was that it’s a hoax activity perpetrated on an uninitiated member of a group; In the dark, you sneak up on a sleeping cow (that is, of course, lying down) and make a loud sound (perhaps a fake grunt of exertion), which is also the pre-arranged signal for the neophyte to turn on the headlights or a powerful flashlight. The newb sees you standing near to a startled cow that is struggling to get up. Presto! cow-tipping must have occurred. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping/404209/12 "2007-05-30T14:20:46Z")
I’ve always been afraid _not_ to cow tip. I wouldn’t want a cow to spit in my milk, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping/404209/13 "2007-05-30T15:04:53Z")
That’s udderly ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Rooh\_Afza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/74df32/32.png) [@Rooh\_Afza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rooh_Afza)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping/404209/14 "2007-05-31T02:43:44Z")
Hey! Do you hear that? It’s a snipe! ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2007, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping/404209/15 "2007-05-31T13:33:40Z")
And here was I thinking that this was the American term for [fly tipping.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly-tipping) (You guys always have to do things bigger!) ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping/404209/16 "2007-06-10T02:50:54Z")
My memory of detail wanes a little on this, but about this time of year and late in the evening (7-8PM) in 1962 or '63 my cousin Sam, a friend, and I, urged on by a few more boys, and just outside Bakersfield-near Wasco CA, pushed hard on the right side of a standing cow. She did indeed stumble and fall over (tip). She wasn’t happy and it didn’t take long for her to get up, and it didn’t take us long to get the hell outta there. She didn’t give chase, but stood there mooing and giving us the evil eye. We laughed but actually felt kinda bad about it. Many small farm/family milk cows are quite tame. Some are quite aggressive. We sometimes rode on the backs of the tame ones, but the kid’s parents didn’t like it. They would have surely been pissed had they knew about the tipping incident. Actual eye witness/participant of a cow tipping. I suspect that the nay sayers have never tried, nor witnessed an attempt, at tipping a cow. Sworn this 9th day of June, 2007. mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping/404209/17 "2007-06-10T23:20:59Z")
[QUOTE=vetbridge] I’ve always been afraid _not_ to cow tip. I wouldn’t want a cow to spit in my milk, after all. [/QUOTE] It’s quite likely that people have witnessed cases of Bovine Vertigo Dysplasia ( B.V.D.) . They’ve been standing _near_ a cow when the cow fell over all by itself. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping/404209/18 "2007-06-11T00:06:25Z")
[QUOTE=mangeorge] My memory of detail wanes a little on this, but about this time of year and late in the evening (7-8PM) in 1962 or '63 my cousin Sam, a friend, and I, urged on by a few more boys, and just outside Bakersfield-near Wasco CA, pushed hard on the right side of a standing cow. She did indeed stumble and fall over (tip). [/quote] Is the “waning” part involved with whether the cow fell over or not? ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping/404209/19 "2007-06-11T03:01:00Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] Is the “waning” part involved with whether the cow fell over or not? [/QUOTE] No. The date and who all was there is. Also, she stumbled sideways and kinda tripped. As I said, she wasn’t down for long. Ever see a cow get up from a nap? Like that, but faster. Cows are w-i-d-e. I’m a little agast that some of you country boys have trouble with the concept. ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping/404209/20 "2007-07-03T05:37:25Z")
Bump. Just to get the airplane/treadmill thread off the front page. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tipping/404209.md?page=2)