# Stampede!!!!!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stampede/363274>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 5, 2006, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stampede/363274 "2006-07-05T22:37:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2006, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stampede/363274/1 "2006-07-05T22:37:37Z")

</div>

OK, ranchers, almost every western movie I’ve seen has at least one cattle stampede.

How often does this actually happen, if ever, on a ranch?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2006, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stampede/363274/2 "2006-07-05T23:03:40Z")

</div>

I have been around cows my whole life and my family has a small cattle farm now. Cows have mini stampedes pretty frequently. Something could spook them and they all move quickly as a herd like they tend to do. However, while it is dangerous to stand in front of them like that, they generally don’t run very far. It would take a big western heard rather than the groups of 50 or so I am used to seeing to look very impressive. However, I question their endurance for a very long stampede. Bulls may be able to a a distance but I can’t see mommas and calves hanging in there very long if the movement is rapid. They are bred for meat output, not fitness.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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 5, 2006, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stampede/363274/3 "2006-07-05T23:04:45Z")

</div>

Funny you should ask. We saw _Giant_ the other night (well, two nights) and I felt the need to commend the actors, directors, producers, et al. for their restraint in showing a whole buncha cattle _without_ doing a stampede scene.

Because, as I explained to my son, it hardly ever happens.

Now, I suppose if you were driving the beasts across the plains to the slaughterhouses of [wherever], they might stampede. It’s possible. I wasn’t around back then.