Is Cow Tipping a Real Thing?

Have you ever been cow tipping? Could you tip a cow if you wanted to? It might not be quite as easy as you think…

Is Cow Tipping a Real Thing?

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So the premise behind cow tipping is that you get together with a group of friends in the middle of the night. There may or may not be alcohol involved. You sneak into a field full of sleeping cows. You carefully sneak up to one cow, who is asleep standing up, and you push her until she tips over. Funny, right?

My son’s favorite movie (today) is Disney’s Cars. His favorite scene is the one where Mater and Lightning go into the field and tip the tractors. He loves Frank the combine.

So… can you really tip a cow?

What do you think? Does this cow look like she wants to be tipped?

Is It Safe to Go Cow Tipping?

First, let’s bust out a few safety issues here. Getting into a field full of cows, if it isn’t your field, is trespassing. So there’s that. And chances are pretty good that the fence keeping those cows in the field is an electric fence. Which means you’ll get a pretty good shock if you try to climb it.

And if you happen to get into a field with a mean cow, or with momma cows being protective of their babies, or a with a bull, there’s a pretty good chance that the cow or bull will charge you… and trust me, you will get hurt if the cattle catch you. Cattle are pretty curious animals, and typically aren’t mean. But if you threaten their babies (or their ladies), they’ll try to protect the family.

OK. So I hope I’ve convinced you that it’s not safe to go cow tipping. But if it were safe…. could you tip a cow?

Can You Tip a Cow?

Remember, the entire premise of cow tipping is that cows sleep standing up. And that you could sneak up on one without waking her up.

Well, guess what… cows don’t sleep standing up!

That’s right… cows lie down to sleep!

Horses (and other equine species like donkeys and mules) can sleep standing up. They have a special set of muscles and tendons in their legs called the stay apparatus. This allows them to lock their legs while they are standing, and they can fall asleep. Cattle don’t have a stay apparatus. So if they did fall asleep while they were standing up, they would fall over! (And they would wake up before they hit the ground, so that’s not really “tipping” either.)

Now let’s talk about the second part – could you sneak up on a cow without waking her up? Cattle are prey animals, which means they are always on alert for a potential predator. And they think you are a potential predator. So even if the entire herd of cattle are sleeping when you sneak into the field (which we’ve already established is trespassing and dangerous), they will wake up when they hear or smell you. And they will hear or smell you. As you get closer, the whole herd of cows will get up and wander away from you.

Sorry guys, cow tipping isn’t a real thing.

What else do you want to know about cows? Leave me a comment below, and I’ll answer – or maybe turn it into another post!

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