The Art of Cow-Tipping By Iain Booth

The all so regular question asked about cow tipping, are the lengths of devastation it can lead to?

The myth of cow tipping can be traced back through generations, proving to be a popular past time, however do we really know the controversy of our cow tipping actions?

Cow tipping is an activity allegedly common in rural areas; it includes individuals sneaking up on an upright sleeping cow and then pushing it over for a sense of amusement and achievement. However one should note that this requires no genuine skill whatsoever, as gravity tends to do most of the work for you. The concept of cow tipping however does require that the cow is unaware and remains asleep.

Cows have been known to have good hearing and are easily awakened meaning silence is mandatory. There is no evidence, aside from mostly unreliable eyewitness reports, that any cows have ever been tipped in the purported manner. This could either be because of the negative publicity a sport such as cow tipping would receive, or possibly because the sport doesn't even exist. When looking at the sport, there are a number of problems with typical accounts of cow tipping.

Cows are large animals, and would be very difficult to tip, even for several people working together. A grown cow can be over 1.5 m (5 feet) high with a mass in the order of 540 kg (1,200 lb) all the way up to 900 kg (2,000 lb). By way of comparison, a typical sumo wrestler masses only 140 kg (310 lb). The four corners of a large American-style domestic refrigerator fairly closely approximate the spread of a cow's legs.

If the refrigerator were cut down to 1.5 m (5 feet), filled with 400 kg (880 lb) of weights, and placed in a muddy field, tipping it would offer a comparable challenge to tipping a cow. Variants of the legend claim that successfully tipping a cow will result in its death. Some variants of this urban legend state that the cow is then unable to get up.

Finally, attempting to tip a cow is a potentially dangerous activity. Despite the animal's reputation for being placid and slow moving, a cow is without doubt capable of injuring someone when provoked or nervous; a herd of cows or even a bull (easily mistaken for a cow in the dark) would be even more dangerous. It is also a common practice among dairy farmers to keep lactating cows inside and to keep pregnant cows that are not in milk outside until they calve.

Thus, if cow tipping is attempted where most cattle are kept inside in large barns but only a few by comparison are kept in pasture; there is an increased chance that the target of cow tipping may be pregnant. Whether an attempt at cow tipping is effective or not, even startling a pregnant cow or heifer could cause her to run and fall unnecessarily and could damage the unborn calf or the freshening cow or heifer. So for all you cow-tipping enthusiasts, the next time you decide to venture of to a local field after a night at the pub, think about the outcome of your actions. Cow- tipping is dangerous, malicious and a sport that is not need in the world of today. (sources from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_tipping)

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