Is it true you can tip a cow over while its sleeping?

Question

Just curious, and if it was true, poor cows!!!

Seriously guys I would never think of doing such a thing I am pro animal rights!!!! It just kills me thinking that people would do such a thing! Thanks for the answers though....

Answer 1

As a reformed attempted cow tipper, I can state with fact that anyone who says they have tipped a cow is lying. Most of the people who attempt this act(including me) did so under the influence of some sort of intoxicant. Needless to say cows have better than average hearing and us drunkards do alot of laughing and snickering while attempting to get close enough to tip said bovine. They always won and we usually ended up wearing more manure than pride.

Have fun, but leave the cows alone!!

Answer 2

The concept of cow-tipping requires that the cow be unaware and asleep. Cows have good hearing and are easily awakened.

There is no evidence, aside from mostly unreliable eyewitness reports, that any cows have ever been tipped in the purported manner. In addition, there are a number of problems with typical accounts of cow tipping. Unlike horses, cows do not 'lock their legs' when they sleep. Cows lie down while sleeping [1] and most of their sleep is very light and easily disturbed — typical of herd prey animals; they take only short naps at regular intervals throughout a 24 hour period, which means that at any given time, some members of the herd are aware and alert. A cow's field of vision is larger than that of a human, and they have acute senses of hearing and smell. Thus, cows are not easy to sneak up on. If startled, they quickly communicate to the rest of the herd that something is amiss.

Cows are large, 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. Although cows can die if prevented from sitting upright for an extended period of time[citation needed], briefly forcing a cow onto its back will not kill it. Under typical circumstances, a cow knocked onto its back would be able to restore itself to an upright position.

Other versions of the cow tipping story attempt to evade these objections by claiming, for example, that although cows lie down to dream, they can still doze while standing. Others appeal to a paper published by the University of British Columbia which calculates that, in certain circumstances, five people could topple a cow. Such a situation, however, would be highly unlikely, meaning they effectively debunked it as an urban legend. [2]

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 easily capable of hurting someone when provoked or nervous; a herd of cows or 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 who 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.

Answer 3

I've never believed that you could actually tip a cow over while they are sleeping. Can people really be that quite to sneak up on a cow, and im pretty sure the cow would wake up when someone touched it. Not to mention cows weigh a lot.

Answer 4

Is there a reason there is a question about cow tipping on here every week? You can see my many other answers to this question but the jest of it is this....1. a cow sleeps lying down 2. cows weight about 1200 lbs. and thus can't be knocked down easily 3. Cow tipping is just like snipe hunting; it is a myth and if someone tells you they snuck up on a cow and tipped her over, they are just yanking your chain.

Answer 5

Yes it's called Cow Tipping . Kinda Mean .. but hey when your raised in the Country .. thats something Fun to do at night time .. other than Picking Shrooms ...

Answer 6

You could, but you would need a lot of really strong people. A cow weighs alot, but it is possible. Farmers have said some of their cows have died because of being tipped over.

Answer 7

had some friends that live in albany so they told me about this COW TIPPING didn't believe just like you course i wanted to see, they drove to ny and got me ne ways we waited till nite and snuck up on the cows realy quietly really quiet and just touch them of course they moooooed and fell but they was Ok. but listen don't do it too much u could give the cow a heart attack

Answer 8

You can, but your risk injuring the cow - her stomach can get twisted during the prank. If you wish to tip, best to tip a cab driver or a caddie.

Answer 9

NO THE COW IS LAYING DOWN!!! How are you going to tip a cow if it is already laying down. Think People.

Answer 10

Heck Yeah, It's called Cow Tippin'...Funny As Crap!!!