COW TIPPING DENIERS.

COW TIPPING DENIERS. I have on occasion seen references to cow tipping. This article by Jake Swearingen on cow tipping at the Modern Farmer website (link via Real Clear Science) describes it well. It refers to drunken young men tipping over cows who are standing up. Swearingen denies that cow tipping exists. His first argument is proper for the digital age: cow tipping can’t exist if it’s not on You Tube (which he calls “the largest clearinghouse of human stupidity the world has ever known”). And there is no You Tube of a cow being tipped. Swearingen next argues that only city dwellers could believe in cow tipping (making cow tipping an urban legend). Farmers know that, while horses sleep standing up, cows sleep lying down. Further, cows are on guard against predators. In a herd of cows lying in a pasture, each will be pointed in a different direction to be on the alert for approaches. Cows have keen senses of smell and hearing. Cow tippers run the risk of confronting a herd of angry cows. (Of course, the danger might make it more appealing).