Photo credit:
JelleS, flickr
Cows don't make handy wristwatches, but they're decent navigators. Lack a GPS? No problem! Cows are great multitaskers: they give milk, add to the compost pile, and naturally orient north-south. Pretty talented for someone with four stomachs, wouldn't you say? Udderly magnificent.
There may be one problem though. Stand a bunch of cows under a power line and the whole north-south thing goes haywire, and soon you have cows standing any which way, facing every direction, instead of in nice neat rows the way they do when not standing under power lines. Apparently cows possess micromagnets inside them, or have an innate ability to read the moss on trees, and when left to their own devices align with geomagnetic fields.
You may be interested in how we know this. You can thank your friend Google for this news. That's right, Google (and we don't mean "let us Google that for you"), the people who showed you the carbon and are busy underwater mapping oceans, are now equally busy tracking the standing habits of cows. It's important stuff, really. You remember how your mother always told you that power lines were dangerous and not to stand under them? She was on to something, clearly also tapping into the immense power of cows, the intuitive knowledge that both cows and mothers share. It's this:
Drink your milk.
How to foster green biodiversity
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Sorry, I don't believe it. The only time my cows stand lined up in a "nice neat row", is when a bear or mountain lion is in the ravine next to the pasture. Then they line up, horns toward the threat and calves behind them. Otherwise, they're all over the place, facing any which way. Generally cattle only cluster together when they 1) feel stressed or threatened, or 2) it's a "2 dog night" and they want to share body warmth, or 3) food is coming.
Some farmers do put little magnets down the cows throats. The magnet sits in the gut, collecting any bits and pieces of metal the cattle might pick up from the pasture. The intent of course, is to prevent that errant fencing staple or whatever, from escaping and puncturing an intestine.
With reference to relying on cattle to provide direction, I think there must be better ways to know where you are. My solution is to never leave the ranch. So long as I'm here, I know I'm not lost.
So maybe named and loved cows stand any which way, strengthened by their own inner resolve for individuality? I've certainly driven past field after field of cows all facing the same general direction, as well as past fields of independent thinkers. I suppose Google is speaking statistically overall, though, and trying to draw correlations where they may not exist. An interesting theory, though!
I never knew that about magnets and was totally tongue-in-cheek about it. It never occurred to me that it might be real!
well, i'm going to be looking more carefully when we go for a drive in the country. if the cows seem to be scattered, i'll be looking to see how far away the power lines are.
The ones you see standing in the same direction may be simply enjoying a cool afternoon breeze.
I have seen cows stand and look in the direction the trailer went after some member of the herd has gone missing (to slaughter). Sometimes, if they've been particularly close (moms or daughters), they may hang around by the drive looking for them for a couple of days before they give it up and move on.
I like the notion of the girlies feeling their inner resolve for individuality. Works for me.
And, to be sure, unlike Google, I tend to draw a great many large conclusions from close encounters with a statistically insignificant population.
I've frequently noticed cows all pointing in the same direction, but it's usually more correlated with wind chill than with magnetic north. Something else I've noticed is that cows all have the same face.
We noticed cows clumped together in tight bunches on a warm day, with miles of fields around them.
I didn't see a threat, but maybe a coyote was near? Didn't see any calves either. I can understand
when it is cold, but it's July in Kansas!