Cow's Compass

Have you considered that your cows might be magnetic?

I am sure you won't find any shortage of discussion:

Google

I remember reading, not too long ago, a pretty in depth study into this phenomena - it was on the 'net somewhere, but I didn't see it after a really quick search - but I am sure you can come up with it.

I was always told as a kid that cows will face the direction from which rain will come and that you can expect rain shortly if the cows lie down. (I think they lie down because their legs are tired, but then what do I know).

We recently had a blog on this very subject:

http://cr4.globalspec.com/blogentry/6723/Compass-Cows-Cattle-Aligned-with-Magnetic-North

You came to the right place! Check out this story in CR4's Animal Science blog

Compass Cows: Cattle Aligned with Magnetic North

Some group of scientists from an abstract discipline noticed that some deer or moose or other large smelly grazers that they could see on satellite images did the same thing - I don't remember where it was, but you should be able to find theirstory about it.

Do you suppose they might just like the sun in their face?

First, have your heifers ever been fed cow magnets?

Second, get one of those really powerful neodymium magnets, stand a few feet from the cow, then walk around it holding the magnet. Will the cows follow your movement? Heck I'd even be will to donate the magnet... 3" X 3" cylinder with 1,000 lbs of pull!

Here's another idea, and I think it might make the most sense... Think about being a cow for a second. You're long and wide. If you want to get the sun in the morning, the best you'll get is if you're facing either North or South and let the sun rise on your broad-side.

Even if a cow could sense North/South, what is the payoff for standing in that direction?

That's interesting.

Slightly tangential to that, a friend of mine who has a dairy farm told me that he can tell the time of day from where the cows are in his field.

He reckons it's because they are basically like humans, ie, creatures of habit, and that their daily routine is because it's been found to work for them and therefore presents no unexpected surprises so why change a routine that works?.

Yeah - that's a fact. They do have a schedule for travel. When I was a child I was sent by some relatives to get the cows to come home. I was sent in the direction they left in the morning. After about and hour and doing a whole loop of the hilly several acre pasture, I came back crying because I couldn't find them. I was then shown the cows in the barn. They had finished their loop and came home right on schedule.

Thanks to those who posted a link to my blog. You will find lots of other links to resources on the web that may help you with your project. Based on my personal experience with livestock, these animals tend to face the direction that best benefits them with the weather. Horses, for example, will turn their tail into the direction of the rain and prevailing winds in order to stand through a storm. Sometimes mine will actually go stand out in a storm rather in their snug barn. I know cows, on the other hand, tend to lie down when it's going to rain. Perhaps they do stand north-to-south in pleasant weather to gain maximum sun exposure. It is an interesting theory.

As far as rounding up your cows, I know cattle in general aren't very intelligent compared to other species, but do you think you could use food to train them to come when called?

This is the answer we all have been looking for!

How to keep the solar panels aligned to the sun. Just attach them to the sides of cows. They wander all day in the sun, return to the barn in the afternoon as the sun starts to lower in the sky.

Attach some batteries to the cows to store the power. At night plug them into the barn to transfer the power to store it for the next day, while the cows go out and collect some more power.

I'm gonna be rich. Thank you all.

bob, PETA will not be very happy with you for your shameless exploitation of the bovine. But I like the idea. You could also affix a methane collection device to the cows arse too.

You may be supprised to know that a farm boy who was in the military, during world war two, was viewing photographs of German held territory to find gun emplacements and noticed that the cows were scatered and pointing in unusual directions (as learned from living on a farm). Those deceptive fake cows gave away the enemy's location and the position was bombed.......Now, you know a little bit of history.

I guess Milton Keynes is safe then.

Hmmm ---> North!!!

North of where?

North of there... Before they were captured and domesticated, great herds of Holsteins and Angus and Rock Island Reds would trample on the Westerly bound pioneers. It was mass slaughter until they were finally captured and corralled. Yet their ancient genes still call them toward their North-South migration...

Actually not taking into account that they're not native to the Americas.