Published: September 04, 2008 12:16 pm            

Larry Penkava – Sept. 3, 2008

Who needs TomTom? MooMoo works just fine



Next time I find myself lost, I’m going to stop and ask a cow for directions.

Scientists say bovines have a natural sense of direction, contrary to lots of women I know and a considerable number of macho men, for that matter.

A team of German and Czech researchers have reported findings that cattle tend to graze or rest with their bodies aligned in a north-south direction.

Why this is so is anybody’s guess but the magnetic field of the earth is considered to be a factor.

Researchers studied satellite photos of cattle around the world and found that about two-thirds of them were north-south cows.

Sabine Begall, biology professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, called that number a “highly significant deviation from random distribution.”

What’s interesting is that the satellite photos weren’t close enough to tell which end was which, so scientists didn’t know if the cows were facing north or south.

My assumption is that Yankee cows face south while Rebs look to the north. After all, Confederate statues in the South always face north, guns at the ready.

The only exception is the statue in front of the Randolph County courthouse which has always faced south.

That, obviously, is because our forefathers got their directions from a Jersey cow sent here as a spy.

The research team asked Tina and Duane Hinchley, who run a dairy in Cambridge, Wis., to peruse an aerial photo of their farm and check out the orientation of the cows.

Tina said about two-thirds of their 8,510 cows were in the north-south attitude. But she said it could just be a factor of creature comfort.

“They don’t like to get hot,” said Tina, noting that cows, not known as creatures of fashion, wear black leather jackets year-round. “If turning north-south would keep them cooler, they would stand that way.”

So why not just stand under a shade tree?

Perhaps because they’d be hidden from satellite cameras.

Just because they have no fashion sense doesn’t mean they’re not vain.

But what about electric fences? Don’t they give off magnetic fields? And don’t magnets upset compass needles?

Personally, I don’t believe cows have compasses. In my opinion, they face north to keep the noonday sun out of their eyes – which is better for reading scientific journals.

In the mornings and evenings, when the sun is in the east and west, respectively, cows stand perpendicular to the sun so the light hits them full-force in the side.

Which side the individual cow turns to the sun depends upon what she considers to be her better profile.

Much more study needs to be done before we have a workable field of knowledge about cattle sense of direction.

For instance, is there a difference between the alignment of cows and bulls?

Will a bull look north when there’s a good-looking heifer to his east?

Is a cow uncomfortable standing in an east-west milking stall?

Can a cow find its way to Miami in the winter? What effect will this have on navigation systems of the future?

So many questions, so little time.



Larry Penkava, who has written Now and Then since 1994, now looks at cows in a different way.

        

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