Cows that attack have been a recurring theme on WU for quite a while (see here and here). Apparently, dead cows are just as dangerous as the living ones.
BERLIN (AP) — Police in southern Germany say a slaughterhouse worker suffered serious injuries after being kicked in the face by a dead cow.
In a statement, police said the cow was “killed according to regulations” early Thursday at an abattoir in Aalen, and hung from a meat hook for further processing.
Police said the carcass then kicked the man in the face, apparently due to a nerve impulse that experts say isn’t uncommon.
Dairy farmers can reduce mastitis by fitting their cows with "bras", according to Michael Battisti, a Syracuse, New York, dairy farmer, who outfits half of his 69-cow herd with brassiere-like harnesses to keep them from damaging low-hanging udders with their hooves... "They keep the udders clean and the teats tucked up out of the way so they won't get stepped on," says Battisti, who has used bras on his cows for several years.
Long Beach Independent Press-Telegram - July 2, 1977
The cow enters the gated feeding area. While the cow is eating, a small bucket automatically swings into place at the back of the cow, moving gently upwards and downwards, massaging her escutcheon – a nerve which stretches between the cow’s vulva and udder. This nerve triggers the urine reflex, causing the cow to urinate. The urine is collected in the CowToilet reservoir and is then extracted and stored separately.
(Today I learned that cow's have a urine reflex!) Once the urine has been collected, it can be processed to produce fertilizer, or even be used to generate electricity. Most importantly, it isn't polluting the ground.
The video below (which is in Dutch) shows the device in action. The demonstration begins at about 1:15. Warning: if you're really squeamish it might gross you out because it does show cows peeing.
Back in the 60s, the U.S. Army employed scientists to sneak into Omaha stockyards and spray cows with deodorant. The logic behind this was to test how easy it would be for Soviet agents to spread hoof-and-mouth disease among American cows.
Unfortunately, I can't find any more info about this operation, which is a shame because it raises so many questions. For instance, the important part of the operation must have been to see how easily they could gain access to the stockyards. So then, why bother to deodorize the cows? Was it just to add a touch of realism? Why not spray them with paint so that they could later count the "infected" ones?
When I started researching my latest about.com article, I figured that most of the alleged cases of people hit by flying cows were probably urban legends. But now I've concluded that, although there is one famous flying-cow urban legend (involving a Japanese fishing boat being sunk by a cow falling out of the sky), people actually do get hit by flying cows pretty regularly.
One of the many hazards of working on a farm, back in the 1930s. Though I'm having a hard time imagining how a cow could actually lift a brick with its tail and then swing it with enough force to knock someone out.
The Daily Free Press (Carbondale, Illinois) - Jan 21, 1931
BRICK TIED TO COW'S TAIL KNOCKS MILKER UNCONSCIOUS
TOLEDO, Ore., Jan 18 — Jack Horsfall, Toledo high school student, decided to stop his cow's practice of switching her tail while he milked. He tied a brick to her tail. The cow switched her tail anyway, and the brick struck Horsfall behind the ear. He fell unconscious. When he had recovered he untied the brick.
Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.