Time to go out and turn the cows around

Forget what I said about research a few weeks ago.
    In an earlier column, I noted that “. . . good research confirms what you already know or tells you something new.” That's what makes the results useful.
    But what I forgot to mention is the purpose of research needs to be useful to begin with.
    I suppose by now you've heard about the Google Earth study that says that “most cattle align in a north-south direction.”
    Uh, I don't remember asking the question.
    If you haven't heard about this research, you may now laugh out loud. Really.
    According to the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, their observation of 8,510 cows in 308 locations around the world from Google Earth photos shows that most cattle herds face north-south. According to the researchers, they could not distinguish between the heads or rears of the cows because of low image resolution.
    Out here, that might make a difference.
    But the research doesn't stop there. Data on 2,974 deer also came from direct ground observations and photos in the Czech Republic. Researchers examined fresh beds left by resting deer in the snow, where the animals had sought shelter deep in the forest, away from the wind.
    According to the researchers, both cattle and deer faced a more magnetic north-south direction rather than geographic north-south. (The Earth's magnetic poles do not line up perfectly with the north and south poles).
    I couldn't stand it. Now here was some research that I could do right in my back yard, at little or no expense. And I bet I could beat the pants off the total number of “cows observed.”
    Trying to keep from laughing, I jumped in the car. I immediately observed a herd of over 50 cattle. They were standing every which way. By the way, so were horses.
    So I drove out to the cattle overlook east of town with a pair of binoculars. I gave up scientific counting after a few pens, since the 40,000-plus cows seemed to be standing and laying however they felt.
    By chance, I also ended up on trips in western Kansas that passed me by several feedlots and dairies. Not that my research was scientific, but the back ends and front ends were facing every direction that a compass needle might point.
    My thoughts were that on hot sunny and windy summer days, I'd probably face north. On cold days, I might face the sun in the south. On windy, cold winter days, I'd probably point my back end to the north wind. Shading would also influence directions a cow might stand or lay.
    If I were a cow, when I was fed, I'd probably face the direction of the feed bunk. Or if some nut with binoculars came by I'd probably run over to face him.
    Just from common sense, the majority of my time in western Kansas, I'd probably be facing north-south, too, even if I didn't have a compass.
    All told, my database was running more than 100,000 samples.
    On the more serious side, research has shown that many smaller mammals are sensitive to magnetic north. It follows that additional research might show a similar sense in larger mammals.
    But good research also takes into account all the things — variables — that might make the data read a certain way or cause certain results. And the observations of the current “cow pointing” researchers admit that they are missing important information such as wind direction, temperature and other factors, such as people with binoculars.
    So it makes sense to always use your good judgment when studying or using the results of research.
    That is, unless you plan on putting up large HD television screens for your cows to watch. They'd all need to be pointing in the same direction.
    So get out there and turn some of our cows around (and not “cow tipping”). Remember, north-south.
    We don't want our cows to be singled out as being different.