this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2026
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If you've ever gone hiking through a farmer's field, you've likely noticed that your compass points directly to the nearest cow.

This is not an accident, and is part of a government conspiracy to replace all livestock with robots, in order to make them more accessible to aliens beaming them up from orbit[0].

This slow transition from biological to mechanical cows is known as hardware disease[1], and should be celebrated.

The more you know.

0: https://www.aemagnets.com/news/how-cow-magnets-save-animals.html
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_disease

all 41 comments
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[โ€“] BarbecueCowboy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 1 month ago (3 children)

So, you can actually use cows as a compass to a point.

Cows pretty consistently tend to align themselves on a north-south axis when resting. I don't believe anyone has ever figured out why.

[โ€“] IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.wtf 21 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Fucking cows, how do they work?

[โ€“] ToastedRavioli@midwest.social 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

They do know why, its that cows have some directional sense based in electromagnetism like an actual compass. Cows that are near high voltage power lines dont align the same way as cows normally do. Their sense gets messed up by the strength of the electrical fields that surround high voltage lines

They probably can see them, just like birds

[โ€“] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Compasses point north, not to any nearest magnet. If compasses pointed to any nearest magnet, they wouldn't work as intended.

[โ€“] ebolapie@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[โ€“] militaryintelligence@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[โ€“] ebolapie@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Anymore should learn to listen a little better

[โ€“] radix@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Have you ever magnetically levitated a cow? If not, then however magnetic they are, it's less magnetic than frogs.

Were gonna need a bigger magnet

[โ€“] happybadger@hexbear.net 6 points 1 month ago (2 children)

They create LIVESTOCK-FREE URBAN ZONING because they hate FREE ENERGY. It is the duty of FREETHINKERS to RESIST.

[โ€“] blackbrook@mander.xyz 8 points 1 month ago

Mag-cow disease.

[โ€“] tetris11@feddit.uk 7 points 1 month ago

One guy tips over a cow just to get a few amps from his homemade solenoid, and suddenly laws against it are written. Cow tipping is a time honored tradition. Vote YES on proposition 69

[โ€“] atropa@piefed.social 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Only in murica , cows dont need magnets .

[โ€“] tidderuuf@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

RFK Jr and Kid Rock will be launching a "Drink Your Whole Magnets" campaign this week.

[โ€“] TankieTanuki@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

FYI: Lemmy's markdown formatting supports footnotes. It's pretty handy.

make claim here.^[URL goes here] becomes:

make claim here.^[URL goes here]

[โ€“] tetris11@feddit.uk 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)
[โ€“] _stranger_@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago
[โ€“] OldManBOMBIN@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

I have one of these magnets on the side of my work truck. Didn't know I was driving a cow

[โ€“] lessthanluigi@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Imagine instead of eating steak and burgers, you just start eating a bunch of metal and they would call it "meat"

[โ€“] Engywuck@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 month ago
[โ€“] xep@discuss.online 2 points 1 month ago

Cows aren't... real...?