I wrote this article after reading Rupert Sheldrake’s account of American ranchers painting white stripes across roads to act as ‘phoney cattle grids’. One Rancher was quoted as saying “When cattle approach these illusory grids they put on brakes with all four feet feet and won’t cross them.”
I wasn’t convinced, so decided to test it on British cattle. This is the account of my experiment.
After reading Rupert Sheldrake’s article on American cattle being fooled by phoney cattle grids (New Scientist 11.02.88), I couldn’t wait to get out on the farm and test whether our own cattle had been affected by “Morphic Resonance”. Had they really inherited habits from their grand-dams?
The experiment I with to report was a randomised, crossover, double-blind trial; that is, the cattle moved at random, they crossed over the phoney grid, and I ended up swearing blind at them – so the whole thing was a definite trial.
The test animals were a herd of horned Hereford cows, all genetically related and so finely bred that their pedigrees can be traced back to George Tomkins “Silver” of 1814. Many of these blood lines have been exported to North and South America over the last century, so they are probably genetically related to the North American cattle described by Sheldrake. These animals are ‘naive’ about cattle grids (the farm’s never been able to afford one).
The cattle were divided into two halves with the intention of testing the first calf (experimental group) first, and then seeing if the second half (control group) did any better. To divide the herd
fairly it was necessary to put the Boss cow (Prunella the 35th) into one group, and the second Boss cow (Prunella the 36th) her grown-up daughter, into the second group.
This raises an interesting point – does a calf grow up to become Boss cow because of Nature/genetics (her Dam was boss), or because of Nurture (the fact that she was always at her dam’s side when ma took first drink from the water trough and grabbed first mouthful of any tit-bits going) thus leading daughter to think this was her right in life, and act accordingly? However, as this issue is not central to the question of Morphic Resonance, I’ll leave it there, though it could prove a useful; subject for a Ph.D thesis if anyone’s interested.
The test I designed for the animals was as follows:-
I removed the metal horizontal barred gate from the entrance to the garden and laid it flat on the tarmac, the closely spaces parallel bars thus giving the illusion of a (phoney) grid between the tarmac drive and the luscious fresh green grass of the lawn. This was probably a better phoney grid than the painted lines described by Sheldrake, as it had some real texture.
- 14 February 8.00 am
Ten cows were driven up from the barn to the water trough on the yard. To reach this trough, on their left, they had to walk past the phoney grid on their right. Prunella was moving slowly along in the lead, calf at foot, when her eyes lit up. She bounded towards the grid moo-ing loudly (roughly translated as ‘Hello, what’s this?) as she began to feel the grid, and ground beneath it, with her nose and tongue.
*14 February 8.01 am
Prunella walked confidently across the ‘grid’, turned, mooed (“Come on girls”) to the others. They followed her onto the lawn.
- 14 February 8.02 am
All the experimental cattle had crossed the grid and were enjoying the fresh juicy shoots on the lawn.
- 14 February 8.04 am
Control group realise they were missing out on something good. They realised this, not by Morphic Resonance, but because of all the delighted moorings they heard coming from the garden. They therefore pushed their way through the barn door and followed the experimental group onto the lawn. Far from being a barrier, the phoney grid was proving an irresistible attraction.
*14 February 8.04 am and 30 seconds
Experiment abandoned.
Experimental Conclusion
My conclusion from the experiment – if there’s any Morphic Resonance regarding ‘phoney grids’ going about, nobody has let our cows in on the secret. Sorry Dr. Sheldrake.
It is, of course, possible that the Morphic resonance had reached Prunella, but it was overpowered by the far stronger behavioural urge that is inquisitiveness. Cows are the most nosey creatures on this planet and will crowd round the postman’s van, a crashed hot-air balloon, or just about anything that’s new. I put it down to the exceptionally boring lives they lead; anything novel must be investigated – and in Prunella’s case it took her less than a minute to spot that the barrier between her, and some tasty morsels of grass, was a phoney. If, on the other hand, it had been a new and genuine grid, then I think she would have investigated it just as carefully by feeling it with nose and tongue, might even have felt the edge with her hoof, and would then have backed away – not because of any Morphic Resonance but simply as a result of her own sensory input telling her it was unsafe.
Of course, Sheldrake is welcome to come and paint white lines across the drive and repeat the experiment if he wants. He might even help us fill in the hoof marks all over the previously pristine lawn while he’s here.