Best of the Web Extra: Moo North

And on that farm the cows face north - says Google - New Scientist (Again)
A survey of Google Earth satellite images shows cows tend to stand on a North/South axis when grazing. The survey wasn't able to tell if the cows face North or South as it's impossible to make head nor tail of them from the grainy satellite pictures.

Can they feel magnetic fields in the fields, or are they just sunning themselves?

The story doesn't take into account the times and seasons Google took their satellite pictures, and I'd bet the position of the sun plays a part. Google Earth uses pictures taken on clear sunny days at noon for less clouds and less shadows. This means most of the images used in the survey are taken with full summer sun directly over the cows.
The survey also says the margin of error changes in relation to the cow's distance from the poles. Or, considered another way, how close they are to the full sun of the equator...

I'd like to hear more on this story as it does have a hint of nonsense about it. Hopefully all my suspicions were taken into account in the full study, but missed from the press release.

"In the 10,000 years since humans domesticated cattle, their geomagnetic orientation has gone unnoticed" quotes New Scientist.

The BBC have a cow farmer on hand to prove just that:
Willy Miller - a Scottish cattle farmer - remarked: "I've never noticed that my cows all face the same way."

At any rate, the trend is supposedly clear, even if the cause can be disputed.
So Remember - next time you're lost on a farm, the cows point North. Or South. Never left.

EDIT - 01:30: The AP release says researchers were able to "discount weather-effects" in the study by "analyzing clues" in the images, such as the position of shadows. Even if this is the case, the study is still based on a very limited range of climactic conditions.
(All AP quotes attempt to abide by their hillarious "4 words max" fair use policy for bloggers.)

EDIT 2 - Aside - 01.42: Just to prove those arn't horses in the image at the top I should say that I searched for cow farms mentioned in BBC news stories. So the cows pictured have all trampled or broken something in a newsworthy fashion. Celebrity cows.