UC Davis junior Chris Perry, left, and junior Marie "Toni" Alejandria get a lot of energy into their "Bossy Cow Cow" cheer. (Karin Higgins/UC Davis photo)
Our Aggie cheer has its roots in The Farm
If you're an Aggie, there's a good chance you've heard of the "Bossy Cow Cow" cheer.
You may have seen the Spirit Squad dance around oversized milk jugs while performing the cheer at a football game or heard it performed by the Cal Aggie Marching Band-uh!
Some of you more involved fans may also know that it was voted "Most Obtuse Cheer" by Sports Illustrated in 1997.
At the same time, many Aggies have yet to witness a live rendition of "Bossy Cow Cow." If you're among this group, visualization of the cheer may require a sense of humor and a bit of imagination. (Or you can watch the video on this Web site.)
You begin the cheer by calling "Moo," and drawing out the end of the word while performing a hand-rolling gesture that evolves into a euphoric hands-above-your-head cheer.
The rest of the words are similarly easy to remember and based upon the campus's agricultural legacy: "Bossy Cow Cow, Honey Bee Bee, Oleo Margarine, Oleo Butterine, Alfalfa Hay!" Of course, there's some fancy footwork choreographed to the words, and the cheer ends with a jubilant jump.
Many grade-A idiosyncrasies
Although UC Davis is a part of the largest public higher-education system in the world, we've nonetheless cultivated many grade-A idiosyncrasies.
These unique traditions and symbols—such as Picnic Day and Pajamarino, to name just two—are expressions of the farm-school spirit that has shaped our campus culture over the past century.
However, among these Aggie-isms, "Bossy Cow Cow" is perhaps the most distinctive. Where did this abstract cheer come from? Like "Bossy Cow Cow's" footwork, the history is up to interpretation.
One theory often whispered around campus states that "Bossy Cow Cow" was created as a send-up of the dairy industry, which had a stake in the founding of the University Farm, as UC Davis was originally known.
What the history book says
In Abundant Harvest, a history of UC Davis, author Ann F. Scheuring (class of '78) notes that in the mid-1890s there were close to 300,000 cows in California, and the state's creameries produced around $14 million in dairy products.
"In its biennial report for the years 1896-98 the [State Dairy Bureau]…called for a state dairy school to be established, to provide instruction in creamery practices and conduct experimental work on the breeding and care of dairy stock," Scheuring writes.
Are "Bossy Cow Cow's" references to margarine and butterine—a product made from animal fat—jabs at the dairy industry, which viewed the two substances as threats to butter sales?
"Not that I know of," says Mary Sprifke (class of '65), who first learned about "Bossy Cow Cow" from her sister, Pat, a UC Berkeley alumna. "'Bossy Cow Cow' is based on a tongue-in-cheek version of 'Oski Wow-Wow,'" says Sprifke, who is also assistant to the assistant vice chancellor for alumni relations at UC Davis.
She believes that the words margarine and butterine were used as a nod to UC Davis' dairy roots—but also because they matched the cadence of the "Oski Wow-Wow," a cheer that has been used at Cal sporting events since the early 1900s.
Structured like 'Oski Wow-Wow'
From a quick reading of "Bossy Cow Cow's" words it's clear that, based on its structure, the cheer is indeed derived from "Oski Wow-Wow."
Sprifke's understanding of the "Bossy Cow Cow" story mirrors the more widespread theory of its origins. According to Joe Lares (class of '07), a Band-uh! member and current historian, "Bossy Cow Cow" originated about two decades after the Oski Wow-Wow.
"It was during this time that [agricultural] students at Davis were interested in forming their own traditions, atmosphere and 'Aggie' identity to separate themselves from Cal," Lares says. "As a result, traditions were made up, borrowed and altered to give them a distinct Cal Aggie feel."
As with all things "Bossy Cow Cow," definitive details are elusive. The author of the "Bossy Cow Cow" is unknown, as is the exact date of its creation. Yet we do know that the cheer stems from at least the mid-1910s.
The earliest known reference to the cheer is from the March 8, 1916, edition of the Weekly Agricola, in a story about a rally in Davis: "The evening's program started with a big 'Bossy Cow-Cow' led by yell leader Haussler."
A prize for the best yell
In a Weekly Agricola issue from four months prior, dated Nov. 19, 1915, a front-page story advertises that a prize would be awarded by the student body to the creator of the best yell.
However, no mention is made in later issues of the winning yell. Was it "Bossy Cow Cow"?
One thing is certain: Whether intended or not, "Bossy Cow Cow" has become a bona fide Aggie tradition. It may be an obtuse cheer, but it's our cheer, an artifact of the university's past that is wholly unique.
"'Bossy Cow Cow' is UC Davis," says Jack Huhn (class of '56), who remembers hearing the cheer regularly at Aggie football games and elsewhere around campus. "It epitomizes the spirit of the university, the students and even the community."