Well. I had to read the entire article to see if I was missing something, but my answer is no. The answer to the question as presented in the headline is more

Well. I had to read the entire article to see if I was missing something, but my answer is no. The answer to the question as presented in the headline is more or less obvious for everyone who spent significant time around horses and cows: it keeps insects away. (It might also tell you something about the mood of a horse, less so with cows IMO. Small calves and lambs however will wiggle their tail when drinking milk, either because of some kind of enthusiasm or I've also heard to make sure their mother can smell that they are hers. Sidenote: IIRC lambs who try to steal milk will typically position themselves with the tail away from the head of the eve they are stealing from while lambs that are with their own mother will typically stand parallel to their mother, possibly so she can verify them.) Then there is the question about the pendulum speed, why do horses swing their tails so much faster. Well a simpler explanation might be because: 1. Tails arent ideal pendulums and 2.) To get enough speed to cover the top of their backs. I'm no lawyer or startup founder or cryptographer so often I cannot point out if an article is wrong but I did grow up an a farm and I've earned my first money as a farm hand until I was about 20 and I also have some months in farming school so today it feels like I had something to share :-P