Black Vultures

[fitz]

I have had them come to the last two calves born. Just occasionally before then.
I wonder if their sense of smell is better than the turkey buzzard? The mexican buzzards will show up before the calf is licked dry.

Seems the old turkey buzzard smelled mostly for dead rotting meat. This mexican suckers come to fresh blood....and they come quick !!!!!

The blacks have the ability to rip up fresh meat where the red head turkey buzzard doesn't. He has to wait for the kill to begin the rotting process or settle for something torn up like road kill. If around a new born, he's most likely wanting afterbirth.
The blacks seem to actually hunt. I've had them sit on fence posts waiting for a cow to leave a new calf to graze. I hate those things.

 

[Ouachita]

They aren't a problem here either. I don't know why as they seem to be on all sides of us. If they do come though we will have a welcoming committee to great them.
I don't think I've ever seen one but after all the post here ain't them I look at every buzzard.

Now Jed, don't take offense, but who would want anywhere within 100 miles of Memphis :lol: Even these Mexican vultures have standards. ;-)

 

[Ouachita]

They are persistent for sure unless one has a heart attack or stroke.
Then they will back off usually.
The old turkey buzzard is after the afterbirth. On top of being clumsy
and slow on the ground aren't aggressive. The Mexican Vulture will
run them plum off. Had a cow trample a calf few years back trying to defend the calf.
Bet there were 30 attacking from every angle when I discovered the ruckus.

Sounds like you are describing politicians, I just can't figure out if its one or both parties, or one in the same.

 

[jedstivers]

They aren't a problem here either. I don't know why as they seem to be on all sides of us. If they do come though we will have a welcoming committee to great them.
I don't think I've ever seen one but after all the post here ain't them I look at every buzzard.

Now Jed, don't take offense, but who would want anywhere within 100 miles of Memphis :lol: Even these Mexican vultures have standards. ;-)

Well that's true but we did get hogs and fire ants.

 

[Williamsv]

I hate Mexican vultures! We are having to check cows three and four times a day as we are looking for calves any time now through May. If we get there after the calf has come, it will already be killed. They send out two every morning between ten and ten thirty to fly over our herds in both pastures checking things out. If one is down, before you know it there will be forty or fifty on the ground.
Just hope the calves will come at night before these devils come out. I know we have not had those terrible vultures for too many years. I had never heard about them until three years ago and one of my former students told me that they would kill calves. Did not think much about it until last January when we drove up just in time to save a calf. The ground was covered and the cow was trying to fight them off. Happened again in early May. Another cow and the mother had the newborn in between them trying to keep them from getting to the little calf. I just knew they had killed it. But thankfully we got there in time to save it.
I worry every day about them and I am getting tired of it in a hurry. I hate to lose a calf to them.

 

[Luca Brasi]

Both Black and Turkey vultures have been expanding their ranges northward in the last few decades. I had never seen one when I was a kid, but now they are very common in New England. Thankfully they seem to be migratory here and we only have them in the warmer months. For some reason we would never see them congregating around road kill carcasses like in the South, or perching together in the open until only recently. The only time you would see them was in the air, otherwise they stayed pretty secretive. Now they are getting bolder, but I haven't heard of anyone who has had problems with live animals yet here. Last year I dragged a dead goat into some heavy woods. There is no way that they saw it from the air, but they soon discovered it by smell and it was gone. They are amazing if not frustrating.

 

[cowgirl8]

What i've noticed, they have scouts. Somehow, if the hoard is around these scouts can alert them. The hoard will fly very high, almost too high to see with the naked eye. Thats how they can be there in large numbers so quick, i've seen groups of up to 50. The only way a cow in trouble can be safe from them is if some other cow gets swarmed somewhere else. The way i've kept them away from our cows is, one, i'm out there a lot. Two, any cow who calves, i wait for her to shed the afterbirth and i take it. I find a animal hole and it slurps on down where it is out of sight.
This year we put our calving heifers in our backyard. Its worked out great. No longer do i see vultures flying around their group a mile away. I think vultures can tell if a herd is heifers. But by putting them at our house, i dont have to worry as much, but they still watch them. I had one heifer calve while we were in town, By the time we got home, she had eaten her afterbirth except for a small piece. One of the scouts finally noticed it and had 10 there for a piece the size of a slice of bologna..and they came into the yard. The lot is also small so the heifers are kept in a group, no one can go off by themselves, which from way up, is a easy identifier to the vultures.
We started losing calves to them about 15 years ago. Over the years i've worked to figure these stupid birds out. Most people i talk to lose a lot to these birds where i live. Its so sad, because the animal lost was more than likely eaten alive....

 

[Tim/South]

I have 2 Aussie cow dogs. Both have learned that the black buzzards are not welcome and will chase them away. The dogs actually notice the large group circling and flying low and go after them.

 

[Caustic Burno]

I have 2 Aussie cow dogs. Both have learned that the black buzzards are not welcome and will chase them away. The dogs actually notice the large group circling and flying low and go after them.

I have heard that a 245 grain 50 cal hollow point will make everything but the feathers disappear as well.

 

[Tim/South]

Have to use a shotgun here at home. Have a neighbor on one side, a subdivision 40 acres away on the other, plus cows hanging around.
The dogs actually like chasing the buzzards away.

Had a cow retain some after birth. Got her up to give the shot to release it. With in 15 minutes the scout buzzard was circling.

 

[Caustic Burno]

I keep a Ruger Ranch with a 20 round mag. by the front door for such emergencies.
Used to be a 22 mag crazy world you can now buy 223 cheaper than 22 mag.

 

[cowgirl8]

The birds around us are too smart to be shot with a shotgun. You may get one, but by the time you are in the range with a shot gun, they are up and out of the way. The way i dream of taking a few out, and of course i'd never do this ;-) , its just a dream. The next dead cow we get, we set her up out of the way but with a good view from far away, and i set a target filled with tanerite and pennies. When the cow is good and freshly dead, they get swarmed with the black vultures before the browns can get there. We have a good sniper shooter in the family and from a distance, take out 20 or 30 in one shot.

 

[Caustic Burno]

I was fighting them off a newborn again today.
Man they are really aggressive right now more so than normal
for some reason.

 

[Williamsv]

I am really getting frustrated with these evil birds. Yesterday morning two small calves were laying a short distance away from the cows. At ten o'clock I saw one flying over checking them out. In a minute more than I could count had joined in. After they saw the calves were not newborns they flew on off. If they had been newborns, they would have killed both of them.
Every morning around ten they start checking the cattle in both pastures. We have cows in both looking to calve any time now. So our mornings are spent guarding the cows. My husband goes back around two to check again. We both go back around 5:30. This is getting old.
Black vultures are worse than they were last year. I had to just about stop my car this afternoon to keep some from flying into it as they did not want to stop eating their road kill. If I had not been afraid of hurting my SUV, I would have killed them right there. I was hoping a fast log truck that travels the road every day would come and wipe some out.
I am afraid not to be checking every morning early because they will move in before you know it ready to attack. I hate to lose a calf to them. We almost lost two last year. Got there just in time.

 

[jedstivers]

Sounds like they would be really easy to bait.

 

[kenny thomas]

Sounds like they would be really easy to bait.

I have been told that road kill works pretty good. And its usually already tore open so it works pretty quick. Or so I have been told. ;-)

 

[Williamsv]

My plans for the day got changed quickly this morning, as we found a new calf that we had been waiting two weeks to come. Apparently it had just been born around eight this morning. It was a heifer and she had not shed the afterbirth. I knew there would be trouble. At exactly the same time the Mexican vultures make their rounds every morning here they came. My husband had to sit with his gun ready after they tried to get the calf. The heifer was helpless against them. If he had not been there ready to shoot, we would have lost a calf.
As soon as she shed the afterbirth, he buried it. She moved the calf to another place and about an hour ago they were fine. But that took the whole day. I was dressed to go out of town, as we needed a few things that we cannot get around here. My plans got changed. That is why I am afraid to leave,while we have several cows that are due to calve in the next two weeks. This one was a week or more overdue according to the dates that we were given when we bought her. She had a fine bull calf for which we are very thankful.
I am very tired of Mexican vultures!!!!

 

[highgrit]

Don't bury the afterbirth. Have your husband set up a blind 60 yards away from the afterbirth. As soon as 5-6 hit the ground and start fighting over the afterbirth, feed them a load of #4 turkey shot. Or if he's a good rifle shot, have him gut shoot one of buzzards. The rest will try and kill the hurt one. Dead buzzards make fine decoys.

 

[hurleyjd]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/28/opini ... .html?_r=0