Coyotoes and Calves

[True Grit Farms]

Your not running a predator off a food source. Hang a few treble hook lamb baits off the top wire of a fence and put chunks of sponge soaked in lamb blood out. Usually you'll have the best luck the second night, just check from a distance so you don't screw the sets up.

 

[Buck Randall]

People mistakenly believe coyotes are cowards. They are not. They are incredibly smart..as intelligent as any other canine, and people mistake their cunning for cowardice.
I've tried to kill every one I see, as have all my nearest neighbors. No sense making my problem someone else's problem which is what happens if I were to just run any predator off.

It's a rare creature that can survive, and even thrive, despite year-round hunting and human efforts to eliminate them. They deserve a lot of respect for that.

 

[Buck Randall]

I recommend investing in a donkey. They're hardier than llamas. A cow will protect her calf, but most cows aren't going to run to the aid of another. Adding the guard animal gives you someone playing offense against the coyotes while the cows play defense.

 

[Hippie Rancher]

are your cows horned? that is my first line of defense, gun is next, local coyote callers club after that. donkey is a possibility and I have had one around. she did prefer to be with the cows as opposed to anything else (people, or horses) and hated dogs, but I have no idea if she did much, as my cows take care of themselves and calves for the most part. have one calf with tail chewed off this year. could be dogs just as easy.

sheep are just snacks, even easier than chickens without guard animals or people 24/7

 

[gcreekrch]

Killing for fun is usually associated with dogs. I see where you have no choice but to get some help eliminating these varmints. I understand you not wanting to kill them but at times when they over populate and get the nerve to hunt in a pack for large animals, the population needs to be reduced significantly.

If you are in Texas, snoop around on the Texas Hunting forum for someone close to you. Some of those guys are really good and respectful and would love to help you out.

This is good advice. If you are interested in thinning them out I can point you to a couple guys that are effective on a BC hunting forum. Many people would jump at the chance but you want those who will get the job done without a bunch of drama and bs involved.

There is definitely no shortage of coyotes or wolves in this province.

What area are you in?

 

[BRYANT]

I got donkeys and Llamas may help when they are all out together BUT most cows go off to have a calf and Llamas or Donkey is no where's around to protect.
If you don't want to kill predators and would like for all to live together as one happy family farming may not be the thing for you.
it could be coyotes killing BUT it sure does not sound like how these Oklahoma coyotes work???? sounds to me like a pack of dogs killing and leaving, joy killing, then the coyotes are attracted to kill site to eat what the dogs killed and left. I may be wrong but I have seen that more often than a coyote killing calves. I rode my mule on and checked some cows last week had a new born calf , still wet, saw 4 coyotes with in yards of him all they were doing was waiting for after birth. went back 5 days later cow and calf fine, I do have these ol sorry Brahman cross cows that will fight for their calf and one get to bawling there will be help there pretty fast

 

[Buck Randall]

I got donkeys and Llamas may help when they are all out together BUT most cows go off to have a calf and Llamas or Donkey is no where's around to protect.
If you don't want to kill predators and would like for all to live together as one happy family farming may not be the thing for you.
it could be coyotes killing BUT it sure does not sound like how these Oklahoma coyotes work???? sounds to me like a pack of dogs killing and leaving, joy killing, then the coyotes are attracted to kill site to eat what the dogs killed and left. I may be wrong but I have seen that more often than a coyote killing calves. I rode my mule on and checked some cows last week had a new born calf , still wet, saw 4 coyotes with in yards of him all they were doing was waiting for after birth. went back 5 days later cow and calf fine, I do have these ol sorry Brahman cross cows that will fight for their calf and one get to bawling there will be help there pretty fast

Coyotes are bigger and more aggressive in the Northeast and Canada due to interbreeding with wolves and dogs. They're more likely to hunt in packs, too.

 

[greybeard]

They hunt in packs here as well. I hear them almost every night making their round out in the national forest. They learned not to cross fences around here...their numbers began to diminish considerably back when they were crossing property lines.

 

[Ebenezer]

I got donkeys and Llamas may help when they are all out together BUT most cows go off to have a calf and Llamas or Donkey is no where's around to protect.
If you don't want to kill predators and would like for all to live together as one happy family farming may not be the thing for you.
it could be coyotes killing BUT it sure does not sound like how these Oklahoma coyotes work???? sounds to me like a pack of dogs killing and leaving, joy killing, then the coyotes are attracted to kill site to eat what the dogs killed and left. I may be wrong but I have seen that more often than a coyote killing calves. I rode my mule on and checked some cows last week had a new born calf , still wet, saw 4 coyotes with in yards of him all they were doing was waiting for after birth. went back 5 days later cow and calf fine, I do have these ol sorry Brahman cross cows that will fight for their calf and one get to bawling there will be help there pretty fast

With cows and sheep, especially sheep, I am more aware of coyotes than if I only had cows. But over the years I have seen the unbelievable efforts and instinct of donkeys to let me know that they are worth their salt. Once I went to check cows and a cow was calving off to herself. Beyond her towards a corner, was a donkey standing like a statue. I did not think much about it and was interested in the cow. Finally I looked again and the donkey had never flinched and just across the poliwire was a coyote sitting and waiting. Other times on a rotation of pastures I've seen coyotes travel on the left side of a fence when cows and donkeys were on the left and the day after the coyotes traveled on the right. Mixing cows with sheep are a plus but not a cure-all. Some individual coyotes need to removed. These will include an occasional female with pups when the pups are growing and almost ready to roam, when the pups begin to hunt but the worst are in the fall when males begin the long treks. There is research that males have moved from AL to SC in two weeks or from NC to GA in less time. These coyotes do not know the "rules" of the farm and will become instant terrors.

 

[CG1]

Killing for fun is usually associated with dogs. I see where you have no choice but to get some help eliminating these varmints. I understand you not wanting to kill them but at times when they over populate and get the nerve to hunt in a pack for large animals, the population needs to be reduced significantly.

If you are in Texas, snoop around on the Texas Hunting forum for someone close to you. Some of those guys are really good and respectful and would love to help you out.

This is good advice. If you are interested in thinning them out I can point you to a couple guys that are effective on a BC hunting forum. Many people would jump at the chance but you want those who will get the job done without a bunch of drama and bs involved.

There is definitely no shortage of coyotes or wolves in this province.

What area are you in?

Very very interested. We are in Langley.

 

[CG1]

are your cows horned? that is my first line of defense, gun is next, local coyote callers club after that. donkey is a possibility and I have had one around. she did prefer to be with the cows as opposed to anything else (people, or horses) and hated dogs, but I have no idea if she did much, as my cows take care of themselves and calves for the most part. have one calf with tail chewed off this year. could be dogs just as easy.

sheep are just snacks, even easier than chickens without guard animals or people 24/7

Not horned no. I run angus/shorthorn

 

[VaCowman]

We had a similar situation several years back...only not to the magnitude of your losses. Sorry to hear that!

We ended up getting a wire panel and reinforcing it with "rat wire" and tieing it down good with tposts. we put a young calf in the "pen" about mid day. By late evening, baby was trying to get mothers attention (who was several paddocks away, out of hearing distance). Sure enough, about 0 dark thirty, here they came! Had several sharp shooters lined up atop the ridgeline and we took out 4 of the 6 in about t minus 5 seconds. The other two seemed to find a new "local eatery" because we never had any other issues after that. I think the key is taking out the alpha or whichever one is the blood thirsty killer.

 

[CG1]

We had a similar situation several years back...only not to the magnitude of your losses. Sorry to hear that!

We ended up getting a wire panel and reinforcing it with "rat wire" and tieing it down good with tposts. we put a young calf in the "pen" about mid day. By late evening, baby was trying to get mothers attention (who was several paddocks away, out of hearing distance). Sure enough, about 0 dark thirty, here they came! Had several sharp shooters lined up atop the ridgeline and we took out 4 of the 6 in about t minus 5 seconds. The other two seemed to find a new "local eatery" because we never had any other issues after that. I think the key is taking out the alpha or whichever one is the blood thirsty killer.

Wow haha, good on you. That must have been a sight to see. As you can imagine the man on the farm has been drooling at the idea of taking this pack out. I don't know if I have it in me to put a calf in there as bait, I'm a huge sucker, but I could use a few chickens.

 

[BRYANT]

I know another way to kill them just can't share it on social media, but it will work.

 

[VaCowman]

We had a similar situation several years back...only not to the magnitude of your losses. Sorry to hear that!

We ended up getting a wire panel and reinforcing it with "rat wire" and tieing it down good with tposts. we put a young calf in the "pen" about mid day. By late evening, baby was trying to get mothers attention (who was several paddocks away, out of hearing distance). Sure enough, about 0 dark thirty, here they came! Had several sharp shooters lined up atop the ridgeline and we took out 4 of the 6 in about t minus 5 seconds. The other two seemed to find a new "local eatery" because we never had any other issues after that. I think the key is taking out the alpha or whichever one is the blood thirsty killer.

Wow haha, good on you. That must have been a sight to see. As you can imagine the man on the farm has been drooling at the idea of taking this pack out. I don't know if I have it in me to put a calf in there as bait, I'm a huge sucker, but I could use a few chickens.

We had the "rig" pieced together pretty well. They weren't going to get to it without some lead in their arses!

 

[Nesikep]

I've never had a problem with coyotes here.. we have a resident family, they've eaten the occasional chicken but wander through the pens even at calving time and have never bothered the cows at all.. If they come around in the day I'll probably knock one off, but since I've had no real issues I don't go out of my way to hunt them... but if they do....

I think trapping/snaring them would be a good start for you.

 

[southalberta]

Get a longhorn or corriente pair. We have them in each of our herds and coyote loss was cut a good 70%.

 

[gcreekrch]

Killing for fun is usually associated with dogs. I see where you have no choice but to get some help eliminating these varmints. I understand you not wanting to kill them but at times when they over populate and get the nerve to hunt in a pack for large animals, the population needs to be reduced significantly.

If you are in Texas, snoop around on the Texas Hunting forum for someone close to you. Some of those guys are really good and respectful and would love to help you out.

This is good advice. If you are interested in thinning them out I can point you to a couple guys that are effective on a BC hunting forum. Many people would jump at the chance but you want those who will get the job done without a bunch of drama and bs involved.

There is definitely no shortage of coyotes or wolves in this province.

What area are you in?

Very very interested. We are in Langley.

Sent you a pm a couple days ago.

 

[CG1]

So big lesson learnt on this experience. We ended up having a local trapper/hunter association come out to our place. Interesting he thought it was a cougar. Couldn't do much more than what we were doing now so went about his ways but suggested we fill out the government application to get reimbursement for our lost lambs.

2 days later the conservation association couriered us a letter giving us 24 hours to remove all trapping and hunting tools from the farm. So, I highly suggest you do not ever take that route

 

[BFE]

Lorsban and a carcass. 'Nuff said.