grumble grumble grumble

Help Support CattleToday:

WalnutCrest

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 2, 2014
Messages
2,469
Reaction score
8
Location
Northeast KS (USA)
:mad: :mad: :mad:

Three recips didn't take good enough care of their ET calves to keep coyotes (or dogs) from getting them.

Three different recips didn't take good enough care of their tagged 3-4 week old ET calves to keep them from getting taken down and hauled off.

Our fullblood Aubrac cows are batting 100% on raising their fullblood calves ... the recips are batting about 80% on raising their fullblood ET calves. I can't wait to get rid of these recips ... the vet loves them though.

And if I catch these dogs / coyotes / whatever, I'm going to give them a piece of my mind. Those were some spectacularly pricey snacks they ate.
 
Yep, no mercy on anything that eats my animals!.. That REALLY sucks

What did the 3 "different" recips do, or fail to do? just not enough groceries?
 
Bad, bad, bad. Any sign of struggle. Bloody ground, etc. At 3 weeks, my calves run like deer and the mommas would have something to say too.
 
Unless you have actually seen it happen don't blame the recips. We have had issues in the past. If they have packed up you could be in for a long fall. Went to check on a cow years ago who was a few days overdue. Drove over the hill in the pasture to find 6 coyotes surrounding her and her calf who was still wet. She was fighting them off from one side while the rest of them were coming in from the other sides. 2 more minutes max and that calf was done. That cow was so worked up I couldn't haul her and her calf home til late in the day. She was running the truck after I scattered them by laying on the horn. She had been my 4-h heifer years before and was the one who would always walk up for a scratch. If you or a neighbor have sheep around that is the source of your problem. Try shooting one and leave it hanging on a tree or somethingto rot.
 
Nesikep":gkhcznwq said:
Yep, no mercy on anything that eats my animals!.. That REALLY sucks

What did the 3 "different" recips do, or fail to do? just not enough groceries?

Three recips = no calf past 24 hrs
Three recips = didn't protect their living calf

Six dead ET calves

... adding insult to injury, these were partnership calves ... and I need to make up my partners part of the losses out of the rest of my herd.
 
plumber_greg":2pi4c323 said:
I dunno man, 3- 3week old calves. I'd be looking for one of those man coyotes. Gs

Doubtful...but possible.

Back pasture, good gates, thick chains, heavy locks, no sign of tampering.
 
WalnutCrest":3a0z33y4 said:
I can't wait to get rid of these recips ... the vet loves them though.

.

Then I say, let the vet have them!

Sorry to hear about this mess.

As for the 3 week olds, like has been asked, any signs of struggles? There would have to be blood/hair/bones on the ground someplace. People can climb over fences.

Either way, its a bad deal.

As for these animals being a partnership, why would you have to make up for it with the animals you already have? I realize it may sound like a stupid question and may seem like I'm being a wise-a$$, but I'm trying to understand this. Any partnership I had, we were 50-50 and if there was a loss, the partner assumed the loss as I did.
 
One thing to keep in mind Coyotes seldom leave a trace. I lost 7 the first year a neighbor decided to bring in sheep, only found a hind leg of one. No trace of any of the others. I know it was Coyotes though cause I saw one dragging one through the electric fence through a scope and another neighbour who was losing calves and I found a den. Between us we shot 11 that year. If you are finding remains I doubt it's a coyote. Had to stop Spring calving for a decade til the neighbor with the sheep went bankrupt. Sheep left, Coyotes did too. They seldom take calves older than 24 hrs around here. 3 weeks is odd.
 
Workinonit Farm":zzd0qye7 said:
<snip>
As for the 3 week olds, like has been asked, any signs of struggles? There would have to be blood/hair/bones on the ground someplace. People can climb over fences.

Either way, its a bad deal.

Yes it is a bad deal; no sign of struggle.

Workinonit Farm":zzd0qye7 said:
As for these animals being a partnership, why would you have to make up for it with the animals you already have? I realize it may sound like a stupid question and may seem like I'm being a wise-a$$, but I'm trying to understand this. Any partnership I had, we were 50-50 and if there was a loss, the partner assumed the loss as I did.

Lots of moving parts (not a super simple straightforward 50/50 deal); this is what we agreed to and up to now, all in all, it's been a pretty fair deal for both of us, IMO.
 
Re reading the original post this sure doesn't sound like a coyote. Calves are all too old. You got any Bears or Wolves around? Never been to Kansas so no idea what you have in your area.
 
cattleman99":2wngq4x4 said:
Re reading the original post this sure doesn't sound like a coyote. Calves are all too old. You got any Bears or Wolves around? Never been to Kansas so no idea what you have in your area.
No bears or wolves in KS (that I know of). I'm much further south than Walnut Crest but a local rancher has lost calves to mountain lions. Game Warden told him to look up in the trees, mountain lions will often carry their kill up a tree, and sure enough he did find the remains of some calves. BTW mountain lions will also bury their kill. That said, I still wouldn't completely ignore the suggestion of a 2-legged coyote, especially because of the older calves.

Real sorry about your bad luck, Walnut!
 
Sorry you are in this situation. The number of calves disappearing really gives the impression that it's the beast, man. We have stories in the paper every year like yours and It's usually the beast.
 
It's a bad deal. Set up some game cameras if you have or better just find an area out of the way and sit and watch. Won't be long before you figure out what is getting them. If it's really coyotes they will come back, once they get a taste they don't stop. Same goes for the two legged kind.
 
Can't believe that coyotes are getting 3 week old calves. Unless they are very small, even still, they are old enough to be able to run and if there are several mommas in the field, most always some of them will go to defend a calf that is being run or bawling. The last 5 calves out of our first calf heifers have weighed in the 60's so fairly small which I like. But at 2-3 days, they are up and running fast enough that I can't catch them and let one holler and more than one momma will come running. Sounds more like a possible cougar, or a bear carrying them off. But anything is possible. I do think the game camera is a good idea....

Sorry for your loss. We've had a crappy week; one had a dead fetus about 6 months I guess, no hair and she was dead also. Don't know if she had another in her or what. Doesn't matter, dead is dead. Then had one get into the only mucky spot on the place under an old barn, get stuck, had to pull her out and didn't get up and died 3 days later. She was a bought one, had had a dead calf, and was real young and didn't bag up so we dried her up and decided to just breed her with the fall group. Wrong decision.

It's been a not very good start to the fall calving season. Gonna weed out some that we didn't plan to get rid of. Plenty of hay but not going to carry any dead weight this fall and winter. Grass has dried up and maybe rain by next week but it won't bring it back much. Probably won't see any fall regrowth this late in the season now, should've been getting the fall growth this month.
 
There are rumors of big cat in our neck of the woods. I've not seen any prints, nor have I seen any carcasses in the trees.

I work in town and am not able to go by to check in on the cattle every day ... alas ...

Quite separately, I have a couple of neighbors who are good guys who let me know if they see anything unusual going on ... again, good gates, big chains and sturdy locks ...

Thanks for letting me vent.
 
It does sound more like cat or human, and it's going to be hard for a cow to protect against either of them... If they're good cows otherwise I don't think it would be imperative to get rid of them.. Though you may be able to get another calf quicker by selling them and buying other cows.
 
I live in SW KS and run a few head in west central OK. I agree with what many have stated. This doesn't sound like a coyote but it could be. They have been bad the last few years in the area where I run mine in OK. One rancher was losing calves in our area and so a few others. He had a gov't trapper come in and let another man call them. Over a 2 month area in a 2 mile square area they got over 40 coyotes. Can't remember the exact number. There were so many they were hungry and when hungry they will try to get animals they normally won't. I heard of calves the age of yours with marks where they attacked them but don't remember any that age that they completely killed but they could have. What they do is catch them laying in the tall grass hiding and several attack them before they get up and running. So it is possible.
 

Latest posts

Top