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Breeding / Calving Issues
Mexican Vultures Try to Kill Newborn Calf
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<blockquote data-quote="cowgirl8" data-source="post: 1135420" data-attributes="member: 22072"><p>This is ok if you own whats behind the direction you're shooting a rifle. And, its been my experience that just shooting one is pointless. </p><p>I've watched these birds for years. They have scouts, usually a pair of them watching a field. I believe they can tell a young calving herd and a older one. I always have 2 scouting my calving heifer pasture. This year, we brought in the 'close to calving' girls and had them calves in the corrals where i can watch them and its close to our house where human activity is going on all the time(but they still come in, they know when we are in the yard and not). When the scouts see a problem, they call in the roving hoard that flies so high you cant see them. They can summon in up to 50 birds that will swarm a struggling cow in a matter of minutes. If you want to control them, you have to get the roving hoard. A neighbor had a horse that went down while they were out. They came home to a skeleton that evening.</p><p>The way i've controlled their damage is by never leaving any afterbirth anywhere. If i see someone calving, i babysit them, and then i wait for the afterbirth. I pick it up and carry it about a mile or so away and then dump it in the first animal hole i find. Once the birds learn that this easy food is never around, they tend to find someone else who doesnt keep their pastures clean. The birds want easy food and fresh afterbirth is their fav.. The glistening tissue and glittery blood draws them in. And if the cow tramples her calf in the process, another fresh meal. The worst scenario is when the afterbirth hangs out and blows in the wind like a flag...It can signal them from very far off..</p><p>10 years ago this was not a problem. We'd see one or two and thats it. Now, there are more of them than the Turkey vultures. I've put 9000 miles on my 4wheeler since August and its because of these birds..I breath a sigh of relief when calving season is over...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="cowgirl8, post: 1135420, member: 22072"] This is ok if you own whats behind the direction you're shooting a rifle. And, its been my experience that just shooting one is pointless. I've watched these birds for years. They have scouts, usually a pair of them watching a field. I believe they can tell a young calving herd and a older one. I always have 2 scouting my calving heifer pasture. This year, we brought in the 'close to calving' girls and had them calves in the corrals where i can watch them and its close to our house where human activity is going on all the time(but they still come in, they know when we are in the yard and not). When the scouts see a problem, they call in the roving hoard that flies so high you cant see them. They can summon in up to 50 birds that will swarm a struggling cow in a matter of minutes. If you want to control them, you have to get the roving hoard. A neighbor had a horse that went down while they were out. They came home to a skeleton that evening. The way i've controlled their damage is by never leaving any afterbirth anywhere. If i see someone calving, i babysit them, and then i wait for the afterbirth. I pick it up and carry it about a mile or so away and then dump it in the first animal hole i find. Once the birds learn that this easy food is never around, they tend to find someone else who doesnt keep their pastures clean. The birds want easy food and fresh afterbirth is their fav.. The glistening tissue and glittery blood draws them in. And if the cow tramples her calf in the process, another fresh meal. The worst scenario is when the afterbirth hangs out and blows in the wind like a flag...It can signal them from very far off.. 10 years ago this was not a problem. We'd see one or two and thats it. Now, there are more of them than the Turkey vultures. I've put 9000 miles on my 4wheeler since August and its because of these birds..I breath a sigh of relief when calving season is over... [/QUOTE]
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