Coyotes and Cows…. here is what I know — and I am very…. I STRESS VERY ... reluctant to post this as I’m sure that I will get hate mail, since I have had it happen before. (Years ago when I first started blogging).
Cows are domesticated animals…they are people animals. Many people think that cows are stupid and dumb. I’ve had people tell me that cows are the stupidest animal on earth. This usually is said by people who have only seen a cow in a pasture or read about a cow somewhere, some place, at some time.
Cows are not stupid, nor are they dumb.
They are herding animals, therefore they think like a herd…band together, gather together, play together and protect each other. Cattle are very similar to Buffalo Bison. I have never heard anyone say a Buffalo is stupid and dumb, but they will say cattle are.
Beats me why.
Anyway…cows will band together if there is a perceived danger to each other or their calves…they group together in a huge group with the calves in the middle. When we had that horrible fire last spring all the cows gathered together and pushed the babies into the middle and walked to the furthest point away from the fire and stayed there until THE FIRE WAS PUT OUT.
Doesn’t seem very dumb to me.
As the babies are born the new moms collect and stay in a group chatting and discussing all the new cute baby things that the calves do. As the babies mature, one or two cows will stay with the calves (the babysitter cows) while the others graze, they then take turns with watching the youngsters.
Danger from coyotes come when a cow is in labor and/or as the calve emerges and/or if a young mother has a new calf and tells it to stay in a unprotected area while she wanders off. Just like some women, these cows are very poor mothers putting their own needs first before the needs of the calf.
Just like women, cows do not LIKE to go into labor and have their baby with a bunch of prying eyes. The majority of the time a cow will have her calf as the edge of the herd, but there are always some that want to go to a hidden spot for a little more privacy.
When the calves are first born the mothers will lick the mucus off of the calf’s body until it is clean. This encourages the calf to attempt to stand and go find the udder. From that day forth they (the cows) watch out for the calves, let them suckle every 2 to 3 hours, babysit them, and teach them where to go, what to eat, and that the person looking after them is someone to be respected, and what a predator is.
Cows also communicate with their calves (and each other and sometimes to us humans) whenever they get separated by certain moos and loud calls. This voice recognition is established at birth.
Cows protect their calves by using their heads, feet and chests to crush and stomp on a predator that threatens their calves or them. They are HUGE animals weighting many, many pounds…they will even take on a human, if they perceive the human might be a threat to them or their calf or the herd.
Now just what I know for sure, …… what we have had happen to us/our ranching friends and other farmers in our area …. AND NO —- FEEDING THE COYOTES WILL NOT STOP THIS FROM HAPPENING!!! — Coyotes are known to attack cows in labor, feeding on both the emerging calf and possibly the mother. IF the cow is not close enough for the herd to help protect her.
As to the other question of where do the cows stay for protection — we have lots of areas that are sheltered and protected by trees, bushes, and shrubs, areas the cows adore sleeping in. It was one of the reason’s Terry and I were so upset with the fire…many of those areas were destroyed in the fire.
This year the cows are sleeping around the equipment area…which is another very protected place on our property.
Our storm blew in and blew out rapidly last night, most of the snow was dumped in the mountains which is perfect!
Linda
Life on a Colorado Farm 
You have it going on girl and coyotes are predators and prey on anything small including calves, lambs, fawns, goats, rabbits, dogs and cats. They’re nasty monsters and especially new mama’s don’t know they’re babies are in danger and are reclusive when it’s time to birth. We had them grab babies before they’re fully out of their mom’s. I HATE the beasts!!
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Um…. this didn’t sound like it would get hate mail. You didn’t say you would shoot the coyotes (which I absolutely would do) Once on the ranch when i was little I actually saw a coyote attack a calf and maul the poor thing… and with all the rabbits on the property, the coyotes sure as hell weren’t hungry. We would shoot on-sight during calving season.
I wouldn’t stress about it… if someone has a problem, watch how fast they change their tune when their precious Fifi becomes a morning snack. 😉
Hurray for snow!
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i love how protective mother cows are with their calves – banding together to defend them.
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Hate mail on THIS subject? GADS! I’ve never heard of cows being dumb… But–truly, as you know, I don’t know much about cows at all. Such an interesting post. Thanks so much for answering my questions… I feel better now about those babies…
Hugs,
Betsy
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Even though our cows are dairy rather than beef we sure have seen the same thing. We once had a pair of twins born late in the day. (With our smaller area and tamer cows, we usually bring them in soon after they are born, if we can) The mama couldn’t protect them both and by morning nothing was left of one but a tiny little scrap. Poor baby.
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I used to get trolls with hate comments but hopefully they are all now in jail or something.:) This was very informative. I love the stories Marianne tells about their “girls” on their dairy farm. My city perception of cows has been radically changed.
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That was very interesting. I never actually thought about the maternal instincts of cows, or their herding traits. I guess I can be excused because I’m just a city girl.
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Other species exhibit much the same behavior. Musk ox take this to an extreme. I’ll never forget the time our Angus cow took after me when I was about nine years old. It’s a lesson I never forgot. The more we know about a cows behavior the better we can look after them.
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We have a neighbor who lost a (as in one, single calf) last spring to the coyotes – 1st time mom, too far from the herd – who then ran around shouting that she was going to put out poison, since the town said she can’t shoot them…that brought the State down on her, pretty quick.
My biggest fear is that someone will do away with ‘our’ pack, and another, less-fearful group will move in.
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First, since coming to live in the country, my neighbors cows have shown me quite a bit about their nature. He keeps mostly old girls and has them bred, selling off the calves, but he has them trained to come to the fence twice daily for feeding. They show up and if somebody isn’t there to tend to them, do they raise a ruckus! I’ve watched how they take care of their young. We raise sheep, goats, and alpacas, and have been so impressed with how they will do their best to defend their babies. Now, as to coyotes, I realize they have to eat, but not my livestock. To this end, we protect our precious critters with good fences and 6 100+ pound livestock guardian dogs, who have centuries of protection responsibilities bred into them. I have no doubt, that our big white dogs will fight intruders to the death. I pity the poor coyote foolish enough to get around the dogs. The dogs work in pairs or teams, with one instinctively hanging back by the livestock in case the coyotes try and lure them away. The predators give our farm a wide berth!
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I don’t farm animals but we once rented a house on a farm and I was able to own a milking cow. It was a real learning experience and one I’ll never forget. I loved our cow.
I could not imagine anything more terrible than seeing the results of a coyote attack on a calf, just born or partly born. In my limited experience with cows they are the most sociable of animals and I would compare them to humans in their social habits. I loved to watch their interactions with each other, especially when the new Mother would bring her calf to be introduced to the herd… they’d all gather around and there’d be much admiring of the new one going on. The older calves would then initiate fun with the new calf and so on.
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Why? That’s easy – it’s people who are stupid.
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Coyotes are the scum of the earth when it comes to new born animals and domestic pets. I have read about cats and dogs taken as lunch, or left half ripped apart. We have coyotes around here..Chance seems to know or smell them when they are traveling through and sticks close to the house.
The cows are looking really good..one set of twins wow..what fun to watch:)
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I had my puppy snatched by a coyote this morning before daylight.I’m sure it was a coyote because,we hear the pack nearby.If I ever see one come in my yard again ,it will be the last time!!!
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If you need me to drive out and do sentry duty YELL I LOVE HATE MAIL ask my BEAVERS 🙂
got to protect the wee ones
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Maybe the uninformed like to think of cattle as stupid to rationalize the way they eat them–like coyotes do. I guess that’s a good thing in a way since beef animals are raised and sold for that purpose, but it still doesn’t excuse making judgments without at least a little knowledge.
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Great and HONEST post Linda. Coyotes are predators but a good cow can run one off and even kill it!
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Oh I have no tolerance for hate mail. Everyone has a right to their opinion, but my blog is monarchy, not a democracy: negative comments are not approved. *L* As another city girl, I know nothing about farming or ranching, so this is very interesting information. You’re right: we only see cows along roadside fields or in County Fair stalls. Coytoes, though…ugh. We live in a foothill area where coyotes are a common sight. Bad dudes.
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You sure are right, cows are not stupid. We had one of our beef cows get stuck in the feed bunk and at the time I was at home by myself with no way to get him out, and I knew all it would take is for some stranger to come into the pasture, and that would scare him enough to fight to get out of the bunk and by god that is what happened. Our neighbor walked out into the pasture and that steer got out of that bunk lickety split! Then when we had our backs turned he come a charging at the neighbor, I had to stand in between to get the cow to stop and by god he did! He knew me.
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Really interesting learning opportunity for me Linda. Glad those moms have found a new protected spot and hope it works for sure. Love the thought of the mommas getting together to share baby news and babysitting duties. Nothing dumb about any of that stuff.
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Nope, no argument here. Wild dogs and coyotes are the worst.
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Linda. wonderful post. I loved reading it. Yes, living in the country I’ve come to appreciate cows, and have realised that their curiosity is an indication of their intelligence.
On farms here every child has a pet calf every year, which they show off at calf club day ( or a pet lamb) and both animals are so loving and friendly. It breaks me up when after all that love and spoiling they are put out in the herd or sent off to the meat works. Even when they’re grown up the cows come running if they see a person, wanting that human contact again…
Darwin said that all creatures have feelings like human beings – but we’re taking a long time to get that message – probably because we couldn’t treat them the way we do, once we accepted that truth!!!
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I live in a rural area, lots of dairy farms. One day my sister and I were driving down a side road and saw a cow calving in the field, we stopped at the side of the road and watched and one by one the rest of the herd came and stood between the mama and the road, all facing us as if daring us to intrude. We also have a problem with coyotes, fortunately we have quite a few coyote hunters in the area. Our northern counties had a huge problem with wolves which were protected. and so became very bold. Now there is a limited hunting season on them and hopefully it will put a good fear of humans in them so they stop taking livestock and pets or at least think twice about being too near human habitation.
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Good to know Linda Thank you
DAVID
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Anyone who says feed the coyotes is an idiot.
Glad to hear a good snow landed on the mountains!
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No critter is “stupid” that is a human term that frankly is limited only to the human race! 🙂
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I would like Cooper’s Hawks better if they just chased my pigeons for the fun of it. I would like the feral cats better if they only ate rodents and not birds and lizards. I would like coyotes better if they ate raccoons. I can’t think of anything that would make me like a raccoon. As much as I have to work to guard against rural predators, though, I’ll take that any day over people in the cities who prey on each other.
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Thanks for this post! I love that they take turns watching the babies and protecting them. The way they circle around makes me think of the wagon trains circling in on their camp.
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We have a real coyote problem where I live. I have a little girl dog with plenty of stitches to prove it. They feed on our pets.
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I know i will probably get attacked for this but all coyotes caught attacking livestock should be shot period, they get habituated to it, it is easy prey and soon you are losing calves all the time, Happened to us one year when i was living on the farm lost probably 6 calves to coyote attacks. And that was a pretty big loss for us we didn’t have a large farm.
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I have no idea why the coyotes never attacked the calves and foals on the man’s farm where we rented for five years while we were in Texas. I remember writing to you and telling you I thought coyotes got a bum rap. I did hear about them “drawing a dog out” with one while others lay in wait. They even tried that with our 95 pound Rhodesian Ridgeback. But, I respect what you are saying…they are wild animals, and if they are hungry, no telling what they will do.
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I learned some important things from your post. I had alot of questions and posted some online when we first moved into our ranch 5 years ago. A couple years later, a cow went into labor, the coyotes killed her calf and the mother bellowed 24 hours per day for at least 3 days. I retyped my question online, “Do cows greive?” Lo and behold I had many pages of answers, from people all over the world from the questions I had posted 4 years ago about cow grieving. THe discussion was Platonian in depth and philosophy. I had never seen the answers until all these years later. I posted this post when I first started my blog and you can see it under holler happenings and cows. You would be interested. We have many coyotes and many cows. I have seen all the phenomonan you are describing including coyotes attacking during the birthing process. I have seen the babysitiing groups and the neglectful mothers whose calves get eaten. You blog will be most helpful to me. Thanks for it & cheers!
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Do people actually FEED the coyotes? surely that would bring them back if they thought food was there.. Daisy is locked into her large yards, mainly due to the mud in the fields and also so she can calve in her pen in the barn where it is dry and clean and coyote free.. then the calf will stay in the barn with visits from her mother.. I take no chances when we are frequently surrounded in calling coyotes.. c
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