Our personal cows have started having their babies.  We raise Angus cattle, which are always black.   The cows are Angus and the Bull is Angus.

Our second baby of the spring arrived in fine condition.  The Mom headed into the corral and gave birth in the open barn. We found the happy pair just as the mom started cleaning up the baby. 

We were not so lucky with the first calf.

She lost her baby to the coyotes.   I won’t go into the details, but just know it wasn’t pretty.  But it did happen. 

And, yes we can tell.  And yes, it was Coyotes, and no we did not make that up. And no, feeding the Coyotes will not keep the Coyotes from attacking or killing livestock.  In fact, it might make things worse.  (If you feed them….they will come.)

Coyotes (Canis latrans —means ‘barking dog”) are true omnivores and eat almost anything available.  Just born calves are very sweet and tender, as you might imagine.

Coyotes eat mice, rabbits, squirrels, berries, birds, frogs and carrion.  Given a chance coyotes take lambs, calves, kids, and household pets like cats and dogs. (Go here to see the Coyote attack on this blog friends little dog.)

We are very diligent in monitoring our herd and the herd of the rancher who rents winter pasture from us.  The rancher is very diligent also, because we know.  We all know.   

But sometimes…. bad things happen.

This cow will have a large bag for some time, until the milk stops flowing.  Gradually she will dry-up.  For now she is very miserable and extremely alert.  She looks for her calf, but we buried the last of it (7′ deep) which took the site away and the smell.

Linda