Coyotes got the first calf

Well just found out that coyotes got the first calf of the year..... Was a Pioneer out of a PB Simmental grand daughter of Zeis Miss Jesse... and it was a bull to add to the dissappointment.......

Sorry to hear about that! Thats awful!

Go out and buy a giant treble hook. Around the size of your fist. Go out in your pasture and look for their trails in the grass, you can always spot a coyote trail becuse it will cross under a fence and keep right on going. Take you some wire and wire that hook to the bottom row of wire where it is hanging down a just a few inches, still need to be plenty of clearance. The coyotes pass the same trails, mostly at night moving along at a pretty good click. Take a gun when you go check it in the morning, but hopefully you wont need it. 

I hate hearing this, sorry for your loss

That is a real disappointment for you I am sure, I have had it happen here a couple of times and it just messes up your whole day. The only good yote is a dead yote. That's not intirely true because they do some good when it comes to cleaning up rats and mice and I especially like them in the crosshairs of my favorite rifle. Do you have any experience calling them in? If so I am sure your already on it, if not I can give you a couple of suggestion if you would like, just PM me.

We have a mess of coyotes and run burros with the cow herd. They can be a little aggravating and in the way when I'm working cattle, but they're very protective of the calves and do a good job keeping coyotes at bay.

That's so disappointing. And I've had some Pioneer bulls out of Simmie cows, so I know how disappointing it actually is. He woulda been a good one.

We had a coyote go after one of our newborn calves as well! However, my dad was out there and the mom cows ran him off! Go girls!!  <party>

What about a free to a good home llama, or donkey? They work in our neighbors sheep, have never heard of anyone using them in cattle but I don't know why it wouldn't work, especially now that they have the taste of calves and will be back.

I WOULD NOT recommend llamas! Our neighbor bought two a few years ago, and they are NEVER in the same pasture as the cows. They seem to hate the cows, and stay as far away as possible. Worst waist of money in my opinion!

From what I have heard you only want one or else they run off together. Our neighbor has a lot of sheep and the llamas have their own little llama herd, but the other neighbor only runs one and it works good. If founder isn't a problem donkeys are supposed to be good. Dogs are good but they run off and I don't know how they'd stay with cows. If you can get one for free its worth a try. If it doesn't work out you can have an exotic animal hunt. Those coyotes will come back and its better to try it than not to have anything at all. The hooks should work well also, just be careful of deer.

Sorry to hear about your loss.  I work as my county's damage trapper and trap close to 100 coyotes a year.  As a cattleman I highly encourage you to experiment or try using a reputable trapper in your area.  Not a weekend warrior or wanna be.  So many times cattlemen are worried that trapping can hurt their cattle.  But I can tell you the only thing that will get hurt is the trap when it comes to a 1200 pound cow stepping on one.  If they do get caught, being a hooved animal the pull right out.  Snares are a different story, I do not suggest them on areas with a lot of cattle.  Main reason is they are usually set on trails or openning in fences.  I've seen calves stick their noses in them and get caught around the mouth or nose.  Not good.
Coyotes are a creature of opportunity and trust me the quickest leaners of any animal in the world.  A coyote that got away with it once will try again.  Not to mention with our unseasonably warm weather this year, coyotes will / have started pairing up and running together and will be breeding soon.
See if you have a government trapper or at the coffee shot see if anyone knows of a good coyote trapper.  Prices are way up on hides this year, so a lot of trappers would jump at an opportunity to help.

I have an old Angus cow who will run just about anything with fur on it out of the pasture, took out after the barn cat and about ran him to death before he smart . Got to the point dogs wont even follow me in there when I'm irrigating because of her. Lucky or unlucky depends on how you look at it we live in what the guy that runs the local nursery calls the rabbit belt, yotes have plenty of food but can play hell on your garden.

Sorry to hear about your loss! I have the same concern as we are getting polluted with coyotes. We are not calving yet and we have not had any issues with coyotes killing calves for over 10 years. I lost 3 newborns about 10 years ago. Everything was fine until I fed the cows hay that morning. When I went back to check for more new calves a couple hours later, I found the three new babies dead with their guts eaten out. I think the mothers walked over to eat some hay and left their babies for a few minutes, and the coyotes took the opportunity to kill and eat them.

I have seen coyotes walking right through our yard, and it seems that they seem to know when you have not got a gun close by. I even found a coyote curled up in a box stall in the barn on a cold night last winter. He didn't see the light of day. A week ago tonight, we had a tragic thing happen. My wife has a Silky terrier house dog that she has shown throughout Canada and the US. Carrie was undefeated in class and was both US and Canadian champion in her show days. Last Friday night we let her,and our other dog  outside and Carrie ( who never leaves the immediate yard) did not return. My wife and I looked for 5 hours and then started again at first light the next morning. It did not take me too many minutes in the light of day to find some pools of blood near our barn. That is where she lost her life to the coyotes. I'm concerned that they may want to try to take some calves seeing it was within a few feet of where we calve most of our cows.

We have 3 donkeys but we have been told, by donkey breeders, that donkeys work best when there is only one of them. From what we have been told, when there is more than one donkey in the same pen or pasture, they will stand together when coyotes approach and will only defend themselves if they are attacked. That seems to be how our 3 donkeys act, as i have seen coyotes in the pasture with them and they are always standing together facing the coyotes. We used to have a mule and he was visious with most anything that entered his pen. I have seen him almost destroy a coyote who entered his pen. The problem with our mule was that he did the same thing if a dog or cat walked into his pasture as well. They are like lightning with their feet and I don't think most any animal would have much chance of getting away if he took after it.