Any thoughts on what might have done this (gruesome) ***Updated***

[GLZ]

This calf was born this morning.  At 6 am it was up and nursing.  Went to work.  I went out at 5 pm tonight to tag and weigh it and found this.

Found nothing else.  No traces of blood or anything.  Just the bottom half of a calf.

 

[OH Breeder]

you don't have mountain lions in your area do you? Not trying to joke but it looks like large predator and they took the top half with them. Wow. Sorry to see that.

 

[TYD]

What part of the world are you located

 

[GLZ]

Located in Southern Illinois, 30 miles south of St. Louis.  There have only been 2 confirmed sightings in the state of Illinois (one north of Chicago shot by police, and one south of Chester hit by a train).  There has been tons of gossip over the past decade of different people seeing mountain lions.  My neighbor even believed she saw one 2 years ago.

This was my first thought, but I am not sure I want to believe it since I have never experienced one before.

 

[willow]

Typically a Mountain Lion will try and cover its kill...like a house cat covers its mess in a litter box.  Look for tracks or where the animal has tried to drag the carcass, follow it and see what you find.  We live in Lion country and the things I described are very typical "lion Kill" traits. 

 

[OH Breeder]

probably too much animal planet here....

They showed momma mountain lions dragging kills back to babies. Being spring if it were a large predator like a Wolf or Mountain Lion  they would take back to den.
Willow u prob know better you live with them.

 

[OLD WORLD SHORTIE]

My first calf i ever had was mauled by a pack of dogs. So i hung up some chicken quarters the following weekend,  near where i found her.Got out the 30-30 lever action and  took out 4 of them, they just kept on coming back for more lead. I shot two others walking across the pasture about a month later. Needless to say dogs know not to come on my property. Not having that heifer really hurt me and my herd.

 

[vanridge]

So sorry to see that, I have no idea what did that but I hope you figure it out soon1

 

[savaged]

Maybe coy-dogs, and a bunch of them.  I know I'd be getting a game camera on it and find out.  I'd be watching my other calves awful close too.

 

[outlawcattlecompany]

I think it's especially odd this happened during the day time. I've lost 2 calves in the past year - 1 vanished and I found half of another but it was intact a bit more than this. I would agree with the suggestion to watch calves close and carry a gun. That's a bit freaky

 

[Simmgal]

Here in Virginia, some of our cattle friends have had Black Headed Vultures kill calves similar to that. They normally attack when the calf is young and pull out it's eyes like normal vultures do after they find a dead animal, then they eat the rest of it. I'm not trying to say that all of you are wrong, I am just saying that it has happened to some people I know. In your area, I would agree with everyone else. Most likely a Mountain Lion, Coyote, or a Wolf. :-\

 

[farmboy]

Dogs. It wasn't a mountain lion

 

[vanridge]

Dogs. It wasn't a mountain lion

really? How do you know? Do you think a pack of dogs?  Wouldn't they leave more behind? I don't know anything about this stuff, so I'd like to know why you think it was dogs.

 

[farmboy]

Mountain Lions don't live in Illinois. What's the chances that the only lion in the state ate the calf? Slim and none and slim just left town.
Wolves? Last I checked wolves also don't live in Illinois. Bears? Idk if bears are in Illinois or not.

A pack of dogs or coyotes is most logical. A 60 pound calf isn't really all that much meat to begin with. A pack of 4 dogs could easily clean up a calf in that amount of time. They probably killed it, ate most of it, then dragged it off to the bushes. I'm not familiar with these vultures but It doesn't seem they could clean up that much meat without leaving some sign and could they take the other half with them?

 

[WKYIronMike]

Not saying it was a Mountain Lion but here in Western Kentucky we've got them. My brother has seen one on my neighbors farm, I've seen one in the outskirts of LBL and 2 of my neighbors have seen 1. One of my neighbors calves was attacked by one but fortanely the cat was run off before he killed it. Another farmer I go to church with had a calf attacked in a barn, again the calf survived the attack though, somehow. There was large cat tracks going out of the barn and the calf just had large scratches down his back and plugs pulled out of him. A different neighbor has caught a Lynx catching his chickens and I've seen one on the farm too, their big! So regardless what the wildlife law enforcement thinks their wrong or lieing, because they say we don't have them neither. One of the first two neighbors I mentioned said he seen them release some in Pennyrile State Forest but I don't know if I want to believe him or not, but their are at least a few out there.
Most likely it was coyotes or dogs but it might not be. Just examine the scene and keep a sharp watchful eye and a good gun near. Like someone else has mentioned you might want to fix you up some bait, but I wouldn't want somebody's pet to get mistaken for the varmit.
It sucks when you lose one that you think has it made. I lost one this last week, a nice large black bull calf that I thought was nursing but evidently wasn't getting enough and he ended up getting dehydrated in the 90 something degree heat and we were unable to save him. Therefore I'm having to watch the late calvers like 500, making sure they get plenty of milk and pushing them to the shade to stay with mama instead of out in the open sunny field. Hopefully I'll get some rain and finally a day out of the 90's.
Again sorry for your loss and I hope you find your predator or predators and make them pay.

 

[rocknmranch]

We have had coyotes do that to a calf before. It was bedded down in brush and mamas were off eating. The voltures round here pick at the guts and eyes, dont leave much but definitely dont take half and run.

 

[GLZ]

**Major Update**

So this morning I woke up and decided to go walk around in the pasture and see if I could find anything else other than the bottom half that I had found yesterday.  I took the rifle and walked around in the pasture.  I couldn't find anything.  I decided to walk towards the cows and as I am walking towards them I come across the calf that was born yesterday morning.  The calf was still alive and quite healthy.  At this point I was pretty much baffled at what was or is going on.  I confirmed that this calf definitely belongs to the cow that calved yesterday.  I didn't see her yesterday when I found the carcass and was searching for answers as I think the cow had her down in a sinkhole.  All of my other calves are accounted for.  There isn't a thing missing.

So now in hindsight I think I have drawn a conclusion.  When I was out there yesterday I was pretty surprised that the cows were not more worked up.  If it was a major predator that killed a calf you would think they would have been a bit more on edge.  Instead they acted as if it was a normal day.  The carcass I found while definitely a calf had no blood, or any pieces around other than the picture.  The carcass wasn't that old.  It had some smell to it, but it was 97 here yesterday so it didn't even dawn on me that it could have been older.  My guess now is that a coyote or something drug it into the pasture from another farm and dropped it.  I only have one more cow to calve this year, and it doesn't look like she has calved but I have had a chance to get her to a chute to palpate her to rule that out.

So in short I have no idea whose calf I found, but I am pretty sure it wasn't mine.  

What a bizarre two days.

 

[rocknmranch]

We have had coyotes do that to a calf before. It was bedded down in brush and mamas were off eating. The voltures round here pick at the guts and eyes, dont leave much but definitely dont take half and run.

 

[WKYIronMike]

GLZ that sounds very logical. A neighbor had probably lost a calf and the coyotes or dogs had dragged the remaining carcass in your pasture. As long as the other cow hasn't calved or one hasn't had twins, that's probably what has happened.

 

[bruiser]

I hate to break Zach's bubble but there are mountain lions in Illinois. Two have been sighted in populated areas. In our neck of the woods there is tons of ground that is so rough they could easily hide.  The deer population alone would draw them since they are a natural preditor of them. Just as bobcats follow turkey populations.