A Co. Waterford farmer is operating round-the-clock surveillance of his calving shed and newly born calves and cows after a suspected attack by a fox.
Shane Fitzgerald, a dairy farmer from Co. Waterford, told Agriland that he saw a fox in his yard early on Wednesday morning (April 12) after he had been out at 4:00a.m with a heifer that had just calved.
Later that morning when he went to check on another calved cow, he discovered that the cow was missing a teat and was in a great deal of discomfort.
The farmer decided to check back on his calving shed camera to see what might have happened and was shocked to see the fox lurking around in the shed.
“I had been out with a heifer that calved at 4:00a.m and I had noticed the fox in the yard, but an hour later when I came back to the shed and opened the gate he ran out. I was surprised as I had never seen the fox in there before but with the harsh weather he must have decided to go in,” Fitzgerald explained.
“It was only the next morning that I saw the cow was missing a teat – I couldn’t believe it. I was shocked and now it is a big worry for us because now we’re worried that there could be another attack like this.
“I am looking at the clock and checking cameras now in the middle of the night to make sure that the fox isn’t around again,” Fitzgerald added.
He said the cow that was attacked is being closely monitored as there is a concern that she could be susceptible to an infection.
“We’re going to have to do something because we can’t run the risk of another calf or cow being attacked like this.
“It would be impossible to keep the fox out of the calving shed – we can’t just seal it up but we have cows that are calving – and maybe it was the afterbirth that attracted the fox previously.
“We just don’t want to be in a place where a calf ends up getting killed,” he concluded.