It comes and goes in spurts around here. Since we switched to a largely beefmaster and beefmaster influenced herd, we haven't had many problems to speak of. Coyotes have eaten on a few calves, but most were stillborn or had some type of severe physical defect and died before the coyotes ever found them. I have watched coyotes watch our herds, especially heifers about to have their first calves, but haven't seen them do much other than watch and wait for something to have trouble calving. Most of our cows stay pretty close to the herd, and for additional protection, we pen heifers at the house when they are about to calve.

When I was growing up, we ran a lot of herefords. That was also before I did much coyote hunting. They weren't real good at staying in the herd, and we lost several calves and a few cows each year.

I have seen coyotes do the following:
[ul][*]Work in pairs running the cow back and forth across the calf,until the cow accidentally knocked the calf over and trampled it.[*]Cow calved near a fence. When about half of the calf was sticking out, about four coyotes grabbed it by the legs and pulled it out and under the fence.[*]Just simply attack the calf by overwhelming the cow with their numbers.[*]Grab a cow by the throat and kill her when she took a little long calving.[*]Take on grown cattle that were injured by stepping in a hole.[/ul]
I've also interrupted several attempts while out checking pastures.

The coyotes involved in some of the events described above were obviously very skilled and experienced hunters. If through hunting, you cantake out the experienced hunters, you takeout the knowledge and experience those coyotes gained to do some of the things mentioned above. Then the pack has to start over from square one to redevelop those skills. Keep killing the skilled hunters, and the coyote population never maintains enough experience under its belt to pose a serious problem.