Montana Rancher Urges Awareness After Eagle Attacks on Calves

A Montana rancher is raising concerns about eagles preying on newborn calves, saying the issue may be more widespread than most producers realize.

Joe Kipp, a member of the Montana Livestock Loss Board and a longtime cattle producer in Glacier County, believes he’s uncovered an issue after losing calves the past two years to what experts have confirmed were eagle attacks.

“I think we’ve had multiple eagle predations over the years that we just never caught,” said Kipp in a recent interview with Northern Ag Network. “I used to assume these were weather-related deaths, maybe with a scavenger bird picking at the carcass afterward. But I was wrong.”

Uncovering the Pattern

Kipp and his family operate a 200 head cow-calf operation in Glacier County Montana. They winter on lightly riparian meadows and move the cows to a pasture above the riparian area to calve to avoid grizzly bear encounters.

In May 2024, after finding a dead calf following a spring snowstorm, Kipp initially blamed the weather. The calf had a missing eye and signs of scavenging, but he recorded it as a natural death.

Days later, a second calf, treated for illness the night before, was found weak and but still alive. Kipp hauled the calf to the barn and put it in the calf warmer. When his wife later discovered the calf’s tongue had been removed, Kipp euthanized it and called USDA Wildlife Services. An investigation confirmed the injury was consistent with eagle predation. Kipp then asked the agent to examine the calf lost a few days earlier and following a necropsy, determined that calf had also been killed by an eagle.

This spring, in April 2025, Kipp found another dead calf with signs of trauma and a missing tongue. Outwardly it looked like a natural death with raptor scavenging, but he called USDA Wildlife Services to request an investigation and was told they do not investigate eagle predations anymore. Kipp turned to the Blackfeet Tribe’s large predator specialist, who confirmed the attack was consistent with eagle predation.

Calls for Broader Action

Kipp is now encouraging other Montana producers to take a closer look at their calf losses and document any suspicious cases. He says on their operation, losing 3 baby calves over a 2-year period, is an unacceptable number to lose to federally protected wildlife.

Currently, Montana’s Livestock Loss Board provides compensation for confirmed losses from large predators including grizzly bears, wolves, and mountain lions, with black bears just added to the list in the most recent legislative session. Federally protected birds like bald eagles are not included.

While the USDA Farm Service Agency’s Livestock Indemnity Program does cover eagle kills, reimbursement is significantly lower than state-level programs.

“There’s no current database for eagle predation in Montana, so we need producers to come forward,” Kipp said. “If we can show there’s a substantial number of calves killed by eagles, we may be able to push for legislative change.”

Sheep and lamb producers see even more pressure from eagle depredation and those losses would also be covered by adding eagles to the list of predators covered by the Livestock Loss Board.

Kipp is urging ranchers who have any suspicious deaths, to have them verified by a third party and notify the Livestock Loss Board. He hopes if the needs is there that a unified effort could lead to legislative action by 2027.

A Wake-Up Call

“As I look back over the years, I’m going to say I think we’ve had multiple eagle predations that I just never caught,” Kipp admitted. “I think I picked up these calves and just said oh it looks like a natural, weather-related death and a raven or eagle scavenged on it after it died. But my wife showed me we needed to look deeper than just the hide. Either I’ve got the only crafty eagles in Montana, or there are more out there we’re not talking about.”

###

Northern Ag Network