A MONTH old calf died hours after a Vale of Evesham farmer found it being attacked by a vixen on Monday morning.

"I have been in farming all my life and have never come across it before," said Tony Bomford, of Norval Farm, South Littleton.

He said he was checking his cows and calves when he found the heifer calf, worth £70, lying in a corner of the field with the vixen chewing at its tail and back end.

"I had two or three goes at chasing the vixen off before she eventually went," Mr Bomford said. "At one stage she was so close I thought she was going to jump at me."

The calf lost its tail and was given antibiotics by a vet and treated for shock, but Mr Bomford said it died on Monday night from stress leading to pneumonia.

"It's a big loss as it was one we would have reared and kept in the herd," he said.

Mr Bomford said the calf had become separated from its mother, but he could not tell whether the calf was chased to where he found it or if it was just lying there in a sheltered spot after feeding and was then attacked.

"Had I not seen the vixen attacking the calf with my own eyes I would not have believed it," Mr Bomford said.