The cuts are clean and precise, as if made by a sharp scalpel, she said.

From her own research and analysis of the dead cows, Metzger said the killers appear to inject them with a painkiller, sedative or muscle relaxant-type drug that makes the animals go limp. Then they insert some sort of tube into the artery and wait until the cows’ hearts pump all of the blood out of their bodies. There is rarely any blood on the ground around the carcass, leading Metzger to believe the people are somehow collecting it. Those same techniques, including the draining of blood, have been found in cattle mutilation cases in New Mexico and Colorado.

“It’s just really strange” she said.

The killings at Flying M Ranch have been going on for years — the first happened in the early 70s — and Metzger said she has tried everything to catch the perpetrators, but to no avail. She hopes that going public with the story will finally make the killers stop and leave her ranch alone.

“This is getting to the point where it’s getting ridiculous,” she said.

The killings always seem to happen around certain dates — mid-July, October and right around Easter, Metzger said.