Dead Cows on the Side of the Trail?

Several days ago there were several of us hiking through the woods and came across a gravel road crossing.  You never know what you're going to find when you cross a road but you are always hoping for the sweet sight of some very generous person sitting by their car with some form of trail magic.

This road crossing was a little odd.  You could tell that something was amiss even before the crossing because there was a smell in the air that I couldn't quite place and there seemed to be more flies than usual.  As we crossed the road we discovered why.  On the side of the trail there were the remains of about three cows...hides rotting and skelton remains showing through.

We moved out of the area pretty quickly but I got to thinking, how can this be?  They certainly didn't die there all at once.  Why would a farmer make the effort to lug three dead cows up the side of a mountain and ditch them on the side of the trail?  Are there some strange animal rituals that take place in VA that we aren't tuned into?  The questions remain unanswered; however, at the next shelter we stopped at for a bite to eat one of the earlier hikers was kind enough to duct tape a took into the shelter journal as a reminder of what we just saw.  (Was that you Green Light?)