A cow is a female that's had a calf, a heifer is a female that hasn't calved, and if it's male it's a steer or bull.

If it already knows what a bucket or feed sack is, it might come closer if it sees or hears you with feed, but then again it might not. You may not want it to, though. Strange cattle aren't necessarily friendly, domesticated, or gentle, so it might come running and knock you right down accidentally or deliberately.

It would be best to call its attention to the feed while you're near the fence, then step outside the fence and disappear, leaving the bucket behind. Or just leave it there if you don't see him, and he may come around looking for more if he finds it. Ordinary 'sweet feed' is a mix of oat pellets, cracked corn, and other grain products plus molasses that usually appeals to most livestock. Plain cracked corn would work too, and attract fewer bugs. However, dew or rain will cause mold to grow, and raccoons and other varmints will steal it, so you'll have to keep an eye on it to keep it clean and wholesome.

Bulls can be run out of pastures by more dominant bulls, or they may jump fences looking for cows, so until you get a handle on its temperament, consider it a potentially hostile bull until you know better. While you're at the feed store, you might also put up sign advertising a found steer/bull on the bulletin board with your phone number. The owner should be able to describe it and the general vicinity where it was lost. It may have wandered several miles depending on the terrain and condition of the fences.

A bull has a scrotum -- should be easy to spot because it should hang almost to the hocks. Bulls also generally have heavier shoulders than rumps, developing something of a hump over the top of the neck as they mature. Steers, of course, are missing the breeding equipment. Should be fairly easy to see the difference.

If you have only seen this animal once, how do you know that it has "taken up residence" and wasn't just passing through?

If you are able to get him to come up to a bucket to eat, there is still a very good chance that he will never "tame down." I have had bulls that we have fed twice a day in a pen in the barn all winter long that still wouldn't allow me to approach them physically. That's something that needs to be trained into them at a fairly young age. Does your state Dept. of Agriculture have a Brands Inspector? Even if the animal isn't branded, he's the guy who is responsible for livestock identification, and can read you the local rules on what must legally happen to "found" livestock.

Best of luck!

Good luck to ya ' . I have cattle that have been purchased from other herds , are relatively wild and after a year of constant attention still are wild , skittish and crazy .
You might have some luck taming this animal with feed , lavish praise and attention but then again it might stay wild despite all your efforts - no telling .
We have decided after years of trying to tame a few wild cattle that this year they are all going to market and only the gentle ones get to stay .
Hope you can eventually claim this one as yours .

Silver Vista - What about clamping of the scrotum which leaves the scrotum intact?

Kimberlee, the use of a burdizzo emasculator does leave the scrotum intact, but it pinches off the blood supply to the testicles so that they dry up and get petrified. It leaves a "cod" -- little tight-to-the-body scrotal sack that in no way resembles the scrotum of a bull. The only exception would be if this were a bull calf under about 400 lbs. At that size, the testicles haven't descended far enough to get a really noticeable ...ummm... "hang." But the OP doesn't say anything about this being a young calf, so I provided a description based on the assumption that it's an animal 9 months old or older.

We have learned over the years to cull anything that shows signs of being wild and unmanageable. If you see them throw up their head when they see you coming, you aren't going to be welcomed into their space. If they run that's one thing but if they don't and you keep pushing them, it's anybody's bet as to what they do next. Some of the signs are subtle and others are pretty plain but cattle can be dangerous so if you don't know anything about them, stay out of the field and get someone who does.

Sarah

Good luck with this situation. It must have been quite a surprise to see such a large animal loose on your property!

We had two big steer wandering in our area last year. My husband sighted them a couple of times and the owner (and cops) showed up quickly, but apparently they were very difficult to capture and had been loose for months.

I had a couple Holstein bull calves jump the fence to visit the neighbor's black baldie cows. He said to leave them there untill fall, since his bull wouldn't let them near the cows. The fall round-up was quite a sight: four very good ATV drivers spent more time being herded by the Saler bull than visa versa. It was no wonder he didn't want to try weeding out the Holsteins, and there wasn't a single spotted calf.

With the value of calves these days, I imagine someone is looking for him, and I wouldn't want to be accused of cattle rustling for not trying hard to find the owner

A SIMILAR SITUATION...OK, Get the picture..There was a wreck on the highway a mile away. A bunch of cows got out of a stock hauler. Cows running loose for 2/3 days. Most were recovered, but 1 Brangus Cow was not. 6 months later in the wintertime, It showed up at my place. Since I had a stall and it knew what a barn was...(tracks all around every morning) I set a trap..A spring loaded door that was tripped by the cow. Baited her with sweet horse feed. I caught her on the first night that I tried. She had been loose for 6 months, living in a River swamp. I fed her, talked to her every day, tried to "fool" with her and tame her, but at the end of 6 months, she was fat... but would still attack. Not much more tame than she was the night I caught her. She is now in my freezer...