Last week the internet was awash with Knickers. Nope, not the pants – the humongous cow who was too big to take to the slaughterhouse.
This week, it’s Dozer’s turn. Dozer’s an even bigger bull, if you can believe it, measuring a little over six feet and five inches – one inch bigger than Knickers.
As soon as Dozer’s owners at Kismet Creek Farm saw Knicker’s story go viral, they knew immediately they had to get the tape measure out – and they weren’t disappointed!
As reported by the New York Post, Canadian farmer Karl Schoenrock and his wife Raelle, who run the farm in Manitoba, described the bull as a ‘gentle giant’.
Last time the couple measured Dozer, who’s actually a steer – a castrated bull whose job is to ‘steer’ young cows – he came in at six feet three inches.
They took to Facebook to describe what happened:
So although they had measurements for him, they were a year or two old and the couple anticipated the steer would be larger than previously thought.
They wrote:
We knew the last time Dozer was measured he was 6’3″, so that’s what we said. However, he seemed bigger than that, and that measurement was a year or two ago. [sic]
So yesterday afternoon, when Global News was here, we measured Dozer for them, and he was 6’5″.
Schoenrock described Dozer as ‘the friendliest animal,’ who ended up at their farm – which is also an animal sanctuary – after being saved at just six months old by a vegan woman from a beef-producing farm in Alberta.
The farmer told the New York Post:
He’s just the friendliest animal. He’s not very intimidating at all, except for his size. If you stood next to him he’ll just lay down next to you.
Like Dozer, Knickers also avoided the slaughterhouse, but for different reasons. While Dozer was rescued at six months old from a beef-producing farm, Knickers was simply too big to be sold.
Knickers’ owner, Geoff Pearson, tried to sell the steer at auction last month. However, meat processors at the auction said they couldn’t take him as he was too big.
Instead, Knickers will live out his days at Geoff’s farm on Lake Preston, Myalup – around 85 miles south of Perth, the Mirror reports.
While Knickers’ other cow pals were sadly sent to the slaughterhouse, Geoff thought the big guy was a standout and decided to keep him, as ‘he’s not hurting anyone’.
After a while though, Geoff began to realise Knickers hadn’t stopped growing, and eventually reached a mammoth six feet four inches – weighing in at a whopping 220st.
Knickers is apparently beloved by the other cattle on the farm, who follow him around the place.
Speaking about how Knickers got his name, Geoff said:
When he was young, when we first got him, we had a Brahman steer [a breed of cattle] which was a friend of his.
So his name was Bra… so we [had] Bra and Knickers. We never thought he would turn into a big knickers.
Who knew cows could get so huge?
But as big as they are, they’ve still got a bit of growing to do. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the tallest living steer is a Chianina called Bellino, who stands at six feet seven inches.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).