Steer Running Away

We have had my daughters steer since Halloween.  Last week he started going on a walk-about.  He started running through the fence and at first would stick around the outside of the fence, but Saturday he headed for the hills.  Luckily we were nearby and were able to get in  front of him and point him toward home.  He is in with 2 other cows and 5 horses.  I watched him go through the fence Sat.  and he actually looked like he was trying to coax the little heifer calf we have to go with him.  He gets down on his knees and crawls under the top strand which was the only strand with electric.  He has been in the same pasture with the same animals this whole time, nothing has changed except we have been getting hammered with snow.  I attached a jumper strand and put electric in the lower strand but I am afraid to let him out.  Since I locked him up he has lost about 15lb.  He is right around 850 - 875 for a July fair.  I have a 50 mile fencer hooked to about 1/4 mile of fence it is putting out about 5500 + on the fence tester.  The animals get 8 bale of hay a day, and they are 50lb square bales.  He is getting 15lb of feed a day.  They have a block of mineral salt.  I was thinking about a weed wacker fencer to see if that would zap him enough.  Any ideas what i can do to fix him? Someone suggested putting a chain around his neck and leave it hang, but if he's crawling will it work?  We have no other cattle the direction he keeps going, but we do have cattle about 500 yds on the other side of us and across the road. 

That's a tough one. Once an animal knows they can get away, they will do anything to accomplish their goal.
How is he with a halter, being led?
Sometimes those critters run with the halter on too. Very dangerous. Go ahead and try the lower electric fence, I have seen steers time the pulse of the fence, and charge though.
Good luck!!

One question I have is why do you have him in with horses? I personally tend to think that the horses and cows don't do well together, and in some cases the horses will run cows pretty bad. Can you put him in the barn with the other calf?

the horses in the same lot was my first thought too...we never put our horses and cattle together for the very reason stnc said...our horses will chase the cows away from feed, water, and anything else that they think they may want, and then just chase them for fun...

linnettejane said:

the horses in the same lot was my first thought too...we never put our horses and cattle together for the very reason stnc said...our horses will chase the cows away from feed, water, and anything else that they think they may want, and then just chase them for fun...

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Very true. We keep ours separate for that very reason too.

barbed wire, three strands on top and one on bottom should fix him. Get him away from the horses also.

he wants to be near something for some reason.  besides food, does he have any reason to be near you?  do you interact with him with no expectation like sitting down with pops and watching football?  animals like small talk that makes them comfortable.  if someone had all the ice cream and beer i could consume, but wouldn't communicate otherwise, a relationship can't be built.  they should look forward to you being with them.  do you go out there and just scratch on them, ie groom them like they do each other?  all the bars and fence can't free their souls.  try doing something out of the ordinary and see how long it takes for them to come to you.  take a book and just sit down and read and watch them.  cattle are curious, if you aren't using that to your advantage, it will work to your mutual disadvantage.