put him in a smaller pen, big enough so that you can stand in the middle and always be touching him with a show stick. just scratch him for a couple days, and soon he will figure out that he really likes to be scratched, then you can start scratching him with your hands. soon he will be so tame you can put a halter right on him.
or another way is to put grain down and let him eat. he will probably run at first, so stand far away at first, and everytime you do it move closer and closer to him, until you can scratch him with a showstick while hes eating. then put the halter in the feed pan and let him get used to eating with it in there. then try touching his head while hes eating and you are scratching him. soon you will be able to slip the halter on him while hes eating. when you get the halter on him, dont immediately take the grain away. let him finish eating it. that way he will relate getting a halter on with eating grain.
another way similar to the last is to just get him used to you standing on the opposite side of the fence while he eats. usually they arent as scared when there is a fence seperating you and them. you can put the halter in the grain pan or feeder just like in the last way, and slip it on then. also let them finish eating so they relate food and halter with each other. this way is virtually the same as the last, but usually doesnt take as long to be able to halter them, because of the fence in between.
the last way which i would not reccomend but is an option all the same is to rope the calf. make sure your in a pen small enough that the calf wont get away. the first couple times you do it the calf will try to get away, but just let him run in circles, sort of like lunging a horse. he will soon realize that he cant get away, and you can slowly recoil the rope and put a halter on him. this is definately the fastest way, but not the best. if you want the calf to like you, then do one of the other ways. this is just a quick fix for animals you dont really care about or arent showing but you want to be able to catch. we have a herd of show cattle and i halter break all our calves, heifers, bulls, and steers, even if we arent planning to show them. it makes handling them in the future alot easier just because they arent as scared since they are halter broke. the point is i use the roping technique on these guys because its quick and easy and they seem to always remember when they get roped around the neck, they know they are caught, and they just stand there until i get a halter on them. they dont always let you put a halter on them by scratching after being out in a pasture for 6 months. but again, i really wouldnt reccomend doing this to show cattle because you want to have a good relationship with them. one of the other ways is best. but its up to you.
also, just remember the more you work the animal, the tamer it gets (in most cases), so just do alot of rinsing, brushing, blowing, showmanship, and your animal will be easy to catch because they are so used to you touching them. hope this all helps!
