Update Aug. 21, 2020: Dozer, the impossibly tall steer from Steinbach Man., has died, the Kismet Creek Farm announced on its Facebook page this week. Original story runs below.

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When Karl Schoenrock saw the viral photo of Knickers, a six foot four inches tall steer, towering over a herd of cattle, he decided to bust out the measuring tape.

Schoenrock and his wife Raelle run the Kismet Creek Farm animal sanctuary near Steinbach, Man., which is home to another massive bovine named Dozer, who looms large over the farm's other animals — and most of the people, too.

The steer — a castrated bull whose job is to "steer" young cows — came in at just a little taller than 6-5.

Dozer, a 6-foot-5 steer lives at Kismet Creek Farm animal sanctuary near Steinbach, Man. The giant animal has become a viral sensation. 1:04

"We were kind of blown away. Nothing super official, like Guinness official, but that's what we got," Karl Schoenrock told As It Happens host Carol Off.

"He wasn't on the flattest ground. I don't mind sharing the limelight."

The Australian steer known as Knickers was originally destined to become meat. He reportedly weighs the equivalent of 4,000 hamburgers, and his sheer size saved him from the slaughterhouse.

"He was just simply too big to process," owner Geoff Pearson told As It Happens on Wednesday.

Knickers the steer towers over a cow herd in a paddock in Myalup, Australia. The surrounding cattle are young wagyu — a breed that grows to only 1.4 metres. (Channel 7's Today Tonight/ Associated Press)

Dozer also avoided becoming hamburger.

Schoenrock said the steer came to the sanctuary in August by way of a vegan woman named Rebecca, who "saved him from a beef farm in Alberta."

"When I first saw him, I was giddy," he said.

"He's just so massive. His head is so huge compared to anything I've ever seen before."

'He is a smusher'

Dozer is now a favourite at the Kismet Creek Farm, which allows animals to live out their full lives without being killed or sold.

"Oh, he is a smusher," Schoenrock said. "You start scratching him and he'll just push into you just to get more scratches, and he loves it."

Schoenrock says Dozer is a big, cuddly sweetheart, who gets along well with horses on the farm. (Submitted by Raelle Schoenrock)

And Dozer never lords his size over the other animals, Schoenrock said.

"Dozer's quite the gentle giant," he said.

"We have a couple of horses in the same pen with him and they kind of push him around a little bit and he allows it. He's just that type of guy, that he's very, very calm."

Anyone who wants to meet the big bovine can head over to Kismet Creek Farm, which opens as a petting zoo on weekends.

Dozer with a steer of smaller stature in Steinbach, Man. (Submitted by Karl Schoenrock)

Written by Sheena Goodyear. Produced by Jeanne Armstrong.