On Wednesday morning, Capt. Chad Reiman was sitting in his Norfolk, Neb., office when he heard radio traffic that immediately piqued his interest. There was a report about a car driving through the city’s downtown area with a cow inside of it.

 

Reiman “just had to see it for myself because it seemed so unusual,” he told The Washington Post. He drove to the scene, where he found a fully grown, black-and-white dappled steer with long protruding horns riding shotgun in his owner’s modified Ford Crown Victoria sedan.

“It was quite a big surprise,” said Reiman, with the Norfolk Police Division. “We were all kind of expecting it to be a smaller animal, like a calf, that would actually fit into a vehicle, not the large animal that we actually discovered there.”

The animal was Howdy Doody, a 2,200-pound, 9-year-old Watusi-longhorn mix steer who’s more doglike than fierce fighting bull. His owner, Lee Meyer, said Howdy Doody enjoys going on walks on a leash, getting treats and, yes, feeling the wind rush past his face when they go on rides. Howdy Doody also knows some commands, such as “back up” and “come here.”

In Neligh, Neb., where the Meyers live, Howdy Doody has become a bit of a local celebrity through his appearances in parades – during which he’s often perched next to Meyer in the modified Crown Victoria. But in Norfolk, a city of some 24,000 residents, authorities considered the duo’s ride to be a safety hazard. After Meyer was stopped by police, he was issued a warning for vision obstruction and unsecured load. He was also asked to drive Howdy Doody home.

“I mean, there weren’t a whole lot of options,” Reiman said. “What would you expect me or anybody to do with an over 1,500-pound animal in the middle of a downtown in a city? It’s not like I could take him to the dog pound. There was only one option, and that was to let that gentleman drive back to his home.”

How did a massive steer wind up inside a Crown Vic? That’s the result of what Meyer described as an “aha moment” he had about seven years ago while thinking about how he could drive around with his beloved pet.

“My granddaughter thought it was a bad idea and that it’d never work,” Meyer told The Post. “So I said, ‘Well, Grandpa can do anything, but it might take me a while.’ I wanted to prove her wrong.”

The 63-year-old retired machinist tinkered with his car, an old police cruiser, for a couple of months. He reinforced the floor, suspension and frame. He put a gate on the side and added a plexiglass barrier. Then came the finishing touches: miniature horns adorning the hood of the car and a plate reading “BOY & DOG.”

Since then, Howdy Doody – whom Meyer bought when he was about 6 months old from a breeder in Ohio – has ridden shotgun to spots around Neligh. On longer trips, the steer rides in a trailer, but Howdy Doody “likes the car better,” Meyer said.

“Howdy Doody is probably the most spoiled steer in all of northeastern Nebraska,” said Meyer’s wife, Rhonda.

Meyer makes sure the weather will be perfect before each drive, she said: “It can’t be hot and it also can’t be during winter when it’s too cold. Like I said, he’s spoiled.” Sometimes, Meyer even stops at the gas station to buy Howdy Doody ice cream – though treats usually consist of cattle cubes or pressed alfalfa pellets.

Meyer began caring for Howdy Doody, along with another longhorn named Maybelle and six bison, after he retired and his children grew up. “Everybody’s got to do something, right?” Meyer said. “I just got a little land and a little time and this is what I decided to do.”

While Howdy Doody was already known locally after his parade performances, his celebrity has now reached new heights after the video of his ride in Norfolk went viral. Clips taken by News Channel Nebraska have racked up more than 11 million views on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter.

Meyer said the traffic stop won’t prevent him from driving his beloved steer around, though he still has beef with Norfolk and probably won’t bring Howdy Doody there again.

“We were going to go to Norfolk’s Oktoberfest – that’s why we were doing a trial run there,” Meyer said. “I don’t think we’ll be coming back. But . . . it will take a lot more to stop a man and his steer.”

And as for the granddaughter he tried to impress by figuring out how to drive Howdy Doody around: “She thought the police stop was funny but won’t admit I won. She says that I’m not a movie star, I’m just a chauffeur.”

(c) 2023, The Washington Post · María Luisa Paúl