What do you do when your home in Idaho has a pasture? You get a cow, of course. That’s what Elias Herrera and his family did when they moved into their countryside home in the Treasure Valley in 2023. They bought a days-old Holstein steer for $100 from a local dairy farm and named him “Bruce.”
“I’m sure the farm I bought him from doesn’t even know he exists anymore,” Herrera says. “He was just another steer that wasn't going to produce milk for them.”
Today, Bruce is more than just another steer. He has millions of followers on social media. People around the world follow this Idaho steer on Herrera’s social media channels to see what human foods he will try next and what house pet-like activities Bruce will do with the family. Herrera says Bruce’s fame was truly accidental.
Bruce is halter-broke and gets tied off prior to a shoot to get his camera jitters out before coming inside. Herrera has a helper with a bucket to try to catch any manure if Bruce relieves himself indoors. However, Herrera has had to clean up an accident or two. Photo by Walt Cooley.
This year, Herrera, who is a videographer and wannabe full-time social media influencer, began a 30-day ice bath challenge. He videoed himself soaking in a nearby ice-covered lake. When he didn’t want to travel to the lake for a video, he’d break the ice in the stock tank behind his house and film there. Herrera’s animals were always curious why a human was in their waterer. One day, to keep things interesting for himself and his viewers, he decided to feed Bruce, the most curious of his family’s animals, a doughnut through the fence while sitting in the stock tank. Bruce gobbled it down on camera. Herrera’s few followers at the time loved the video. The mild success made him think, “What other snacks might cows love?” While finishing his ice bath challenge video series, Herrera would pick a new snack for Bruce to try each day. Bruce didn’t disappoint with his curiosity. Herrera offered him flaming-hot chips, licorice and peanut butter, among other things. More and more people started following Herrera, not to learn about ice baths but to see what Bruce would eat next.
On an extra cold, windy Idaho day, Herrera decided he didn’t want to film any more ice bath videos. He didn’t really like doing them, yet his followers still wanted to see Bruce, who had only ever lived outside in the pasture. That’s when Herrera decided to bring Bruce into the house to try out human food – pancakes for breakfast. He slipped a halter on Bruce and brought him up the back steps of the family’s house, through a sliding glass door and into the kitchen. Sitting at the kitchen table with a stack of hotcakes in front of him, Herrera attempted to eat his meal with Bruce poking over his shoulder in the frame and competing with him to eat the food. Bruce devoured everything in sight, including the fresh flowers on the table.
Within a week, the video had more than 70 million views.
Herrera carefully sets up each video shoot before bringing Bruce into the house to film. Photo by Walt Cooley.
“Why people wanted to see a cow in the house so bad is amazing,” Herrera says.
Herrera continued making more videos of Bruce in the house eating other foods and scoping out food in the fridge and pantry. He even created a faux day in the life of Bruce, including brushing his teeth with a human back scrubber in the family’s master bathroom and then going for a jog outside with Herrera.
Bruce and Herrera’s creativity has garnered the social media content creator millions of followers. He’s set up a shop where fans can buy Bruce-themed merchandise.
Since the at-home-meal videos, Herrera has taken Bruce on the road. He’s visited restaurants and dined on their cuisine with Bruce. He has also received offers from national fast-food chains to pay him to have Bruce try their new menu items on camera.
Herrera says internet fame hasn’t been without negative attention too.
He’s received direct messages from those who feel his actions are cruel and exploitive. Just like Idaho farmers and ranchers, he finds himself regularly educating the general public about basic things they don’t know about animals or agriculture.
“People are unaware that such a small amount of food for such a huge animal is not going to affect them in a negative way,” Herrera says. “It’s just a treat. I try to stay on top of letting people know that he has a healthy diet.” Besides the special snacks, Bruce lives like any other Idaho backyard steer on a diet of alfalfa hay, pasture grass and occasional grain.
This is the aftermath of a meal with Bruce. Photo by Walt Cooley.
Herrera visited his uncle’s dairy farm, Nunes Farms in Escalon, California, often while growing up, but he is mostly new to hands-on animal husbandry. He’s learning as much about raising a steer as any other first-time 4-H’er would. He bottle-fed Bruce as a baby and has spent one-on-one time with him from a young age. Overall, Herrera says Bruce is an exceptionally docile bovine, not a bull in a china shop.
“I know that most cattle operations don’t get to hang out with each individual animal,” Herrera says. “I did because Bruce was the only animal we had at the time. As I got comfortable with him, he – even more so – got comfortable with me.”
Bruce now has two other penmates – a camera-shy red Friesian-Jersey cross and a Holstein heifer calf who is a yet-to-be-named but rising star.
“I've done other social media content since filming Bruce, but this is one thing that's actually taken off for me. So I'm going to keep pursuing this.”
Check out the videos of Bruce on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
Q&A with Bruce’s owner Elias Herrera
What’s the most frequently asked question you get about Bruce?
“Does he actually live in your house?” No, he lives in our pasture out back. And “Does he poop in the house?” Yes, he does. We try to have a 5-gallon bucket ready during filming to collect any poop, but we aren’t always quick enough to catch it.
How do you prepare for a video?
I expect the unexpected. I'm actually looking for the chaos for the videos. I think that's what people like. I want Bruce to be naturally sporadic and chaotic.
What foods doesn’t Bruce like?
He actually doesn’t like fluid milk much, and he doesn’t like whipped cream. He also doesn’t like sour candy.
What’s your favorite video with Bruce so far?
A local sushi restaurant made us these giant vegan sushi rolls. I thought the one of Bruce eating those was pretty cool. Seeing Bruce lip-smack on peanut butter was pretty funny. He went nuts over that.
How often do you check on your video hits after posting?
I try not to pay attention too much to it. I'll look at it the night after I post it and then the next morning. After that, I don't pay attention to it much, unless it’s getting 70 million views of course. I try to pay attention to comments and DMs. People are watching my videos; the least I could do is give them a response. Hearing from fans makes it feel like it’s worthwhile what I’m doing.
What other animals do you have?
Chickens, peacocks, ducks, pigs.
When he’s not on camera, Bruce enjoys the typical life of a backyard Holstein steer in Idaho. Photo by Walt Cooley.
