Meet Herbie, the heftiest highland steer in New Zealand.

The 11-year-old is so big he has outgrown weight crates and cannot fit into a stock truck, making it near impossible to prove his true size.

He is the last of three highland steers Peter and Jan Henderson bought almost a decade ago.

The other two ended up as a series of dinners at their central Canterbury farm.

With horns spanning about 1.5 metres, Herbie has to turn his head to get into the Henderson's stock yards.

He is too big to fit into the cattle race.

"Steers do generally grow quite big," Jan Henderson said. "But I can't say I have ever seen one quite as big as Herbie before."

Rural Livestock stock agent John Honeybone said while Herbie was not the largest breed of steer he had encountered, he was the biggest highland steer he had seen.

Herbie's placid nature and leadership qualities have so far kept the butcher at bay.

He runs with the Henderson's other cattle and has established his place as the herd leader.

He is currently "babysitting" a young steer by keeping it company in the field, Jan Henderson said.

Despite Herbie's placid nature, he has not been handled.

"He is very quiet, but you don't want to get too close. He's definitely not a pet," she said.

Giant New Zealand cattle have held previous records.

Until his death in 2004, Shannon-based south devon steer Big Red was the world's largest steer.

He stood more than 180 centimetres high and weighed more than 2000 kilograms.

- © Fairfax NZ News