A BIG win is all Kerry McCarthy could have hoped for from the Royal Brisbane Show.

The limousin steer named Banger was named reserve champion medium-weight steer of the show.

Though no stranger to exhibiting at the Ekka Mrs McCarthy, who runs Lochinvar Limousin stud at Clifton with husband Simon, said this year's win was extra special.

"We decided to name Banger after Keith Bange who was a very respected and well-loved cattleman around the Clifton area,” Mrs McCarthy said.

"He ran Kia-Ora stud and loved his cattle, particularly limousins, and he died after a long battle with cancer earlier this year at the age of 82 so we wanted to honour him.

"It was very emotional - Keith's brother Raymond and his daughter and granddaughter were there, and there were some tears when he was announced as reserve champ and when he was auctioned off.

"We showed Banger together with another local limousin breeder David Achilles and we thank him for this opportunity; we obviously make a good team.”

At a year old, Banger had placed at every Darling Downs show he was entered into.

Mrs McCarthy said even though Mr Achilles' cattle had performed well before, it was no easy feat to get the young steer to the Ekka.

"We were hoping for a ribbon which is pretty hard to achieve with the numbers, and they're all top quality, so to come away with reserve champion was amazing,” she said.

"We'll continue on the local circuit of shows but we don't know if we'll enter into Ekka again.

"It would be very hard to beat this year.”