Introduction Queensland (QLD) is Australias second largest state spreading over 1,730,648 km2, which is about 22.5％ of the Australian continent.Queensland stands as the biggest producer and exporter of beef in Australia with beef cattle herd of 11.9 m (43.6％ of the national herd).The combined gross value of QLDs beef cattle production and meat processing sectors was estimated around $4.5 billion in2010.The beef industry provides QLD over one-third of the total gross value of the agricultural industries and about 83％ of the total gross value of production of all QLDs livestock industries(DEEDI, 2010).Seventy percent of the cattle are grass-fed, with the remaining 30％ typically raised on pastures for around 17 to 21 months and then finished in feediots on grains for a period between 60 and 120 days.