Nominations are now open for Beef Australia’s 2027 National Beef Carcase Competition, one of the nation’s largest competitions of its type with processors in every Australian state participating.

Sponsored by the Australian Meat Processor Corporation, the competition offers producers a unique opportunity to benchmark their cattle against producers within their own region and other parts of Australia.

AMPC chief executive Edwina Toohey said the competition highlighted the importance of accurate carcase measurement in delivering value across the beef supply chain.

“The competition gives producers a clear, nationally-consistent way to assess how their cattle perform against market expectations, while supporting processors with valuable insights that ultimately contribute to eating quality, yield and profitability,” she said.

“The initiative helps strengthen collaboration between producers and processors, and that ensures Australian beef continues to meet the highest standards for domestic and export markets.”

Entrants will have the chance to be awarded Beef Australia’s 2027 AMPC National Beef Carcase Competition Champion Carcase, with cash prizes awarded to the first, second and third pens and ribbons to sixth place, across eight classes.

The competition is developed from the Australian Beef Carcase Appraisal System (ABCAS) by the National Beef Carcase Competition Committee of Beef Australia 2027 and is supported by Meat Standards Australia.

Nominations are evaluated against the MSA Index utilising the latest technology available to Australia’s beef industry. This includes the returning use of the Master Beef camera to allow oversight of grading data.

National Beef Carcase Competition Committee chair David Hill, said the appraisal system was specifically designed to meet both export and domestic market requirements, including lean meat yield and predicted eating quality using the MSA Index.

“Entrants have the opportunity to be recognised as producing some of the finest quality beef in the world, in a competition where the difference between first and minor placings can be less than a single point across three carcasses,” Mr Hill said.

To align with peak turn off periods, entrants have an opportunity to have their cattle entries delivered over a twelve-month competition phase, to their nominated meat processor for carcase judging.

Winners will be announced at an Awards Dinner at Beef 2027 in May next year.

Cash prizes and ribbons will be awarded to the top pens across each class, and MLA will award a trophy to the winning pen of three carcases with the highest combined MSA Index scores.

Champion Pen and Reserve Champion Pen will also be awarded to the Highest Scoring Pen of three across all classes, as well as Champion and Reserve Champion Carcase.

Nominations will close one month prior to the intended slaughter date of the entrant’s cattle, with the last slaughter date offered on 31 January 2027.

Nominations can now be made online for Beef Australia’s 2027 AMPC National Carcase Competition – click here.

For more information on the 2027 competition, including competition conditions and judging criteria, read the 2027 AMPC National Beef Carcase Competition Schedule available here.