Northern Australian beef production

Abstract

Cattle were first introduced to Australia with European settlement in 1788. Growth in the Australian beef herd was initially slow, but expanded in the late 19th century with the discovery of gold and the advent of refrigerated transport. By 1900, the Australian beef herd was estimated at 8.6 million head (ABS 2005) and extended to most regions of Australia, including very large pastoral holdings in central and northern Australia. The subsequent impact of two world wars and the Depression saw numbers remain comparatively stable for the next 50 years. In 1950, the Australian beef cattle herd was 9.7 million head (ABS 2005). During the first half of the 20th century, beef production in northern Australia was limited by a lack of effective inland transport systems, a strong (alternative) wool industry in some areas of northern Australia and the poor adaptation of 'Bos taurus' breeds of cattle to the stressors of the tropical environments (McDonald 1988). This changed dramatically over the 1950s to 1970s with the emergence of export markets in the UK and the development of major export markets to the USA and Japan when the trade to Great Britain abruptly ended with its entrance to the European Union. After the beef slump of the mid 1970s and the successful eradication of brucellosis and tuberculosis, there has been an extraordinary expansion of Brahman and Brahman-derived cattle in northern Australia since the 1980s (Bindon and Jones 2001).