S1 E35: Remembering Australia‘s 1974-78 Beef Cattle Slump

In this week's episode of The Weekly Grill podcast series, host Kerry Lonergan turns the clock back to the 1970s, to take a look at the Great Aussie Cattle Slump.

The years 1974-78 were without question the toughest that the Australian beef cattle industry has ever seen.

In the lead-up to the slump, the national beef herd had built up to unprecedented levels above 31 million head.  Meat market prices collapsed virtually overnight in 1974 as the two largest export customers, the US and Japan, withdrew their support for Australian beef. During the depths of the cycle, meatworks cattle were often worth less than the cost of freight to get them to market.

Domestic beef consumption soared to above 70kg/person, as meat was sold to the public at 'give-away' prices.

In addition to the financial impact, the beef slump took an enormous psychological toll on industry stakeholders.

What caused it? How bad did it get? Could it happen again? What did the industry learn?

Guests this week include veteran Northwest Queensland beef producer, Don McDonald, who was newly married when the cattle slump hit; former Australian Meat Industry Council processor group chief executive Steve Martyn; and veteran Victorian stock agent, Bruce Redpath, who was a fresh-faced new Elders recruit in 1974.