The standard instrumental method for measurement of texture, Warner Bratzler shear force (WBSF), involves shearing six ‘good’ cores taken from a cooked sample of meat, with coring parallel to the fibre direction (AMSA, 1995), which is a time consuming and destructive methodology. A new, more rapid method, the slice shear force (SSF) test was developed which involves measuring the shear force of a single slice per sample (Shackelford et al 1999a). Shackelford et al. (1999b) reported that SSF was strongly correlated with sensory scores for 14d aged meat. The aim of the current investigation was to study the effect of sex differences on instrumental meat quality and to identify the relationship between SSF measured at 2 days and WBSF values measured at 14 and 21 days post slaughter.