A RECORD number of animals entered for the 2017 Sullivan Livestock Gympie Carcass Classic meant a hectic morning's work for volunteers at the Woolooga Saleyards.

The Classic induction involves vaccinating and tagging all cattle before transport to the Pratt property at Tansey for the backgrounding stage.

On arrival at saleyards, each owner's cattle are placed in a separate pen and taken from there to be treated and tagged for identification in the feedlot.

PASSIONATE ABOUT THIS TOPIC? Click here to get alerts for Gympie rural stories 

Organised by the Gympie and District Beef Liaison Group, the Classic is one of the longest running in the state used by graziers to gain information about their cattle in relation to current market requirements.

GDBLG president Jim Viner said that for this year's Classic there are 51 graziers, including five high schools, who have entered one or more animals.

"The really pleasing aspect of the large numbers is that 12 of them are first-time entries," Mr Viner said. "We have an increase in entries from central Queensland areas.

RELATED: Friesian heifers under the hammer

"We are the only Carcass Classic event that provides backgrounding prior to cattle entering the feedlot."

Mr Viner said that backgrounding in a grazing situation allows cattle to settle down and get used to a changed environment.

"At times in the past animals did not put on weight when they first entered the feedlot and were behind in weight gains," he said. "Other Carcass competitions have grass fed and grain fed sections but none have the backgrounding."

Mr Vine said that a huge thank you should be given to the Pratt family for being able to organise taking in 175 head, which will be rotated around paddocks on a weekly basis, giving all cattle equal amounts and quality of pastures.

A potential problem could occur with a number of cattle at induction looking to be very well conditioned at round 300kg plus. This can mean that if they put on weight during the backgrounding stage they may finish after feedlotting at over the competition carcass maximum.

Cattle entered include just about every beef breed.

The next stage will be mid-weigh on June 13 at Cheshires Windera Feedlot and the day will include speakers on topics relevant to animal nutrition and health in a feedlot situation.