Prediction of eating quality of beef at an early stage post mortem would enable selection of carcases for specific markets. Shackelford (2004) reported the design of near infra red (NIR) equipment suitable for measurement of larger areas of the muscle and also the prediction of 14 day slice shear force values from NIR measurements made at 2 days post slaughter (Shackelford 2005). The aim of the present study was to evaluate the use of equipment of a similar design and manufacture to that used by Shackelford et al (2005), to evaluate repeatability and time of measurement of NIR spectra on the prediction of Warner-Bratzler Shear force values.