Methods of estimating tenderness of beef muscle were evaluated on 282 steer and heifer carcasses. pH values (1 h and 2 h post-mortem) did not relate to shear values or panel tenderness scores on the cooked longissimus dorsi, evaluated after 6 days’ aging. Values obtained with the Armour tenderometer on the raw rib-eye were not useful predictors of tenderness of the cooked muscle (r2 < 6%). The Ottawa Texture Measuring System extrusion cell did not relate texture properties of the raw muscle to tenderness of the cooked meat. Marbling score explained 14% of the variance in panel tenderness scores. No satisfactory classification of carcasses into tenderness desirability groups was achieved with any of the methods examined.