Chicago | Reuters — CME Group hog futures advanced for the second day in a row on Tuesday, with supplies remaining tight due to shutdowns at slaughterhouses due to the coronavirus pandemic. Cattle futures were weaker, pressured by a sharp drop in equity markets. “Cattle are more closely tied with the economy,” said Don Roose, […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hog futures firm
Cattle futures slip with stock sell-off
Klassen: Uncertainty defines feeder market
'Hope' factor remains supportive
Compared to last week, western Canadian yearling prices were down $3-`$5 on average while calves were unchanged to down $2. Sales were characterized by low volumes and limited buying interest. Feedlot operators are hesitant to step forward in the current environment, with packing plants on both sides of the border reducing capacity. At the same […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hog futures rise on supply woes
CME cattle contracts ease
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. hog futures rallied on Monday, with supply expected to tighten after another slaughterhouse was shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, traders said. “If we have packers up and running we know we have the domestic demand,” said Ted Seifried, chief market strategist for Zaner Ag Hedge. “It is just […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Cattle mixed on hopes of economic reopening
'We're producing too many pigs for our demand'
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. live and feeder cattle futures ended mixed on Friday, with nearby contracts pressured by coronavirus-related disruptions at packing plants, while hopes for a reopening of the economy lifted deferred contracts. Actively traded June live cattle ended higher on the week, for a second straight week, after seven consecutive weeks of […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Cattle futures rebound to one-week high
Lean hog trade remains focused on plant shutdowns
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. live and feeder cattle futures jumped to one-week highs on Thursday as the markets extended rebounds after diving recently on concerns about the new coronavirus backing up livestock on farms. Hog futures remained under pressure from disruptions caused by the virus, which has shut pork processing plants run by Smithfield […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Cattle, hog futures recover
Cargill cuts more beef shifts, Smithfield shuts more pork plants
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. cattle and hog futures advanced on Wednesday as the markets recovered slightly from recent losses that traders said had dropped prices too far below the cash markets. Futures prices have tumbled recently as major meat companies have shut slaughterhouses due to the spread of the new coronavirus among employees. The […] Read more
Why closed cattle herds are like unicorns
It takes extraordinary measures to truly have a closed herd, and that’s why vaccinations are needed
Reading Time: 2 minutes (Note: This article has been edited and condensed.) A surprising proportion of producers believe they run a closed herd. The 2017 Western Canadian Cow-Calf Survey found that of approximately 25 per cent of respondents who did not vaccinate their cows and heifers against reproductive diseases such as IBR and BVD, over half said their reason was because […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Cattle futures rise as traders hope slaughterhouses reopen soon
Hogs more sensitive to packer disruptions
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. cattle futures rose Tuesday in a turnaround from recent losses, supported by a temporary easing of concerns over meat plants’ shutting due to cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus among workers, analysts said. Livestock markets have been fixated on shutdowns of meat plants because processing disruptions cause a backup in supplies […] Read more
Cow-calf producers needed for cost-of-production initiative
Reading Time: < 1 minute Canfax is undertaking an initiative to develop baseline cost-of-production statistics. The Canadian Cow-Calf Cost of Production Network will host 26 producer focus groups (each consisting of five to six producers in each) across Canada in 2020-21. Scenarios will be developed of what future farms could look like utilizing the Five Per Cent Rule approach of […] Read more
U.S. livestock: June hogs, cattle plunge limit down
COVID-19 shuts more U.S. meat processors
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. livestock futures tumbled on Monday on worries about declining U.S. meat processing capacity after Smithfield Foods announced Sunday it would indefinitely shut one of its pork plants due to novel coronavirus infections among workers. The closure at Sioux Falls, S.D., affecting four to five per cent of U.S. pork production, […] Read more
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