Reading Time: 3 minutes The effort to build production of certified sustainable beef in Canada is getting a major boost from Walmart. The retailing giant says its Canadian division will become a major buyer of beef certified by the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB). “This is the largest public commitment made by a single retailer to date: 1.5 […] Read more
Walmart commits to sustainable beef in a ‘milestone moment’
Retail giant will buy 1.5 million pounds in the coming year and more in the years that follow
Klassen: Feeder market reflects softer sentiment
Compared to last week, western Canadian yearling markets traded $2-$4 lower; calves over 700 lbs. appeared to hold value; calves weighing less than 700 lbs. were down $3 to as much as $5. The yearling run is basically finished. Ontario buying interest was supportive in the eastern Prairie regions due to the bumper corn crop; […] Read more
Klassen: Demand for feeder cattle eases
Compared to last week, western Canadian yearling prices were down $3-$5; calves traded $2-$6 below week-ago levels. The market has come under pressure for three main reasons. Cattle on feed inventories in Alberta and Saskatchewan are 36 per cent above the five-year average. Many feedlots are comfortable with ownership levels. The drought caused about 150,000 […] Read more
Walmart stakes big claim on Canadian sustainable beef
Retailer pledges to take over 680 tonnes in 2022
The Canadian arm of the world’s biggest retailer has put a number to its previous commitment to source certified-sustainable beef for its grocery business. Walmart Canada on Thursday announced it has committed to buy 1.5 million pounds of beef sourced from farms and ranches certified to Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB) standards over the […] Read more
Brazil’s JBS bought 301,000 cattle from ‘irregular’ farms in Amazon, audit finds
Prosecutors 'negotiating improvements' with companies
Sao Paulo | Reuters — Nearly a third of the cattle bought by JBS SA in the Brazilian Amazon state of Para came from ranches with “irregularities” such as illegal deforestation, prosecutors found in a 2020 audit of the world’s largest meatpacker released on Thursday. In a presentation, federal prosecutors said they were “negotiating improvements” […] Read more
Finding treasure by taking a deep dive into cow-calf production data
Cost of Production Network opens a window on how producers like you spend and make money
Reading Time: 3 minutes An effort to create apples-to-apples benchmarking for cattle producers has released its results from 2020 — and has also issued an appeal for more producers to join the Canadian Cow-Calf Cost of Production Network. “The purpose of the network is to produce benchmarks for different production systems found across Canada,” a newly released Canfax video […] Read more
Beef webinar season starting up soon
Reading Time: < 1 minute Backgrounding basics and crafting a grazing game plan are two of the topics in this winter’s season of webinars from the Beef Cattle Research Council. The first webinar on backgrounding (Nov. 17) features two vets and a livestock nutritionist. It will be followed by ones on collecting data during calving season (on Jan. 12), developing […] Read more
Klassen: Feeder market continues consolidation
U.S. corn northbound into Prairies
Compared to last week, western Canadian yearling prices were relatively unchanged while calf markets were down $2-$3 on average. Feedlot inventories in Alberta and Saskatchewan are 30 per cent above the five-year average; therefore, demand is lacking moving into the main marketing period for calves. Finishing feedlots have sufficient ownership and being fairly finicky on […] Read more
Argentina to restart beef exports to China after caps lifted
Buenos Aires | Reuters — Argentina on Tuesday said it would once again allow cattle farmers to freely export beef to China, lifting a cap imposed earlier this year that had stoked tensions with the agricultural sector. The government had capped beef exports at 50 per cent of the normal volumes to tamp down fast-rising […] Read more
Klassen: Feeder market holds value
Compared to last week, western Canadian yearling markets traded $2-$4 on either side of unchanged; calf prices held value, but there were pockets like Lethbridge where values were $2-$4 higher. Alberta packers were buying fed cattle on a live basis in the range of $156-$158. If an Alberta feedlot booked its feed grains in April […] Read more