While the backlog of market-ready cattle is greatly reduced, prices remain depressed for feeders. It will be months before the situation is remedied, says Leighton Kolk.

The cattle backlog is easing, but feedlots are still hurting

Feedlot owners losing $200 to $300 a head even though glut of market-ready cattle is smaller

Reading Time: 4 minutes While the backlog of cattle from packing plant closures and slowdowns last spring has dwindled, feedlot owners are still being hit hard. In the spring, there was a backlog of 130,000 cattle that needed to be processed. That number is now down to 30,000, thanks to no more further shutdowns at packing plants, which have […] Read more


When it comes to burger ads, it’s pretty tough to tell McDonald’s Quarter Pounder (top left) from the company’s new McPlant burger (top right). But is it confusing in the grocery store? While Impossible Foods calls its ground beef substitute “burger made from plants,” (bottom right) Beyond Meat uses beef and ‘plant based’ but also a steer logo (bottom left).

Some cattle producers have a beef with fake-meat labelling

Is it misleading to use words like burger and meat for veggie substitutes?

Reading Time: 6 minutes Plant-based protein. Simulated meat. Alternative protein. When it comes to labelling fake meat, what’s in a name? Well, it depends on who you ask. Some say using words like ‘burger’ or ‘sausage’ to describe vegetarian fare is misleading. “To me, it’s obvious we’re producing the best meat product, because everybody else wants to call theirs […] Read more

Beef is on display at a Walmart in Beijing on Sept. 23, 2019. (File photo: Reuters/Tingshu Wang)

China’s coronavirus testing chokes beef trade

Additional inspections, disinfections costly for importers

Beijing | Reuters — In a supermarket in downtown Beijing, refrigerator shelves normally filled with steak from around the world sit empty as tougher testing for the novel coronavirus creates supply bottlenecks and raises prices for importers. Fresh supplies of beef won’t arrive for days, a salesman at the Suning.com-owned Carrefour outlet told Reuters — […] Read more






Nelson Fagan Jr. greets 10 Charolais cows at his ranch near Conception Bay South in October. (N. Fagan Meats video screengrab via Facebook)

Newfoundland beef producers backed to develop abattoirs

Three proposals get six figures each; breeding cows also provided

A provincial call for proposals to boost beef slaughter capacity in Newfoundland and Labrador has yielded three successful applicants. The provincial government on Nov. 5 announced its Beef Industry Enhancement Initiative will provide just over $1.8 million in total to its three successful proposals: $719,750 for Troy Humber of Northern Arm, about 40 km northeast […] Read more



(Lovelyshot/iStock/Getty Images)

Beef deal with Japanese distributor hailed

Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta Beef Producers is hailing a new partnership between JBS Foods Canada and Kanematsu, “a well-respected and leading food-service/distribution company based in Japan.” JBS Foods Canada said the arrangement will see Kanematsu distribute products such as the premium beef Northern Gold brand and the Canadian Diamond Black Angus brand. The partnership is exciting and reflects […] Read more