(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

U.S. livestock: Bargain buying reverses CME live cattle futures skid

Chicago/Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures rallied on Tuesday as strength from bargain buying and short-covering ended the market’s four-session slide, said traders. They said futures garnered more support from fund buying after contracts broke through technical resistance levels. Most actively traded December live cattle closed 0.950 cent per pound higher at 102.600 […] Read more

U.S. livestock: CME live cattle futures losses mount; hogs rally

Chicago/Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures closed lower for a fourth straight session on Monday, led by initial technical selling and a retreat in wholesale beef values, said traders. Most actively traded December live cattle closed 1.075 cents per pound lower at 101.650 cents, and settled nearly par with the 40-day moving average […] Read more


U.S. livestock: CME live cattle, hog futures extends losses

Chicago/Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures on Friday settled in negative territory for the third straight day after cash prices fell short of investors’ expectations, said traders. CME live cattle losses mounted after falling below technical support levels, which triggered sell stops and fund liquidation. Most actively-traded December live cattle closed 1.350 cents […] Read more

Photo: File

U.S. livestock: Live cattle, hog futures stumble on profit-taking

Chicago/Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures finished lower on Thursday, hit by profit-taking and early-session technical selling, traders said. Investors sold the October contract and simultaneously bought deferred months, in a trading strategy known as bear-spreading. Most actively traded December live cattle closed 1.300 cents per pound lower at 104.075 cents, and February […] Read more


(Regis Lefebure photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

U.S. livestock: Hogs surge on technical buying, cattle mostly higher

Chicago | Reuters –– Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures soared three per cent on Wednesday, rebounding on technical buying from the steep losses seen in the previous session, traders and analysts said. Cattle futures also were mostly higher, even as some contracts edged slightly lower after hitting one-month peaks. Higher prices for wholesale beef […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Maple Leaf profit jumps by over 70 per cent

Reuters — Meat processor Maple Leaf Foods on Wednesday reported a 70.4 per cent jump in quarterly profit as lower costs and higher prices boosted earnings at its prepared meats business. Maple Leaf said adjusted operating earnings in its meat products unit, the company’s primary source of income, more than doubled to $65.93 million in […] Read more


(Photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

PED outbreaks slow, but still top of mind in Ontario

Swine Health Ontario dedicated its recent annual Big Bug Day to continuing toward the goal of eradicating porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) from Ontario. Martin Misener, a vet and chair of the Ontario Swine Health Advisory Board, challenged the hog industry to not get complacent about stopping PED. Misener noted he had heard from people who […] Read more

(VDL.umn.edu)

Cull sows no longer stopped at U.S. border

Canada’s swine industry appears to have dodged what could have been an economic catastrophe with quick action on senecavirus A. In August this year, 13 Ontario animals were identified with lesions on their snouts or hooves at a processing plant in the U.S., triggering a memo from the U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service to […] Read more


(ManitobaPork.com)

Pork packer HyLife to enter expansion mode

Manitoba hog slaughter and pork processing firm HyLife says it’s setting itself up for major expansions of its hog finishing and pork processing capacities. The company on Friday said “steady growth in demand” for its pork products overseas calls for an investment of up to $125 million in its integrated pork operations, to start “as […] Read more

(SmithfieldFoods.com)

Smithfield sees pork operations back to normal Monday

Wilmington, N.C. | Reuters — Smithfield Foods expects to resume full production on Monday at its North Carolina meat operations, including the world’s largest pork plant, more than a week after Hurricane Matthew struck the U.S. Southeast and triggered widespread flooding in the state. Operations will get back to normal at Smithfield’s four North Carolina […] Read more