Chicago | Reuters — Smithfield Foods will shutter its hog processing facility, the world’s largest, on Saturday to protect employees in North Carolina from Hurricane Matthew, industry sources said on Friday, as farmers braced for the storm’s potential lashing. Matthew has fueled concerns about the safety of livestock and farm workers along the coast from […] Read more
Smithfield to shutter major hog plant against Matthew
Olymel ham consolidation spurs more plant upgrades
Meat packer Olymel’s plans to consolidate its ham production work has led to a new round of plant upgrades. Olymel, the protein arm of Quebec agricultural co-operative La Coop federee, announced Wednesday it has budgeted $3 million in “redevelopment” work for its Beauce-region hog slaughter plant at Vallee-Jonction, about 60 km southeast of Quebec City. […] Read more
Ontario hogs confirmed with senecavirus
A hog virus watched closely in North America for its strong family resemblance to foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) has turned up in hogs in Ontario. Officials with hog industry body Ontario Pork reported Monday that senecavirus A, formerly called Seneca Valley virus or SVV, has been confirmed in the province. Neighbouring industry body Manitoba Pork said […] Read more
Hog producers taking a hit as prices plunge once again
The low dollar is taking away some of the pain caused by a big increase in the American pig herd
Reading Time: 3 minutes The roller-coaster ride for hog producers has once again taken a steep downward plunge. “Prices really started to slide a couple of months ago,” said Marcel Rupert, who has an 800-sow farrow-to-finish operation north of Drumheller. And they may have a ways to go. The price of feeder pigs is a leading indicator in the […] Read more
September record-large U.S. hog herd topped expectations
Reuters — The U.S. hog herd in the June-August quarter grew two per cent versus a year ago to a record high, according to Friday’s U.S. Department of Agriculture report, which surpassed average trade projections. Affordable feed, solid summer grilling demand and respectable U.S. pork exports encouraged farmers to grow their herds. Several producers ramped […] Read more
Olymel pork plant to get $11 million in upgrades
Pork and poultry packer Olymel has budgeted $11 million in expansions and new equipment for a Quebec sausage processing plant to handle hams and other smoked meats and boost its output by about 50 per cent. The company, part of agrifood and ag retail co-operative La Coop federee, announced Thursday that upgrades are expected to […] Read more
PED reappears in southeastern Manitoba
Manitoba has logged its first on-farm case of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) in over three months, in a sow barn in the province’s livestock-intensive southeast. Southeastern Manitoba has been home to all of the province’s nine on-farm outbreaks of PED since the virus first appeared there in February 2014. In the latest case, the provincial […] Read more
Hog profits disappear as U.S. futures crash
CNS Canada — A sharp drop in the U.S. hog futures over the past week is cutting into the profitability of the Canadian sector as well, with a turn higher unlikely in the near term. U.S. lean hog futures set new contract lows over the past week, as large North American supplies and expectations for […] Read more
University of Saskatchewan develops vaccine for PED
Reading Time: < 1 minute It has taken Saskatchewan veterinary researchers less than a year to develop, test and prototype a vaccine for PEDv, a devastating hog disease that has killed more than eight million pigs and cost pork producers $400 million worldwide. PEDv hit the United States in 2013 and spread to Canada in 2014. It was first discovered […] Read more
Smithfield says Illinois hog plant shut down after fire
Chicago | Reuters — Smithfield Foods on Tuesday said a hog slaughterhouse in western Illinois will be operational as soon as possible after a fire halted pork production on Monday. “(The) cause of the fire is being investigated,” Smithfield spokeswoman Kathleen Kirkham said, adding that there were no injuries in the fire that occurred in […] Read more
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