The meat packing arm of Quebec’s La Coop federee has budgeted $25 million for a major expansion project at its hog slaughter and butchering plant at St-Esprit, Que. Olymel’s expansion plan, announced Tuesday, is expected to bring the plant’s floor space to over 215,000 square feet, up by about 35,000 square feet, and boost its […] Read more
Olymel plans major expansion for Quebec hog plant
Canada’s hog farmers suspect U.S. truck washes in PED fight
Reuters — Canadian farm groups are blasting U.S. truck washes for being too dirty to prevent the spread of a virus that has killed millions of piglets in recent years, exposing a dispute over the effectiveness of such facilities in North American agriculture. The brewing battle over trucks comes as Manitoba, which slaughters more swine […] Read more
Fewer downers being shipped, says hog exchange
An undercover video showing abuse has prompted widespread changes at the hog assembly yard
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Red Deer hog assembly yard at the heart of animal abuse allegations almost two years ago has seen industry-wide improvements in animal handling. “Since the Mercy for Animals incident, we have made significant strides in improving our level of animal care and husbandry,” said Brent Moen, chair of the Western Hog Exchange. “And I […] Read more
Cash hog market benefits from barbecue season
CNS Canada –– The Canadian hog market is gearing up to start bringing home the bacon. Weekly cash hog prices are higher on continued stronger seasonal pork cutout values, with lower supply creating better prices. “Prices generally do increase over the summer,” said Brad Marceniuk, a provincial livestock economist in Saskatoon. “I expect hog prices […] Read more
Manitoba hog producers worry as PED continues spread
CNS Canada — Hog industry officials are increasingly concerned how Manitoba producers will be impacted after another hog farm in southeastern Manitoba confirmed a case of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) on Saturday. The province, which until last week hadn’t reported any new on-farm cases since January 2015, logged new cases in the southeast on May […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Cattle limit down after bearish USDA surprise
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. live cattle and feeder cattle futures tumbled by their respective daily price limits on Monday, declining two per cent or more in a selloff triggered by bearish U.S. Department of Agriculture data released after Friday’s session. Cattle gapped lower on their price charts at the opening of trading, before locking […] Read more
New PED threat ‘a crisis moment,’ says Alberta Pork
Prairie pork boards say swine trailers coming from U.S. must be washed and disinfected here
Reading Time: 2 minutes Not requiring hog trailers coming from the U.S. to be washed and disinfected at certified Canadian wash sites is a “a crisis moment for the Canadian swine industry,” says Alberta Pork. The organization joined its western Canadian counterparts in a last-ditch effort to persuade the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to extend a federally approved trailer-wash […] Read more
A+W books further sales growth, shifts bacon sourcing
Canadian burger and root beer chain A+W has logged a 12th straight quarter of same-store sales growth, this time following a shift in pork sourcing for its bacon supply. The Vancouver-based income fund on Tuesday reported gross sales of $243.8 million among the 838 restaurants in its royalty pool for its first quarter ending March […] Read more
Beijing to release frozen pork to temper price rise
Beijing | Reuters –– Beijing will release 3.05 million kilograms of frozen pork from its reserves over the next two months to combat rising pork prices, the city government said on Wednesday. Starting from Thursday and lasting until July 4, the Beijing municipal government will sell 50,000 kg of pork each day to 121 supermarket chains […] Read more
Maple Leaf dishes up first-quarter profit
Reuters — Canadian meat processor Maple Leaf Foods reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by higher earnings in its prepared meats business. Adjusted operating earnings in the meat products segment rose nearly eight-fold to $61.3 million in the Toronto company’s first quarter, helped by lower operating costs and price increases. The company, whose brands include […] Read more
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