Livestock
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures ended higher on Wednesday, led by firming cash hog prices and rising wholesale pork prices, traders said. CME April lean hog futures ended up 0.425 cent at 88.775 cents/lb., inching closer to a contract high set on Feb. 25 at 90.675 cents (all figures […] Read more
U.S. livestock: CME hog futures higher, cattle end lower
Corn's setback supportive for cattle
Before you can go with the flow, you need to get the flow going
A new handling system has proven to be like night and day on Short Grass Ranches
Reading Time: 4 minutes Low stress and good flow are what all producers want when putting cattle through a handling system. Oftentimes though, cattle balk at something or just don’t flow as smoothly as they should. That’s the situation Craig Lehr found himself in, even though he had a “very well-built” one-piece, S-alley livestock-handling system with a crowding tub […] Read more
‘Buttergate’ has dairy sector on the defensive
Hard-to-spread butter suddenly becomes an international controversy on what Canadian dairy farmers feed their cows
Reading Time: 2 minutes It started with a few tweets and texts, but escalated into an issue that drew international attention — and a vow from the chair of Alberta Milk “to do better.” It began with people wondering why their butter no longer spread easily at room temperature before suddenly turning into a controversy over what dairy farmers […] Read more
Greece delivers feed to cattle ship at sea for months
Athens | Reuters — Greece will deliver 50 tons of animal feed to the Togo-flagged Elbeik, which has been stuck at sea for nearly three months in the Mediterranean carrying hundreds of cattle rejected by their buyers amid fears of disease, government sources said Tuesday. The vessel is expected to sail for Spain once the […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Lean hogs climb as pork prices rise, slaughter pace slows
Cattle futures anticipate grilling season
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures rose on Tuesday for a second straight day, supported by rising wholesale pork prices and a smaller weekly kill than a year ago, traders said. CME April lean hog futures ended up 1.05 cents at 88.35 cents/lb., moving back up toward a life-of-contract high […] Read more
Klassen: Deferred live cattle futures pull feeder market higher
Compared to last week, western Canadian yearling markets traded $5 lower to $3 higher while calves under 600 lbs. were $2 to as much as $7 higher. Yearlings were somewhat sluggish in the eastern Prairie regions, as feedlot operators in Alberta focused on local cattle. Fleshier backgrounded cattle are coming on the market at this […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Cattle, hogs firm as U.S. stimulus plan fuels optimism
Relief bill expected to lift meat demand
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) live cattle futures firmed on Monday, recovering from a seven-week low hit last week, on optimism that the US$1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill will spur the U.S. economy and bolster demand for meat, traders said. CME April live cattle futures settled up 0.325 cent at 119.35 cents/lb., […] Read more
There’s nothing like the real deal, students say of farm internship
Reading Time: 4 minutes Animal science students from the city used to have a hard time finding summer work in their field because they had no hands-on experience. It was a chicken-and-egg situation that Frank Robinson, a professor of poultry production and physiology, wanted to do something about. “The No. 1 problem is that most of our students, or […] Read more
Alberta hog farmers to get set-aside via AgriRecovery
Producers get funds for feeding held-back market hogs
An AgriRecovery plan announced Friday is set to pay eligible Alberta farmers 95 cents per day per market-ready hog toward the animals’ upkeep during the shutdown of the province’s biggest hog slaughter plant. Olymel, the meat packing arm of Sollio Co-operative, reopened its plant at Red Deer this week after announcing Feb. 15 it would […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hog futures take a breather
April live cattle up, but well down off highs
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures consolidated on Friday as the market caught its breath after pulling back from contract highs reached last week. Strong demand for U.S. pork from China recently supported hog futures, as China is battling the fatal pig disease African swine fever, which increased its need […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
