Livestock
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) live cattle and feeder cattle futures slumped on Tuesday as concerns about declining beef prices continued to hang over the markets. Decreasing beef prices have spurred expectations that meat packers such as Tyson and Cargill may be less aggressive when bidding to buy cattle, said Mike Sands, […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Cattle futures weaken as beef prices decline
Klassen: Feeder market experiences fortuitous bounce
Compared to last week, western Canadian feeder cattle markets traded $2-$5 higher on average. Auction barns had limited numbers on offer but strong buying interest surfaced for quality packages. Alberta feedlots were the main buyers setting the price structure. There were two main factors enhancing demand this week. First, U.S. packers started to show some […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Live cattle sag as traders eye lower boxed-beef prices
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) live cattle futures ended mostly lower on Monday as weak boxed beef prices fueled concerns about increasing supplies. Select-grade boxed beef was $189.21/cwt on Monday afternoon, down 2.7 per cent from a week ago, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data issued after the close of trading […] Read more
Alberta to lengthen public leases for ‘exemplary’ ranching
Ranchers who display “exemplary” stewardship as tenants on Alberta’s public lands could soon be eligible for double the term of the usual lease. The province announced Tuesday it expects the new policy to come into effect in late autumn this year and “in the coming months” will release new guidelines on what would be considered […] Read more
Cargill shuts China feed mills as swine fever spreads
Chicago | Reuters — Cargill shuttered animal-feed mills in China in recent months partly because the rapid spread of a fatal hog disease has reduced demand, a company executive said Friday. The closures highlight the pain for global agriculture companies from the outbreak of African swine fever in China, the world’s top hog producer and […] Read more
U.S. livestock: CME hogs book biggest one-week climb since April
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures closed higher on Friday and the most-active August contract recorded its biggest weekly gain since April, supported by expectations of thinning U.S. hog supplies, traders said. A glut of hogs has hung over the futures market for months, but traders see supplies starting to […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Lean hogs end lower
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures fell about three per cent on Thursday on sluggish cash markets, traders said, retreating after a two-session surge that lifted the August contract to a near-three-week high a day earlier. CME August lean hogs settled down 2.55 cents at 79.175 cents/lb., one day after […] Read more
Two Alberta sheep flocks quarantined for scrapie
Two flocks of sheep in Alberta are under federal quarantine after a sheep that lived at both farms was confirmed June 21 with classical scrapie. A degenerative nervous system disease affecting sheep and goats, scrapie is one of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) family that includes Creutzfelt-Jakob disease in people, BSE in cattle and chronic […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hogs up on technical buying, cash values
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures neared a three-week high on Wednesday, buoyed by a mix of technical buying and ideas that a glut of U.S. hog supplies was showing signs of tightening, traders said. Fears of an expansion in Asia of the African swine fever (ASF) outbreak in China […] Read more
Klassen: Feeder market softens on limited volumes
Compared to last week, western Canadian feeder cattle prices were steady to $3 lower on average. Many auction barns were on holidays last week. Auctions that did hold sales had limited numbers on offer. The feeder market remains under pressure due to negative feeding margins, firm feed grain values and weakness in deferred live cattle […] Read more