Livestock
CNS Canada — Strong U.S. exports and declining cold-storage numbers have helped push hog prices on Canada’s Prairies to better levels than a few months back. According to the latest information compiled by Saskatchewan Agriculture, the U.S. exported 173,770 tonnes of pork in November 2016, up 13.5 per cent from 153,051 in October 2016, and […] Read more
Hog market improving with solid exports
Bovine TB probe’s focus turns to infected herd
With no new cases of bovine tuberculosis discovered on the Prairies since mid-November, federal officials are now turning their focus to how the disease got into half a dozen cattle in the region last fall. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Friday it has finished TB-screening and depopulating all mature cattle from 18 properties that […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hogs extend gains on packer demand
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. lean hog futures extended gains to a fresh seven-month high on Thursday, lifted by strong pork packer demand, while cattle futures also climbed in a short-covering rebound from Wednesday’s multiweek lows, traders and analysts said. Traders continued to bull-spread Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hogs, with the front-month February contract hitting […] Read more
Quebec farmers to shut snowmobile trails in tax dispute
Members of Quebec’s general farm organization plan to revoke permission for snowmobilers to use their land starting Monday, in protest over the province’s planned reforms to its farmland property tax credit. L’Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA) said Wednesday it had been planning such a move in late 2016 but on Dec. 20 had asked members […] Read more
Canadian ‘verified sustainable’ beef is still on the menu
McDonald’s headline-grabbing pilot is over, but the effort to boost the cattle industry’s environmental and welfare credentials continues
Reading Time: 3 minutes It won’t happen in a hurry, but the effort to create a Canadian ‘verified sustainable’ beef brand is moving along and will reach an important milestone by the end of the year. When McDonald’s Canada ended its groundbreaking sustainable beef pilot project last year, the torch was passed to an industry initiative called the Canadian […] Read more
Scotsburn ice cream business sale to Agropur cleared
Canada’s biggest dairy co-operative has been given the all-clear to close its deal for an Atlantic dairy co-op’s ice cream business. Agropur Co-operative on Thursday announced it has bought the assets of Truro, N.S.-based Scotsburn Co-operative Services, which include the company’s plants in Truro and in Lachute, Que. as well as the Scotsburn brand name. […] Read more
Set the agenda for Bov-Innovation
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Beef Cattle Research Council wants beef producers to take a 10-minute survey on what topics they would like to see presented during Bov-Innovation at the Canadian Beef Industry Conference in August 2017. Bov-Innovation is an extension event for producers and features innovative, underutilized, or emerging production practices that feedlot and cow-calf operators may want […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hogs jump on pork gains
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures surged three per cent to a seven-month high on Tuesday as rising pork and cash hog prices triggered investment fund and chart-based futures buying, traders and analysts said. CME live and feeder cattle futures fell to multi-week lows, pressured by ample cattle supplies. The U.S. […] Read more
Harmony Beef announces opening date
Refurbished plant will feature state-of-the-art processing technology, not seen before in Canada
Reading Time: 3 minutes The opening date has been pushed back multiple times, but Harmony Beef is slated to open Feb. 22 and has cattle booked for the first couple of months. “When we start out, we’ll start very slowly,” said owner Rich Vesta. The American meat-packing industry veteran bought the shuttered Rancher’s Beef plant just north of Calgary […] Read more
Textron to buy Arctic Cat
A U.S. firm with multiple brands in the utility vehicle market is set to add Minneapolis-based ATV and snowmobile maker Arctic Cat to its roster. Providence, R.I.-based Textron Inc. announced Wednesday it has signed an all-cash merger deal to buy NASDAQ-traded Arctic Cat for $18.50 a share, or about $247 million (all figures US$). Arctic […] Read more