Chicago | Reuters — With the pandemic hobbling the meat-packing industry, Iowa farmer Al Van Beek had nowhere to ship his full-grown pigs to make room for the 7,500 piglets he expected from his breeding operation. The crisis forced a decision that still troubles him: He ordered his employees to give injections to the pregnant […] Read more
Piglets aborted, chickens gassed as pandemic slams meat sector
"We have to have less hogs somehow"
Feed weekly outlook: Slaughterhouse closures lead to adjustments
MarketsFarm — The closure of one of Canada’s largest beef slaughterhouses will lead to adjustments in the cattle feeding sector, as animals will be fed longer but on different rations. Cargill’s meat processing plant at High River, Alta. slaughters roughly 40 per cent of all the cattle butchered in Canada. The plant is to be […] Read more
Canada sees no beef shortage, but prices may rise due to coronavirus
JBS plant at Brooks dials back to one shift
Ottawa/Winnipeg | Reuters –– The Canadian government is not expecting a beef shortage despite the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus in certain meat-packing plants, though prices may rise, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday. Trudeau added that beef producers are placing a priority on supplying the Canadian market before exporting products. Canada, one of […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hog futures rise on supply woes
CME cattle contracts ease
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. hog futures rallied on Monday, with supply expected to tighten after another slaughterhouse was shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, traders said. “If we have packers up and running we know we have the domestic demand,” said Ted Seifried, chief market strategist for Zaner Ag Hedge. “It is just […] Read more
Cargill to temporarily idle High River beef plant
Packing plant hit by COVID-19 outbreak; another 67 cases linked to JBS plant
Reuters — Cargill Ltd. said Monday it had begun the process of temporarily idling its beef plant at High River, Alta. because of the COVID-19 outbreak as provincial health officials said hundreds of workers at the plant had become infected. In her daily media update, Alberta chief medical officer Deena Hinshaw said a total of […] Read more
Third major Alberta beef plant confirms COVID-19 cases
JBS in Brooks is the latest with infected workers, but will continue operations
UPDATED, April 17 — Cases of COVID-19 have now been confirmed at three of Alberta’s major beef packing plants. Three cases of COVID-19 were confirmed Wednesday at the JBS beef packing plant in Brooks, said Tom Hesse, Local 401 president with United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Canada. JBS Canada spokesman Cameron Bruett confirmed some […] Read more
Beef cattle producers seek new set-aside plan
Cattle groups, Tories call for revival of BSE-era program
Canada’s beef cattle producer groups and federal Conservatives want to see the revival of a BSE-era program to hold cattle back against the risk of further lost options for slaughter. The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association on Monday hearkened back to its March 24 list of recommendations to the federal government for support measures against the impacts […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Cattle, hog futures recover
Cargill cuts more beef shifts, Smithfield shuts more pork plants
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. cattle and hog futures advanced on Wednesday as the markets recovered slightly from recent losses that traders said had dropped prices too far below the cash markets. Futures prices have tumbled recently as major meat companies have shut slaughterhouses due to the spread of the new coronavirus among employees. The […] Read more
‘Elbow to elbow:’ North America’s meat plant workers fall ill, walk off jobs
Supply chains struggling to keep pace with surging demand
Chicago/Winnipeg | Reuters — At a Wayne Farms chicken processing plant in Alabama, workers recently had to pay the company 10 U.S. cents a day to buy masks to protect themselves from the COVID-19 coronavirus, according to a meat inspector. In Colorado, nearly a third of the workers at a JBS USA beef plant stayed […] Read more
Beef Farmers of Ontario ask for curb on cull sales
BFO concerned over processing 'backlogs'
Updated, April 15 — Ontario’s cattle producer organization is asking members to consider delaying sales of cull cows until market conditions “normalize.” Beef Farmers of Ontario’s board on Thursday published a memo to beef and dairy cattle producers, asking them to help “prevent a further surge in cull cows in the market” — especially of […] Read more
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