Canada's trade wars with the United States and China could create an opportunity for more barley acres in Western Canada.
Feed Grain Weekly: More barley acres possible despite less demand
Trade wars could make more room for cereals
Cover cropping experiments pay off in yield and soil health for Peace Country farmer
Reading Time: 3 minutes Peace River farmer Michael Strebchuk is finding success with cover crops.
Return of US drought delays cattle-herd rebuilding, hurting Tyson Foods
The return of drought in U.S. cattle-producing areas is delaying ranchers' plans to expand production after the nation's herd shrank to its smallest level in seven decades, farmers and analysts said.
Unclear when tight US cattle supplies will expand, Tyson CEO says
Tyson Foods cannot predict exactly when U.S. ranchers will start rebuilding the cattle herd in a meaningful way, CEO Donnie King said on Wednesday, as tight supplies squeeze the meatpacker's beef business.
FCC to offer beef heifer replacement loans
Loan program for those wanting to build, maintain herds
Cattle producers wanting to expand or maintain herds — in a time of nationwide herd contraction — are the expected beneficiaries for a new loan program from Farm Credit Canada. FCC on Tuesday announced what it calls the Replacement Heifer Program, consisting of a loan with a maximum loan life of seven years and a […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Live cattle futures ease off contract highs
Chicago lean hog values retreat
Chicago | Reuters — Live cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange closed lower on Wednesday as traders booked profits, one day after the benchmark April contract set a life-of-contract high and the U.S. Agriculture Department reported a three per cent year-on-year drop in the size of the U.S. cattle herd. CME April live cattle […] Read more
Why closed cattle herds are like unicorns
It takes extraordinary measures to truly have a closed herd, and that’s why vaccinations are needed
Reading Time: 2 minutes (Note: This article has been edited and condensed.) A surprising proportion of producers believe they run a closed herd. The 2017 Western Canadian Cow-Calf Survey found that of approximately 25 per cent of respondents who did not vaccinate their cows and heifers against reproductive diseases such as IBR and BVD, over half said their reason was because […] Read more
Why isn’t Alberta’s cattle herd in growth mode?
History says this should have been a boom year — but cattle numbers are actually falling
Reading Time: 5 minutes This should have been a golden year for cattle producers — but it wasn’t just the weather that didn’t co-operate. Viewed through a high-level, macro-economic lens, the national herd should have seen a significant jump in numbers as the cattle cycle — that big wheel that takes a decade or so to make one turn […] Read more
Prairies’ dry weather may stem U.S. cattle stampede north
Winnipeg | Reuters — Parched pastures and crops in Western Canada are driving up cattle-feeding costs, and farmers and analysts expect the changing economics to stem a recent stampede of U.S. cattle being brought over the border. Canada imported 65,035 head of cattle from the U.S. from January through June, nearly double the pace of […] Read more
Southern Plains drought slows U.S. cattle herd growth
Chicago | Reuters — Encroaching drought in the U.S. southern Plains contributed to the smallest rise in the nation’s cattle population in three years, analysts said after the government’s semi-annual cattle inventory report on Wednesday. Insufficient moisture in parts of Texas and Oklahoma, along with areas of persistent dryness in the northern Plains, hurt winter […] Read more
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