CME August 2023 lean hogs with 20- and 50-day moving averages and October 2023 lean hogs (black line). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME hogs rally as pork prices rise

August live cattle touch new contract high

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures closed higher on Tuesday, bouncing after a three-session slide as wholesale pork prices rose and cash hog prices firmed, traders said, while tight cattle supplies sent futures to life-of-contract highs. CME August lean hogs settled up 3.4 cents at 97.575 cents/lb., and the October contract […] Read more

Forage U-Pick’s pivot to a nationally focused tool is a step in the right direction, says Julie MacKenzie. “Sometimes we forget about our western Canadian producers who identify as francophone. We have different francophone producers out there in Alberta and Saskatchewan and that creates an opportunity for them.”

Forage U-Pick: The Tinder for forages?

Online forage tool expands nationwide

Reading Time: 4 minutes A hard-working rancher in central Alberta seeks a sturdy native grass ideally suited for mob grazing and a long-lasting stand. That might seem like something from an online dating profile but it’s more likely to be a query for a newly expanded matchmaking site that aims to connect beef producers with the perfect forage. Since […] Read more


CME October 2023 live cattle with 20- and 100-day moving averages and August 2023 live cattle (dark red line). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME cattle end higher on firm cash values

Hogs settle lower off recent highs

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures ended modestly higher on Monday on follow-though buying from Friday and carry-over strength from last week’s strong cash cattle market. Cash cattle traded late last week as high as $184-$185 per hundredweight (cwt) in northern feedlot areas, traders said, up from sales of around $178-$182 […] Read more

CME August 2023 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME live cattle climb on firmer cash market

Hogs down on technical selling

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures rallied on Friday on tight fed cattle supplies and higher cash market sales in the central U.S. Plains and western Midwest, traders said. Beef packers were in need of cattle to fill near-term operations, including a large Saturday slaughter and a full week of production […] Read more


CME October 2023 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME live cattle ease on weak cash market

Lean hog futures mostly higher

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures declined on Thursday as a weak tone to the cash market and worries about slowing beef demand weighed on prices, traders said. Livestock traders were monitoring cash market activity at Plains feedlots, where fed cattle were lightly bid at $178/cwt, below the bulk of cash […] Read more

Measuring digestible protein is important when judging the environmental impact of food systems.

The meat of the matter: Another way to look at environmental metrics

Protein density and ecosystem impacts make meat competitive with grains, says researchers

Reading Time: 4 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – When attempting to get an accurate gauge of global food security and protein sufficiency, metrics matter. The food sufficiency metric must reflect what each type of food production supplies, including environmental benefits, social structures or sustainability credentials, said Vaughn Holder, ruminant research director with Kentucky-based nutrition company Alltech. “The metrics are important […] Read more


CME August 2023 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Cattle futures turn lower

Current-year hog futures higher

Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle and feeder cattle futures took a turn lower in resumed trading Wednesday while near-month hogs turned higher. Most-active August live cattle came back off the U.S. Independence Day break down for a second day off Friday’s three-week high, closing Wednesday at 174.95 cents/lb., down 1.875 cents from Monday (all figures […] Read more

CME August 2023 feeder cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME feeder cattle firm on choppy corn trade

Live cattle, lean hogs mixed

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures eased and feeder cattle futures ticked up on Monday, as corn prices faced a choppy trading day at the start of this holiday-shortened week, traders said. Meanwhile, the hog market ended the day mixed, with nearby contracts continuing to be bullish on growing buyer interest, […] Read more


CME October 2023 live cattle with 20-day moving average and August 2023 live cattle (dark red line). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME cattle up as corn prices slide

Chicago lean hog futures end mixed

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures set a three-week high on Friday, lifted by a surge in feeder cattle futures as corn prices tumbled, traders said. Tightening U.S. cattle supplies and a resilient beef market lent support, along with a strong close for the month and quarter on Wall Street that […] Read more

Tuberculosis bacteria under an electron microscope. (Janice Haney Carr photo courtesy Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.))

Bovine TB turns up in Saskatchewan herd

Two cases found after U.S. test flags Canadian heifer

A heifer whose tissues tested positive for bovine tuberculosis (TB) at slaughter in the U.S. has been traced back to a Saskatchewan cattle herd which has now turned up two more cases of the disease. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, in a report dated Wednesday, said it was notified Feb. 23 by the U.S. Department […] Read more