CME August 2022 live cattle (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, dark red and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME live cattle, feeder cattle touch three-week highs

July lean hogs close lower

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures topped a three-week high in the most-active contract on Friday before ending lower amid pre-weekend profit-taking, analysts said. Feeder cattle futures also exceeded a three-week high, while lean hog futures came under pressure at the CME. Strong demand for cattle from meatpackers and a decline […] Read more

Lisa Thompson. (LisathompsonMPP.ca)

Ontario ag minister returns in another Tory majority

Lisa Thompson retains seat in election

Ontario’s governing Progressive Conservatives will head back to the legislature with their incumbent agriculture minister at the caucus table. Lisa Thompson, Premier Doug Ford’s minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs since June last year, easily held her southwestern riding of Huron-Bruce in Thursday’s provincial election by a spread of 15,594 votes over Liberal challenger […] Read more


CME August 2022 live cattle (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, dark red and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME live cattle firm on strong demand

Lean hogs mixed near unchanged

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group live cattle futures firmed on Thursday, supported by steady cash prices across the U.S. Plains, as well as strength in consumer beef demand, despite inflationary forces, analysts said. “The feeling two, three weeks ago was that beef demand wasn’t that good and was going to really start […] Read more

(Creativex/iStock/Getty Images)

Environment Canada sees cool summer for Manitoba

MarketsFarm — Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan could be in for a cooler-than-normal summer, according to the latest long-range outlook from Environment Canada. The latest seasonal forecast from the government agency, released Tuesday, calls for a 40 to 80 per cent chance of below normal temperatures from June through August across all of the agricultural regions […] Read more


CME July 2022 lean hogs (candlesticks) with Bollinger bands (20,2) and CME lean hog index (pink line). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME hogs firm on summer demand, tight supplies

Lower corn futures support feeder cattle

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group lean hog futures firmed on Wednesday, supported by strong demand that has pushed cash prices higher. “We’re still looking at tighter supplies in front of us,” said Rich Nelson, chief strategist at Allendale Inc. Pork demand firms during the summer, with U.S. grilling holidays such as Father’s […] Read more

CME July 2022 lean hogs (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, brown and dark red lines) and CME lean hog index (black line). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Hog, cattle futures fall despite strong demand

Markets see 'a risk-off day'

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group lean hog futures fell on Tuesday, amid outside pressure from agricultural markets, despite strength from strong slaughter and cash hog prices. “We just had a risk-off day,” said Matthew Wiegand, Risk Management Consultant at FuturesOne. “Cash trade kicked up and is trading above the board.” The CME’s […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Klassen: Steady demand supports feeder cattle prices

Compared to last week, western Canadian feeder cattle markets were relatively unchanged. Weakness in deferred live cattle futures and uncertainty in the feed grain market tempered the upside for all weight categories of replacement cattle. Alberta packers were buying fed cattle on a dressed basis in the range of $288-$290 delivered, steady to $2 lower […] Read more

CME August 2022 live cattle (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, red and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Cattle, hog futures fall as feed costs rise

Pre-Memorial Day consolidation seen

Chicago | Reuters — CME Group hog and cattle futures eased on Friday, with rising soy and corn futures raising feed costs for livestock producers. Traders noted consolidation trade ahead of the U.S. Memorial Day holiday weekend. U.S. grain and livestock markets will be closed on Monday. The nearby June hogs contract fell 0.7 cent, […] Read more


CME June 2022 lean hogs (candlesticks) with 20-, 40- and 100-day moving averages (pink, brown and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: June hogs touch four-week high

June, August live cattle futures up slightly

Chicago | Reuters — CME Group hog futures rose to their highest level in more than a month on Thursday, supported by strong exports and concerns about a slowing slaughter, traders said. Cattle futures ended the trading day close to unchanged. The U.S. Agriculture Department on Thursday morning said that export sales of pork totaled […] Read more

File photo of barrels on display in a Nova Scotia vineyard. (Tashka/iStock/Getty Images)

Wastewater regulation eased for Nova Scotia on-farm processing

Nova Scotia has introduced regulatory changes that allow on-farm processing operations to better manage wastewater on their smaller scale. The changes, which took effect May 11, come at the request of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture (NSFA) — which has said that owners of small farm-level processing facilities shouldn’t be treated the same as […] Read more