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

U.S. livestock: CME hog futures top two-week high

Chicago cattle futures ease

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures rallied to their highest price in more than two weeks on Monday, while live cattle and feeder cattle futures weakened. Hopes for increased domestic demand from summertime grilling and cookouts helped lift hog futures, analysts said. They added that surging grain and soybean futures raised […] Read more

CME June 2022 live cattle (candlesticks) with Bollinger bands (20,2). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME cattle futures end lower, hogs higher

Cattle end up off session lows

Chicago | Reuters — Benchmark live cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange fell on Thursday as traders booked profits after a three-session climb and ahead of a long holiday weekend, traders said. U.S. markets, including the CME, will be closed for Good Friday. But cattle futures came off their session lows and hog futures […] Read more


(RyanJLane/E+/Getty Images)

CEOs of four large U.S. meatpackers to testify in Congressional hearing

Beef prices up for consumers, down for ranchers

Washington | Reuters — The chief executives of U.S. meatpackers Cargill, Tyson Foods, JBS and National Beef Packing have agreed to testify at a Congressional hearing discussing cattle markets and price increases for consumers, House agriculture committee chairman David Scott said Wednesday. “It is very important, very vital, and very urgent that we hear the […] Read more

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

U.S. livestock: CME cattle follow broad strength in commodities

June lean hog futures down on day

Chicago | Reuters — Live cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange rose on Wednesday for a third straight session, buoyed by broad strength in commodities along with firming cash cattle prices, traders said. A blizzard crossing the northern Plains lent support, raising concern about stress on cattle in the Dakotas, but the storm was […] Read more



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

U.S. livestock: CME cattle futures climb on firmer cash trade

Lean hogs up on technical buying

Chicago | Reuters — Live cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange closed higher on Tuesday on firmer cash cattle prices compared to last week and broad strength in commodities, analysts said. CME June live cattle futures settled up 1.5 cents at 136.3 cents/lb. after touching 136.675 cents, the contract’s highest since April 1 (all […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Klassen: Feedlots value feeders on finished cattle price projections

Compared to the week ending March 2, western Canadian yearling prices were $3-$5 lower on average. Mid-weight replacements in the range of 650-800 lbs. were down $8-$12. Steer calves under 650 lbs. traded steady to $5 lower. Heifer calves under 650 lbs. were also down $8-$12. The market was hard to define for heifer calves […] Read more

File photo of a cornfield in Argentina. (Reisegraf/iStock/Getty Images)

Argentine grain truckers strike, threatening exports amid harvest

Buenos Aires | Reuters — Truckers in Argentina began an open-ended strike on Monday to demand higher rates for transporting grain and livestock, an action that could hit grain exports during a key part of the harvest. Argentina, the world’s leading exporter of soy derivatives and second-largest corn exporter, recently started harvesting both grains, which […] Read more


CME June 2022 lean hogs (candlesticks) with 20-day moving average (dark red line) and CME cash lean hog index (pink line). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME lean hogs, live cattle end higher

May feeder cattle up, August down

Chicago | Reuters — Lean hog futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange inched higher on Monday as technical buying and worries about tightening U.S. hog supplies offset fears of slowing pork export demand and softening cash hog prices, traders said. CME benchmark June lean hogs settled up 0.45 cent at 115.025 cents/lb. (all figures US$). […] Read more

Workers in the JBS beef plant at Brooks, Alta. appear in a screen shot from a 2018 corporate video. (JBS Canada video screengrab via YouTube)

Changes to TFW program to expand worker availability

Workplace LMIAs now valid for 18 months

The federal government is boosting the availability of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) to ag and other understaffed sectors under a list of policy changes announced Monday. Employment and Workforce Development Minister Carla Qualtrough announced what’s called the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program Workforce Solutions Road Map, which the government said “marks the next step in […] Read more