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

U.S. livestock: Rising wholesale meat prices lift futures

CME live cattle buck seasonal trends

Chicago | Reuters –– Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures ended higher on Tuesday as wholesale beef prices rose, bucking seasonal trends and spurring hopes for higher cash cattle prices this week, traders said. CME August live cattle futures settled up 0.1 cent at 135.725 cents/lb. and most-active October ended up 0.5 cent at 141.1 […] Read more



Andrea applying brisket I.D. tags to cattle before they head out to summer range.

Cattle welcome some green grass

And a team effort gets branding, vaccinating and tagging done in one operation

May 20 Sunday morning I did chores early and got gates ready for moving cattle so we could brand and vaccinate. AWOL Alice was out again, but grazing in the buffer zone between the two electric fences, which made it easy to get her back in. Charlie came to help brand, and Dani’s friends Jack […] 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: Cattle, hog futures up on hot spell, firm meat prices

Heat wave lowers animals' rate of gain

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures rose on Monday on spillover strength from outside markets including Wall Street, as well as firm wholesale beef prices and worries about hot weather stressing cattle in the Plains and Midwest, traders said. CME August live cattle futures settled up 0.7 cent at 135.625 cents/lb., […] Read more


CME August 2022 live cattle (candlesticks) with 10-, 20- and 100-day moving averages (pink, dark red and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Cattle futures weak, hogs slightly higher

Futures gain on the week

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures fell for the second day in a row on Friday, with expectations that supplies will outstrip demand in the coming months. The most-active August live cattle futures dropped 0.475 cent to settle at 134.925 cents/lb. (all figures US$). The contract fell below its 10-day moving average […] Read more

File photo of federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on a tour of one of the original ‘Living Lab’ sites in Quebec that led up to the launch of the national ACS program in 2021. (Photo courtesy Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)

Feds boost Living Labs’ reach to all provinces

Nine projects, including first-Indigenous led lab, share $54M

The first crop of federally-funded “Living Labs” backed by the Agricultural Climate Solutions (ACS) program, set up to prove carbon-sequestering on-farm processes, takes the concept to the six provinces where such farm-level labs weren’t yet in place. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, speaking Thursday in Calgary, announced $54 million from the $185 million, 10-year ACS program […] Read more


CME August 2022 live cattle (candlesticks) with 20-, 100- and 200-day moving averages (pink, dark red and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Cattle futures weaken on profit-taking

Hogs fall on technical setback

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures fell on Thursday on a round of profit-taking after three straight days of gains, traders said. Signs of weakness in the cash market also weighed on cattle futures. The front-month feeder cattle contract was setting back from its highest since November 2015. Hog futures fell on […] Read more

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

U.S. livestock: CME feeder cattle rally to highest since November 2015

August live cattle, lean hogs also up

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile exchange cattle futures extended gains on Wednesday on follow-through technical buying after rallying in the previous two sessions. Tight supplies remained in focus as the front-month feeder cattle contract hit its highest on a continuous basis since November 2015. “Big picture, the U.S. Agriculture Department still has sharply reduced […] Read more