Having two or even three  esophageal feeding tubes on hand and used during calving season is an effective way to ensure calves are supplied with key nutrients and other products when they are needed.

An esophageal feeder is a key tool in saving calves

Animal Health with Roy Lewis: It is an effective way to administer a range of products to newborn or sick animals

Modern tool boxes in cow-calf production would not be complete without preferably at least two esophageal feeding tubes. These relatively simple, multipurpose feeding tools allow a safe, convenient method to give things such as colostrum or colostrum replacers, electrolytes, milk replacers and a few other treatments to calves. No producer should feel they don’t know […] Read more



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

U.S. livestock: Hog futures firm, cattle mixed

CME March feeder cattle lower

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange hog futures firmed on Wednesday, with concerns about processing margins seen limiting supplies in the coming months. “High feed costs and low prices there have production margins as poor as they’ve been in at least eight years,” brokerage StoneX said in a note to clients. “All of this […] Read more

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

U.S. livestock: CME lean hogs climb as tight supplies persist

Cattle futures also firm on tighter supplies

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures climbed on Tuesday, supported by persistent tight supplies of market-ready hogs, analysts said. “We know numbers are getting tighter. We haven’t generated the expansion we needed to over the last six to nine months,” said Matthew Wiegand, Risk Management Consultant at FuturesOne. “The numbers are […] Read more


Photo of an RCMP vehicle attending the blockade at Emerson, Man. dated Feb. 11, 2022. (Photo courtesy Manitoba RCMP)

Manitoba border blockade expected to end Wednesday

'Resolution' reached, Mounties say

Another protest blockade of a key Canada-U.S. trade corridor is expected to wrap up by Wednesday. Manitoba RCMP on Tuesday reported they “are now confident that a resolution has been reached” with protestors who, since Thursday, have blockaded Highway 75 leading to the border crossing at Emerson, Man., about 100 km south of Winnipeg. The […] Read more

keeping calves warm

Tips for warming cold calves

Get colostrum into newborn calves, and get them dried off

Calves born during blizzards or any type of cold weather can chill quickly. Calves with body temperature below 38 C need warming. If their temperature is below 36 C, their condition is critical. There are several ways to safely warm calves. Dr. Robert Callan, a veterinarian and professor at Colorado State University in the Department […] Read more


A customer dines at a Burger King outlet in Shanghai on June 27, 2005. (File photo: Reuters/Ming Ming)

Tim Hortons, Burger King parent to hike prices

BK pulling Whopper off discount menu

Reuters — Burger King parent Restaurant Brands International said on Tuesday that it stripped its most famous sandwich, the Whopper, from discount menus and will raise menu prices again this year as to offset higher costs. U.S.-listed shares of the company rose more than three per cent after it topped results estimates for the fourth […] Read more



RCMP on Feb. 14, 2022 reported seizing the guns, ammunition and other items shown here during a search of three trailers "associated to" a group involved with the Coutts, Alta. border blockade. (An earlier version of this caption incorrectly quoted RCMP as saying the trailers were at the blockade.) (Photo courtesy Alberta RCMP)

Alberta border blockade expected to disperse Tuesday

Decision comes amid arrests, reported violence at blockade

Amid reports of violence involving a farm tractor and trucks — and seizures of weapons — the protest blockade that shut Alberta’s busiest U.S. trade corridor is reported to be winding down starting Tuesday. Several media outlets on Monday quoted organizers of the blockade at the Canada-U.S. border crossing at Coutts, Alta. as saying they […] Read more

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

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

Hogs up on tighter supplies

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures firmed on Monday, supported by strong beef demand and slaughter, analysts said. “The next few months — late March, early April — slaughter-ready cattle are a little tighter,” said Austin Schroeder, commodity analyst at Brugler Marketing. “That might help to lend a little more support […] Read more