As many cattle come home from summer pasture with poor mineral status, it is important they receive the proper vitamins and minerals during the winter feeding.

Minerals take centre stage in winter ration for beef cows

Prepare a well-balanced blend and make sure they eat it

As a beef nutritionist, I take a practical approach to formulating overwinter cattle minerals: complement macro-minerals of a nearly all-forage gestating cow diet, meet the gestation cows’ trace mineral and vitamin requirements and put it into a package that most cows will easily consume at a constant daily rate. In this way, I have done […] Read more

CME February 2024 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME cattle rise ahead of bullish data

December lean hogs lower

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle and feeder cattle futures ended higher on Friday as livestock traders adjusted positions in the markets. After the close of trading, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued monthly data that showed producers placed 3.8 per cent more cattle into feedlots in October than a year earlier, […] Read more


‘So what if cows eject a bit of methane out both ends. What in the name of common sense do climate alarmists think the 60-million-plus buffalo did when they roamed freely on the open Plains up until the late 1800s?’ – Les Henry.

Les Henry: Sequestering carbon with grass crops

The amount sequestered in the soil is significant

Carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere and organic matter (carbon) in our soils are topics of great current interest. Two big questions that take up much ink these days are: 1) how can we emit less CO2 with farming practices and 2) how can we sequester more carbon (C) in our soils to maintain high […] Read more

CME February 2024 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME cattle up off last week’s sell-off

Lean hog futures also turn higher

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle and feeder futures advanced on Monday in a rebound from recent declines to multi-month lows. Short-covering helped boost the markets, as losses driven by fund liquidation and technical selling last week were overdone, brokers said. The U.S. beef industry still faces tight supplies of cattle, after […] Read more


CME February 2024 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME live cattle mixed, feeder cattle firm

Lean hogs up with pork cutout

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) live cattle futures ended the week mixed on Friday, as traders and analysts said technical and algorithmic trading sent contract prices whipsawing during the session. Feeder cattle futures firmed as Chicago corn futures posted a third straight weekly decline, as grain markets continued to react to a […] Read more

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

U.S. livestock: Cattle sell-off sends nearby contracts plunging

CME hogs mixed in choppy trade

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) cattle futures fell sharply on Thursday, amid fund liquidation, growing concern over consumer demand and signs of prices falling in the cash market. Traders and funds scrambled to shed some of their long positions, after betting the bull market in cattle futures would continue well into the […] Read more


CME December 2023 live cattle with 20-, 100- and 200-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Cattle futures rally late in session on technical buying

Hogs down on technical selling

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) cattle futures saw a choppy day of trading on Wednesday, before rallying later in the session on short-covering and technical buying, traders said. December live cattle futures dipped below its 200-day moving average of $177.50 before bouncing up (all figures US$). January 2024 feeder cattle futures also […] Read more

CME February 2024 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Cattle futures sink to May lows

CME December hogs continue higher

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. cattle futures sank to their lowest prices since May on Tuesday on fund liquidation and profit-taking, traders said. Follow-through selling pressured the markets after losses on Monday, along with softer boxed beef prices, traders said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture priced choice cuts of beef at $300.38/cwt, down $1.34 from […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Klassen: Buyers contemplate feeder market prices

In adverse weather, sale results vary

Compared to last week, western Canadian yearling markets traded $3-$5/cwt lower on average although limited numbers made the market hard to define. Calf markets traded $4-$8/cwt on either side of unchanged. It appeared that 700-plus-lb. calves were up $4 to as much as $8. The variation in the price structure was due to the adverse […] Read more

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

U.S. livestock: CME cattle slide on concerns over beef demand

Chicago December lean hogs settle higher

Chicago | Reuters — Live cattle futures dropped to their lowest level in more than a week at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Monday on concerns about the risk for easing demand for U.S. beef. Feeder cattle futures also declined, while lean hog futures ended higher. Lower-than-expected cash cattle prices last week contributed to uncertainty […] Read more