There’s more labour needed to manage artificial insemination, but it can improve the rate of genetic gain.

Increasing AI use has many advantages

Animal Health: There are improved technologies for breeding and synchronization, for which AI makes more sense

Over the last decade or so, artificial insemination (AI), not to be confused with the other AI (artificial intelligence), has seen an upsurge in the commercial cattle population. This has been happening for a lot longer in the purebred cattle industry and a lot of the reasons are the same. If one is considering AI […] Read more






Cattle

The fall run: the rancher’s sprint

A Little Bit Western: Most of the revenue, data and calf movement come in the fall

I like to joke that ranching is a marathon, except when it is a sprint, and then it’s that too. There are certainly times when you are racing from one urgent task to another. While it feels like the rest of the working world has three to five business days to respond to a request, […] Read more



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U.S. livestock: Cattle futures bounce on tight supplies, firm cash markets

Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange live and feeder cattle futures rebounded on Tuesday from prior-session declines, continuing a recent climb sparked by tight cattle supplies and firm cash market prices. Recent strength in wholesale beef prices also encouraged continued buying despite a seasonal tendency for the market to decline after the Thanksgiving holiday […] Read more


Cattle at a feedlot near North Platte, Nebraska. (AndrewLinscott/iStock/Getty Images)

U.S. livestock: Feeder cattle drop on profit taking after 10-session rally

Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange feeder cattle futures retreated in a profit-taking setback on Monday after a ten-session rally that took prices to five-month peaks, while live cattle futures followed feeders lower. Monday’s cattle declines came after managed funds had bolstered their long holdings in both markets over recent weeks, encouraged by tight […] Read more

Photo: File

U.S. livestock: CME cattle futures rise on cash trade, positioning ahead of USDA report

Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures firmed on Friday as cash market trading gathered steam at firm prices, according to analysts, and traders awaited the results of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Cattle on Feed report, which the agency released after the close. Feeder cattle gained for a sixth straight session and […] Read more