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Beef Cattle

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.
Beef Cattle, Cattleman’s Corner

Minerals take centre stage in winter ration for beef cows

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

By
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
File photo of cattle in an Alberta feedlot. (Geralyn Wichers photo)
Beef Cattle, Finishers, Livestock, Markets

Klassen: Cash feeder prices soften on futures market uncertainty

Supplies are higher than expected as consumers reign in spending

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The live and feeder cattle futures appear to be incorporating a risk discount due to the uncertainty in demand. Consumers are pulling in the reigns on spending. Interest rates are at 40 year highs and inflation remains elevated. Larger supplies and lower demand results in lower prices.
It just takes one colostrum-deprived calf to start a bad clinical case and the rest of the herd becomes highly exposed to infectious scour causing organism and a wreck develops.
Beef Cattle, Cattleman’s Corner, Livestock

Second year for scours vaccine shortage

Animal Health: Preventing disease is always a good place to start

By
We live in a world where vaccinology has been one of the mainstays of disease prevention in livestock in general — producers definitely rely on it. This year, one of the main scour vaccines has been absent in the marketplace for the second straight year. There are alternative products, but their use may mean tweaking […] Read more
(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)
Finishers, Livestock, Markets

Klassen: Buyers contemplate feeder market prices

In adverse weather, sale results vary

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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
In Western Canada, market-ready fed cattle supplies are expected to exceed year-ago levels from January through March by 20,000 head each month.
Beef Cattle, Cattleman’s Corner, Markets

All signs point toward herd expansion

Market Update: Cow-calf operators and backgrounders need to adjust marketing strategy

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During the first half of October, Alberta packers were buying fed cattle on a dressed basis at average prices of $390/cwt. Live prices f.o.b the feedlot in southern Alberta were quoted at $233/cwt. The Alberta fed cattle market was unchanged from 30 days earlier. Market-ready supplies in the U.S. will tighten during the fourth quarter […] Read more
(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)
Finishers, Livestock, Markets

Klassen: Canadian feeder market holds value despite weaker futures

Weaker loonie offers support

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Compared to last week, western Canadian yearling prices traded $3-$5 lower while calf values were relatively unchanged. The market was slightly softer early in the week. On Wednesday, Alberta packers renewed fed cattle bids similar to week-ago levels and the aggressive buying lifted calf prices back up to levels similar to seven days earlier. Adverse […] Read more
(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)
Finishers, Livestock, Markets

Klassen: Feeder market vulnerable to weakness

Placements higher than expected

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Compared to last week, western Canadian yearling markets traded $3-$5 on either side of unchanged. Prices for 800-plus-lb. yearlings were firm in Manitoba but softened in western regions. Calf prices were relatively unchanged from week-ago levels. There were larger volumes of calves on offer with many auction barns holding feature sales. The increase in supplies […] Read more
After a summer of pretty good grass, this cow has a body condition score in the five to six range indicating she's heading into winter in pretty good shape.
Beef Cattle, Cattleman’s Corner, Livestock

Start planning a proper winter ration now for your cattle

Feed requirements are fairly low in fall, but it's not the time cut corners on nutrition

By
After spring calves are weaned, early-gestation beef cows require the lowest amount of nutrients compared to the rest of the year. Some see this as a sign to save money by putting them on low-quality pastures or other poor feeds. Rather, it should be seen as a springboard to map out a good winter-feeding plan, […] Read more
The argument against allowing the U.K. into the CPTPP centres on their one-sided non-tariff trade barriers applied to Canadian meat.
Beef Cattle, Cattleman’s Corner

Cattle producers need to support CCA on ‘a bad deal’

UK should be kept out of trade agreement until it accepts Canadian meat products

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Editor’s note: Earlier this year it was announced that the Canadian government was considering a plan for the United Kingdom to join a major international trade agreement known as the Comprehensive Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The move has raised the ire of the Canadian meat industry, which has been angry for years over […] Read more

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