Photo: File

U.S. livestock: Live cattle, hog futures stumble on profit-taking

Chicago/Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures finished lower on Thursday, hit by profit-taking and early-session technical selling, traders said. Investors sold the October contract and simultaneously bought deferred months, in a trading strategy known as bear-spreading. Most actively traded December live cattle closed 1.300 cents per pound lower at 104.075 cents, and February […] Read more

(Regis Lefebure photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

U.S. livestock: Hogs surge on technical buying, cattle mostly higher

Chicago | Reuters –– Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures soared three per cent on Wednesday, rebounding on technical buying from the steep losses seen in the previous session, traders and analysts said. Cattle futures also were mostly higher, even as some contracts edged slightly lower after hitting one-month peaks. Higher prices for wholesale beef […] Read more



(Photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

PED outbreaks slow, but still top of mind in Ontario

Swine Health Ontario dedicated its recent annual Big Bug Day to continuing toward the goal of eradicating porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) from Ontario. Martin Misener, a vet and chair of the Ontario Swine Health Advisory Board, challenged the hog industry to not get complacent about stopping PED. Misener noted he had heard from people who […] Read more


(VDL.umn.edu)

Cull sows no longer stopped at U.S. border

Canada’s swine industry appears to have dodged what could have been an economic catastrophe with quick action on senecavirus A. In August this year, 13 Ontario animals were identified with lesions on their snouts or hooves at a processing plant in the U.S., triggering a memo from the U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service to […] Read more



(SmithfieldFoods.com)

Smithfield sees pork operations back to normal Monday

Wilmington, N.C. | Reuters — Smithfield Foods expects to resume full production on Monday at its North Carolina meat operations, including the world’s largest pork plant, more than a week after Hurricane Matthew struck the U.S. Southeast and triggered widespread flooding in the state. Operations will get back to normal at Smithfield’s four North Carolina […] Read more

A satellite view of Hurricane Matthew at 2:30 p.m. ET on Oct. 7, 2016. (NASA/NOAA GOES Project)

Smithfield to shutter major hog plant against Matthew

Chicago | Reuters — Smithfield Foods will shutter its hog processing facility, the world’s largest, on Saturday to protect employees in North Carolina from Hurricane Matthew, industry sources said on Friday, as farmers braced for the storm’s potential lashing. Matthew has fueled concerns about the safety of livestock and farm workers along the coast from […] Read more



(VDL.umn.edu)

Ontario hogs confirmed with senecavirus

A hog virus watched closely in North America for its strong family resemblance to foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) has turned up in hogs in Ontario. Officials with hog industry body Ontario Pork reported Monday that senecavirus A, formerly called Seneca Valley virus or SVV, has been confirmed in the province. Neighbouring industry body Manitoba Pork said […] Read more