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

U.S. livestock: Hog, cattle futures fall despite strong demand

Markets see 'a risk-off day'

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group lean hog futures fell on Tuesday, amid outside pressure from agricultural markets, despite strength from strong slaughter and cash hog prices. “We just had a risk-off day,” said Matthew Wiegand, Risk Management Consultant at FuturesOne. “Cash trade kicked up and is trading above the board.” The CME’s […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Klassen: Steady demand supports feeder cattle prices

Compared to last week, western Canadian feeder cattle markets were relatively unchanged. Weakness in deferred live cattle futures and uncertainty in the feed grain market tempered the upside for all weight categories of replacement cattle. Alberta packers were buying fed cattle on a dressed basis in the range of $288-$290 delivered, steady to $2 lower […] Read more


CME August 2022 live cattle (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, red and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Cattle, hog futures fall as feed costs rise

Pre-Memorial Day consolidation seen

Chicago | Reuters — CME Group hog and cattle futures eased on Friday, with rising soy and corn futures raising feed costs for livestock producers. Traders noted consolidation trade ahead of the U.S. Memorial Day holiday weekend. U.S. grain and livestock markets will be closed on Monday. The nearby June hogs contract fell 0.7 cent, […] Read more

CME June 2022 lean hogs (candlesticks) with 20-, 40- and 100-day moving averages (pink, brown and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: June hogs touch four-week high

June, August live cattle futures up slightly

Chicago | Reuters — CME Group hog futures rose to their highest level in more than a month on Thursday, supported by strong exports and concerns about a slowing slaughter, traders said. Cattle futures ended the trading day close to unchanged. The U.S. Agriculture Department on Thursday morning said that export sales of pork totaled […] Read more


Cows need their space at calving — even just a few minutes alone so they can properly bond with the calf.

Calving wrapped up in 20 days

We have well-aged manure to spread for fertilizer on pasture

March 22 This week we started our “fertilizer” project. We have big piles of old manure that Michael sorted out of the other debris when he cleared out the junk and old fallen-down sheds by the corrals. Heifer hill needs fertilizer the most since we haven’t been able to feed cows on it enough for […] Read more

(Lauri Patterson/E+/Getty Images)

U.S. seeks another CUSMA dispute panel on Canadian dairy quotas

Canada announced revised policies last week

Ottawa | Reuters — The Biden administration is requesting that a second dispute settlement panel be formed under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) to review a trade dispute with Canada over dairy import quotas, it said on Wednesday. The U.S. alleges that Canada’s dairy tariff-rate quota allocations deny eligible U.S. applicants, including retailers, access to Canadian […] Read more


CME August 2022 live cattle (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, red and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Cattle futures weaken on cash market pressure

CME hog futures close mixed

Chicago | Reuters — CME Group cattle futures dipped on Wednesday, pressured by weakness in the cash markets, traders said. Hog futures were mixed, with prices closing well off their session highs after contracts hit technical resistance. The nearby June hogs contract rose 0.025 cent to 109.05 cents/lb., while most-active July futures fell 1.1 cents, […] Read more

A macrophage (immune response) cell in early stages of infection with African swine fever virus, magnified about 1,000x. (Keith Weller photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Be prepared for an animal disease outbreak

Hopefully, infectious diseases don’t appear in Canada but the industry needs to have a plan in place

Hopefully, infectious diseases don’t appear in Canada but the industry needs to have a plan in place

If there ever is a foreign animal disease outbreak in Canada, we all know it could be devastating to the industry. Contagious pathogens such as foot and mouth in bovines, sheep and swine, or African Swine Fever (ASF) in pigs, can cost individual producers in lost production and animal deaths, as well as closing the […] Read more



dairy cows at bunk

Vitti: A common-sense high-forage diet for dairy cows

It's about finding the proper balance between grain and forage components of the ration

High-forage dairy diets have become very popular in the last few years. That’s because many dairy producers feared too much grain was being fed to their high-producing cows, causing digestive upsets and lameness. I have reviewed many of these former high-concentrate diets and agree that many were clearly unacceptable to feed. Yet I have also […] Read more