CME April 2023 live cattle (candlesticks) with Bollinger bands (20,2). (Barchart)

Klassen: April live cattle futures pull nearby cash feeder market higher

More feedlots switching back to barley

Compared to last week, western Canadian yearling markets traded steady to $3 higher on average. Quality yearling packages of larger volume traded $2-$3 above week-ago levels. The calf market is becoming more defined. Larger calf volumes were on offer in Saskatchewan and Manitoba but smaller numbers were noted in Alberta. Therefore, we can’t accurately compare […] Read more

CME October 2022 lean hogs (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, brown and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME lean hog futures weaken

Live cattle futures gain, feeder cattle under pressure

Chicago | Reuters –– Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures eased on Monday as the U.S. Agriculture Department lifted its forecast for domestic pork production and lowered its price outlook for pigs for this year. The department, in a monthly report, raised its estimate for pork production in the third quarter by 0.9 per cent […] Read more


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

U.S. livestock: CME live cattle up on demand, tightening supplies

Hogs up on technical bounce

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures rose on Friday in tandem with higher equities and energy markets as a robust slaughter pace and concerns about reduced cattle supplies in the coming months fueled buying. Packers have accelerated their daily slaughter pace following plant downtime around Monday’s Labour Day holiday and they […] Read more

CME December 2022 lean hogs (candlesticks) with 100-day moving average (black line, right column) and CME cash lean hog index (pink line, left column). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME lean hogs mostly lower on weak cash market

Chicago live cattle mixed, feeders up

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures ended mostly lower on Thursday as eroding cash hog prices weighed on the market along with weaker wholesale pork prices and slumping pork exports. Technical buying helped to underpin the actively traded October contract, the only month that closed higher on Thursday, while back month […] Read more


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

U.S. livestock: CME live cattle down on quiet cash trade

Hog futures narrowly mixed

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures weakened on Wednesday as quiet trade on the cash market fortified concerns about light demand, traders said. Hog futures were narrowly mixed, with short-covering providing support, while worries that a firm U.S. dollar will chill export demand for pork added pressure. Benchmark CME October live cattle […] Read more

Surgery on a horse at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine’s equine veterinary medical centre in Saskatoon. (WCVM video screengrab via YouTube)

Saskatchewan’s livestock vet loan plan expanded to bigger centres

Urban vet clinics' work with rural producers noted

Saskatchewan’s program to forgive provincial student loans for veterinarians and vet techs serving livestock producers at rural clinics will now also cover those doing the same work out of bigger communities. The province’s Loan Forgiveness for Veterinarians and Veterinary Technologists program was first announced in April last year, offering forgiveness of 20 per cent of […] Read more


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

U.S. livestock: CME live cattle climb on cash market optimism

Lean hog futures also close higher

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange livestock futures rose on Tuesday on hopes that the pace of slaughter of both cattle and hogs will pick up after slowing down for the U.S. Labor Day holiday weekend. Short-covering was also noted in hog futures after the front-month contract sank to its lowest since Feb. 9 […] Read more



File photo of piglets at a hog operation in China. (KuLouKu/iStock/Getty Images)

Federal funding lined up for programs, planning against swine fever

Two-year package to go toward pork industry work

The federal government is putting up an eight-figure funding wall to help prevent African swine fever from ever reaching Canada’s hog farms — and to prepare against any breach. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said Aug. 26 the government will provide up to $45.3 million toward a three-pronged effort to boost disease prevention and preparedness: pork […] Read more

Dave and Lynne Longshore of Bar-E-L Angus have worked with Bullseye services for years to make sure their cattle have proper nutrition at all stages of the production cycle leading to healthy, fertile bulls, and cows that produce vigorous and robust calves.

Nutrition key to optimizing purebred performance

It’s all about fertile females and bulls with breeding soundness

Dave Longshore doesn’t take any shortcuts when it comes to proper nutrition for his purebred Black Angus operation in central Alberta. It’s important to produce healthy, sound and fertile bulls that will be offered as breeding stock, and if cows and heifers aren’t fed a well-balanced ration with proper mineral supplements, that will also mean […] Read more