“The biggest thing you can do as a producer on your farm is to be ready with your own emergency response plan and include ASF in that plan,” Christa Arsenault, AHC co-ordinator.

Are farmers ready for swine fever?

Don’t underestimate how serious it could be if this disease reaches Canada

A joint government and industry organization challenged with protecting the health and welfare of animals is urging Canadian hog producers to be on guard to prevent and if necessary, manage an outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF). A representative of Animal Health Canada (AHC) — a not-for-profit organization which is funded jointly by federal, provincial […] Read more

U.S. livestock: CME live cattle, feeder cattle sag to four-month lows

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange livestock futures slumped on Thursday, with live cattle and feeder cattle setting four-month lows. The cattle markets came under continued pressure from weakness in equities, which lost ground as the Ukraine crisis kept investors on edge, traders said. In grain markets, soaring costs for corn and wheat threaten […] Read more


(JBSs.infoinvest.com.br)

JBS to help fund home purchases for Brooks staff

Company offering zero-interest loans for down payments

One of the biggest beef packers operating in Canada is pledging $1.7 million for a one-year pilot program to help employees buy or upgrade homes. JBS Foods Canada, which operates Brazilian meat packer JBS’s plant at Brooks, Alta., on Tuesday announced the launch of what it calls the “Homebuyer Dream Fund,” providing zero-interest loans to […] Read more

U.S. beef herd contraction confirmed

Market Update with Jerry Klassen: Now is a good time for western ranchers to be buying bred cows and cow-calf pairs

During the first week of February, Alberta packers were buying fed cattle on a dressed basis in the range of $260-$270 delivered. Live prices were quoted from $160-$162 FOB the feedlot. Western Canada is contending with a backlog of market-ready supplies due to the sharp year-over-year increase in feedlot placements in the latter half of […] Read more


CME March 2022 feeder cattle (candlesticks, right column) with April 2022 feeder cattle (red line, right column) and April 2022 live cattle (black line, left column). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME feeder cattle firm, live cattle ease as grain markets roiled

Hog futures up on supply concerns

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange feeder cattle futures rose on Wednesday, and live cattle futures prices slipped for another session, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continued to send agricultural commodity markets into a tailspin, traders said. But a whipsaw in prices for grains used for livestock feed weighed on the day’s livestock complex, […] Read more

CME April 2022 feeder cattle (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, brown and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME feeder cattle hit four-month low

Live cattle weaken; lean hogs higher

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange feeder cattle futures dropped to a four-month low on Tuesday and live cattle futures eased as Wall Street tumbled, traders said. A surge in prices for grains used for livestock feed added pressure on feeder cattle, traders said. Corn and wheat futures each rose by their daily trading […] Read more





CME March 2022 feeder cattle (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, brown and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME live cattle fall, feeder cattle lowest since November

April, June hogs down on day

Chicago | Reuters –– Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures fell to their lowest level in more than a month on Monday as beef prices weakened and some traders reduced risk amid uncertainty over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, analysts said. Feeder cattle futures fell to their lowest price since November and lean hogs also slumped. […] Read more

Down the middle of this photo is a line of cattle working on a swath on Copperfield Colony. It takes about 20 minutes to advance a hot wire to the next swath once cattle clean up a windrow. The colony is now taking off more tons of forage per acre with the cover crops and swath grazing than with three cuttings of hay.

Year-round grazing reduces winter feeding costs

Cover crops, swath grazing and double cropping are all ways to produce more forage

The cattle managers at the Copperfield Hutterite Colony near Vauxhall, Alta., northeast of Lethbridge, are using livestock to improve soils and pastures. Phil Hofer and the boys in charge of the cattle are using them in a year-round grazing system that includes intensive pasture rotations on swathed cover crops. “I am thankful to the management […] Read more