CME August 2021 live cattle (candlesticks) with Bollinger bands (20,2). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME live cattle ease as cash market diverges

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures eased for a third session on Friday as futures markets tried to read conflicting cash markets, traders said. “We have the (U.S.) south backed up on cattle, trying to get cattle moved through,” said Scott Varilek, broker at Kooima Kooima Varilek Trading Inc. “There’s tighter […] Read more

Video screengrab of Michael Palin (l) and John Cleese in the Cheese Shop sketch on Monty Python’s Flying Circus in 1972.

Saputo to buy British cheesemaker Wensleydale

Canadian dairy firm expands U.K. assets

One of the world’s largest dairy processors is set to expand its reach further into the U.K. with a deal for the maker of Yorkshire Wensleydale cheese. Montreal-based Saputo announced Monday it has an all-cash deal in place to buy Wensleydale Dairy Products Ltd. for 23 million pounds (about C$39.7 million). Pending U.K. regulatory approvals, […] Read more


CME August 2021 live cattle (candlesticks) with 100-day moving average (red line) and August 2021 lean hogs (pink open/high/low/close). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME live cattle ease as beef demand cools

CME lean hog futures mostly firm

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures dropped for a second day, following U.S. boxed beef prices lower as seasonal demand cools. “You’re still seeing boxed beef pull back, which is normal, seasonally,” said Matthew Wiegand, Risk Management Consultant at FuturesOne. “We’re past the Fourth of July — we don’t have a […] Read more

CME August 2021 live cattle (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, brown and dark red lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Live cattle futures, boxed beef prices drop

Average hog weights down on week

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures approached a four-week low on Wednesday as U.S. beef prices declined. The drop in futures extended a four per cent setback from a contract high that most-active August live cattle reached last month. Prices for beef shipped to wholesale buyers in large boxes have also […] Read more



(Sollio Co-operative Group video screengrab via YouTube)

Olymel strike talks delayed to mid-month, union says

Quebec hog plant's workers on strike since late April

A two-months-and-counting strike at a major Quebec hog slaughter and processing plant is expected to continue through to mid-July at the earliest due to scheduling issues, the workers’ union says. The Syndicat des travailleurs d’Olymel Vallee-Jonction-CSN — which represents over 1,000 striking workers at Olymel’s plant Vallee-Jonction, about 60 km southeast of Quebec City — […] Read more



Nestle Canada in June 2021 launched Divine, a reduced-calorie line of Haagen-Dazs ice creams, produced at its London, Ont. ice cream plant. (Corporate.nestle.ca)

More upgrades planned for Nestle ice cream plant

Two more production lines to be added

The southwestern Ontario plant supplying Haagen-Dazs, Real Dairy and Drumstick ice cream and Parlour frozen desserts across Canada is set for another $41.3 million expansion, including two new production lines. Nestle Canada said June 23 it expects to break ground in September for a 26,600-square foot expansion of its London, Ont. plant with “additional buildings, […] Read more


Smoke rises from a wildfire over a hill at Kamloops, B.C. on July 1, 2021, in this screen grab obtained from a social media video. (Nicole Ritter via Reuters)

B.C. presses for ranchers to register before wildfires hit

Premises ID helps protect livestock in emergencies, province says

British Columbia’s provincial ag ministry hopes to shore up ranchers’ participation in the Premises Identification program against the risk of further wildfires this year. About two-thirds, or 5,200, of B.C.’s non-supply managed livestock producers, and all the supply-managed dairy cattle and poultry premises in the province, are registered in the program, the province said Wednesday. […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Maple Leaf to buy four Saskatchewan hog barns

Pork processor plans future upgrades

Two sow barns and two nursery hog barns in central Saskatchewan are set to become the property of meat processor Maple Leaf Foods. Toronto-based Maple Leaf announced Wednesday it plans to buy the four barns from Polar Pork, a group of farms spearheaded by members of the Possberg family — well known as the founding […] Read more