cow and calf

How to manage two similar livestock pharmaceuticals

Animal Health: Subtle differences can give one medication an advantage over another

This article provides some clarity for when new products or combinations of products come onto the market. These days all antimicrobials, NSAIDs and a few other products are prescription products and most come under the VCPR (veterinary-client-patient relationship). The two products in this case have already been on the market for years, but now, with no […] Read more

beef carcasses

Beef demand made seasonal highs in July

The Markets: Cattle markets have started to grind lower, but the feeder market has held

The beef market appears to have made a seasonal high during the first week of July. Wholesale choice beef prices reached up to US$329/cwt during the week ending July 6 before fading to US$319/cwt during the third week of July. Weaker wholesale values have resulted in lower U.S. fed cattle values. During the first week […] Read more



File photo of cattle on feed near Champion, Alta., about 75 km north of Lethbridge. (James_Gabbert/iStock/Getty Images)

Tighter fed cattle supplies support feeder market

U.S. beef producers are not yet holding back enough heifers for expansion

During the first week of June, Alberta packers were buying fed cattle on a live basis at $261 per hundredweight, f.o.b, feedlot in southern Alberta, up $4/cwt from a month earlier. Market-ready supplies of fed cattle were sharply above year-ago levels earlier in winter, but the backlog has slowly been alleviated through the spring period. […] Read more



The beef cattle industry is bracing for a level of heifer retention this summer and fall that's expected to lower the feeder cattle supply.

Lower feedlot placements support cattle market

Cow-calf producers should think about selling calves in late summer versus fall

During the last week of April, Alberta packers were buying fed cattle on a live basis in the range of $256-$258 per hundredweight delivered, up $18/cwt from three weeks earlier. Alberta fed cattle basis levels have strengthened as market-ready supplies tighten. In Kansas and Texas, live sales, f.o.b. feedlot, were reported at US$182/cwt, down US$3/cwt […] Read more






(HLS.ca/virden)

Flu outbreak sees buyers balk at beef futures

Cash prices fairly level; beef producers should look into risk management tools, analysts say

Markets have seen cattle futures (mainly live and fed) decline in recent weeks as the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) strain made its way into dairy herds in six states to date. The good news, said a cattle auction leader and market expert, is that cash prices have remained more-or-less steady amid the chaos.