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

U.S. livestock: Cattle futures up for third straight day

December, February hogs lower

Chicago | Reuters — CME Group cattle futures rose for a third day in a row on Friday, with the front-month live cattle contract hitting a fresh 4-1/2-year high on strong cash markets and rising slaughter numbers. Hog futures were weaker on technical selling. CME’s most-active February live cattle contract gained 0.45 cent to 137.7 […] Read more

U.S. livestock: Cash, export markets lift CME live cattle

December hogs lower, February up

Chicago | Reuters — CME Group cattle futures rose on Thursday, with the front-month live cattle contract hitting its highest since June 2017 on support from strength in the cash markets. Rising overseas demand also lent support cattle futures after the U.S. Agriculture Department said that weekly beef export sales totaled 30,000 tonnes, the most […] Read more





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

U.S. livestock: CME cattle firm, cash cattle supportive

Heavier slaughters weigh on hog futures

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures firmed on Monday, supported by tighter supplies of market-ready cattle that propped up cash prices last week, traders said. “In theory, the feedlots have a little more leverage, because there’s fewer cattle available for the packer to buy,” said Alan Brugler, president of Brugler Marketing. […] Read more

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

U.S. livestock: CME cattle futures mostly lower as corn climbs

Technical buying supports lean hogs

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures closed mostly lower on Friday, pressured by rising corn prices that depressed feeder cattle futures, traders said. But firmer cash cattle prices this week underpinned the market. CME January feeder cattle futures fell 1.35 cents to end at 157.725 cents/lb., sagging as Chicago Board of […] Read more



A Western blot analysis, used to detect specific proteins in tissue samples, is used to confirm BSE in cattle. (Peggy Greb photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Brazil plays down BSE risk in suspect cases in people

Sao Paulo/Rio de Janeiro | Reuters — Brazil’s agriculture ministry said that two cases reported on Thursday of a neurodegenerative disorder in patients in Rio de Janeiro state were not related to beef consumption, tamping down fears of possible BSE causing human illness. Federal biomedical institute Fiocruz, which is investigating the possibility of bovine spongiform […] Read more


UFCW Local 401 board member and Cargill employee Joseph Kog (l) and Local 401 president Thomas Hesse with their strike notice on Nov. 10, 2021. (GoUnion.ca)

Cargill beef plant workers serve strike notice

Without a deal, High River workers will walk Dec. 6

Unionized workers at Cargill’s cattle slaughter and processing plant at High River, Alta. will start strike action next month unless a deal can be reached with the company, their union said Wednesday. A strike would begin at High River no sooner than Dec. 6 at 12:01 a.m. if a new collective bargaining agreement isn’t reached […] Read more

CME December 2021 lean hogs (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, dark red and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME hog futures up on slaughter speed plan

December live cattle touch two-month high, end lower

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures rose on Wednesday after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said it will allow nine pork processing plants to apply to operate faster line speeds under a pilot program. The announcement eased concerns that slower processing speeds had slowed meatpackers’ demand for pigs to slaughter, […] Read more