Glacier FarmMedia—Feed grain bids in Western Canada lack any clear direction for the time being, as farmers finish up spring seeding around consistent rains.
“There’s been very minimal (price) movement in the last month, give or take five dollars a tonne,” said grain trader Jay Janzen of Cornine Commodities in Lacombe, Alta., adding “it’s status quo at this point.”
While showers have caused some seeding delays, he estimated that farmers in most regions were into the planting the last 20 per cent of the 2024 crop. The rains will allow fields to get off to a good start, although Janzen added that more moisture will be needed through the growing season.
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As far as the spot market is concerned, “there’s still a decent of old crop grain in the bin, especially barley,” although little business was taking place. While any weather issues that materialize could provide support for new crop bids, “feedlots are very content to sit on their hands at this point,” according to Janzen.
Feed barley into Lethbridge’s feedlot alley was trading at around C$295 to C$298 per tonne in the latest weekly market review from the Alberta government, released May 24. That was unchanged on the top end from the previous week.
