Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — U.S. agricultural commodities trader Cargill on Thursday reported a rise in third-quarter profit on stronger results in food ingredients and grain handling, but warned about headwinds from oversupplied grain markets and low commodity prices. The privately-held company is exiting lower-margin operations, including its U.S. pork business, and expanding deeper into food ingredients and […] Read more
Cargill books higher profits, warns of tough markets
Suspected cattle-attacking gator killed in Florida
Reading Time: 2 minutes Orlando | Reuters –– A 780-lb. “monster” alligator slain in a Florida hunt and hauled out of the water with a farm tractor falls short of the state record for length, a wildlife official said on Wednesday. “A big alligator nonetheless, but they are not going to have an official measurement because it’s not going […] Read more
Klassen: Feedlot operators throw in towel on feeder market
Reading Time: 2 minutes Weaker wholesale beef values, along with softer fed cattle prices, set a negative tone for the feeder cattle market this past week. Western Canadian feeder markets were trading $4-$8 below week-ago levels, with calves trading as much as $10 lower in some cases. Producers can become nauseous watching these live cattle futures, but this is […] Read more
Location, location
The Spenst family are farmers first, but with a farm that extends right to the store counter
Reading Time: 8 minutes When Garry Spenst and his sons, Paul and Garreth, heard that the Real Canadian Superstore was coming to Winkler, Man. they took the biggest gamble of their lives. The family paid $100,000 to buy the lot right next door. Soon, they were building their family-owned retail meat store, Spenst Brothers Premium Meats, a project that […] Read more
Klassen: Feeder cattle trade lower
Reading Time: 2 minutes The “one-week wonder” from seven to 10 days ago appears to have evaporated; a softer sentiment blanketed Western Canada this week, with feeder markets dropping $4 to $6 on average. A significant slide in live cattle futures, along with softer cash prices, caused feedlots to move into a risk-averse mentality. Heavier replacements took the brunt […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hog futures jump on fund buying, USDA report
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures closed higher on Monday, driven by short-covering and fund buying after contracts broke through technical resistance levels, traders said. They said last Friday’s U.S. Department of Agriculture quarterly hog report stirred additional deferred-month buying. The survey showed modest U.S. herd growth during the December-February quarter […] Read more
France confirms new BSE case
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters –– France’s agriculture ministry confirmed Thursday a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) had been discovered in the northeastern region of Ardennes. The suspected case, found in a five-year-old cow, was identified last week during a test carried out on cattle older than 48 months after slaughter. The farm ministry said there […] Read more
Klassen: Feeder cattle mixed across the Prairies
Reading Time: 2 minutes Market sentiment can be extremely variable and this week, we saw a large divergence in the price structure across the Prairies. Alberta feeder cattle prices were generally $3 to $6 higher and in some cases as much as $10 above week-ago levels. Buying interest appeared to fade moving east, with Manitoba markets dropping $4-$8 from […] Read more
Cattle placed in U.S. feedlots jump to eight-year high
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — The number of cattle put into U.S. feedlots in February climbed 10 per cent from a year earlier to their highest level for that month in eight years, according to a government report released Friday. The placement results, which shed light on future prices for cattle and beef, surpassed industry forecasts […] Read more
Peru lifts trade barriers to U.S. beef
Reading Time: 2 minutes Washington, D.C. | Reuters — Peru has agreed to lift its remaining safety barriers to U.S. beef exports, further opening one of the fastest-growing markets in Latin America to U.S. ranchers, Obama administration officials said Monday. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the agreement with Lima will remove certification requirements […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
