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
Location, location
The Spenst family are farmers first, but with a farm that extends right to the store counter
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
Klassen: Uncertain beef demand weighs on feeder market
Reading Time: 2 minutes The prolonged period of negative feeding margins continues to set a tone in the feeder market. Alberta packers were buying limited numbers of fed cattle this past week with dressed sales in the range of $280 to $283, down nearly $10-$14 from two weeks ago. This appears to have spilled over into the feeder market, […] Read more
Cargill moves to cut antibiotic use in cattle by 20 per cent
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Cargill, a top U.S. meat processor, is trimming the use of antibiotics in its cattle supply amid concerns among some doctors and consumers about risks to humans from antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The company on Feb. 26 started eliminating 20 per cent of antibiotics deemed important for human medicine and farm animals from its four […] Read more
U.S. livestock: CME live cattle snaps back in anticipation of cash prices
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago/Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle contracts rose on Friday, paring recent losses as investors pulled futures closer in line with expectations for cash prices later on Friday, traders said. April closed 0.900 cent per lb higher at 136.350 cents, and June ended up 0.850 cent to 126.475. “We’re just playing catch up to […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
