Reading Time: 2 minutes Western Canadian feeder cattle prices were relatively unchanged from week-ago levels as extremely cold temperatures hinder market activity. Most auction barns reported small groups of various quality cattle on offer, which made the market hard to define. In the major markets of Alberta such as Lethbridge, there were very few yearlings available. This forced major […] Read more
Klassen: Feeder markets experience lacklustre trade
Eye worm, known only in cattle, found in U.S. woman’s eye
Reading Time: 2 minutes New York | Reuters — An Oregon woman has become the first person worldwide known to have had an eye infestation by a tiny worm species previously seen only in cattle that is spread by flies that feed on eyeball lubrication, U.S. government researchers said on Monday. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientists […] Read more
All quarantines lifted in bovine TB probe
Reading Time: 2 minutes The mystery of how six Prairie cattle caught a Mexican strain of bovine tuberculosis (TB) is now expected to remain a mystery indefinitely. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Monday announced quarantines have been lifted from all Prairie cattle operations tested during its probe of a bovine TB outbreak beginning in the fall of 2016. […] Read more
Klassen: Feeder market stabilizes on U.S. inventory data
Reading Time: 2 minutes Compared to last week, western Canadian feeder cattle prices were relatively unchanged but there was a wide variation across the Prairies. Major markets in Alberta traded steady to as much as $5 higher, while Saskatchewan and Manitoba prices were quoted $3 higher to as much as $5 lower. Major finishing operations in Alberta focused on […] Read more
Southern Plains drought slows U.S. cattle herd growth
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Encroaching drought in the U.S. southern Plains contributed to the smallest rise in the nation’s cattle population in three years, analysts said after the government’s semi-annual cattle inventory report on Wednesday. Insufficient moisture in parts of Texas and Oklahoma, along with areas of persistent dryness in the northern Plains, hurt winter […] Read more
Klassen: Feeder market grinds lower
Reading Time: 2 minutes Compared to last week, western Canadian feeder cattle prices traded $4-$6 lower; however, yearlings and heavier calves experienced a week-over-week decline of $4 to as much as $8 with significant weakness noted in the eastern Prairie regions. Finishing feedlots continue to sit on their hands. Order buyers were active on a scale-down basis and surprised […] Read more
Drought lands more cattle into U.S. feedlots than expected
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Ranchers sent nearly one per cent more cattle to U.S. feedlots in December than the same time a year earlier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported on Friday. The result topped most analysts’ predictions, mainly led by worsening drought in the U.S. southern Plains that shriveled available winter wheat grazing pasture. […] Read more
The Keg to merge into Swiss Chalet, Harvey’s parent
Reading Time: 2 minutes Major Canadian steakhouse chain The Keg is set to merge into Cara Operations, the parent for dining chains such as Swiss Chalet, Harvey’s, St-Hubert and Milestones, in a $200 million cash-and-stock deal. The two companies said Tuesday a merger will afford them “synergistic opportunities in marketing, real estate and overall costs that will help further […] Read more
Klassen: Feeder market continues to soften
Reading Time: 2 minutes Compared to last week, yearlings and heavier calves traded $6 to as much as $10 lower. Colder temperatures, along with lacklustre feedlot demand, set a negative tone early in the week. The downward spiral caused the market to be quite variable across the Prairies. It was not uncommon to see 800- to 850-lb. steers trade […] Read more
JBS to shed U.S. feedlot chain
Reading Time: 2 minutes The remaining feedlots in meat packing giant JBS’s Five Rivers Cattle Feeding business, the world’s biggest cattle feeding operation, have found a buyer. JBS on Wednesday announced a deal to sell the U.S.-based assets of Five Rivers to affiliates of New York-based Pinnacle Asset Management for about US$200 million. The deal gives Pinnacle 11 feedlots […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
