File photo of hogs in transit near Red Deer, Alta. (Stefonlinton/iStock/Getty Images)

Alberta hog farmers to get set-aside via AgriRecovery

Producers get funds for feeding held-back market hogs

Reading Time: 3 minutes An AgriRecovery plan announced Friday is set to pay eligible Alberta farmers 95 cents per day per market-ready hog toward the animals’ upkeep during the shutdown of the province’s biggest hog slaughter plant. Olymel, the meat packing arm of Sollio Co-operative, reopened its plant at Red Deer this week after announcing Feb. 15 it would […] Read more

CME April 2021 lean hogs with Bollinger (20,2) bands. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Hog futures take a breather

April live cattle up, but well down off highs

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures consolidated on Friday as the market caught its breath after pulling back from contract highs reached last week. Strong demand for U.S. pork from China recently supported hog futures, as China is battling the fatal pig disease African swine fever, which increased its need […] Read more


CME April 2021 lean hogs with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Pork export sales rise, profit-taking hits hog futures

Cattle futures down while beef exports up

Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures ended lower on Thursday as profit-taking overshadowed strong U.S. export demand, analysts said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, in a weekly report, said weekly net U.S. pork export sales were 59,600 tonnes for 2021, up 68 per cent from the prior four-week average. Weekly export […] Read more

(Sollio Co-operative Group video screengrab via YouTube)

Olymel restarting hog slaughter at Red Deer

Work to resume at pork plant this week

Reading Time: 4 minutes Meat packer Olymel plans to restart slaughter operations Thursday at one of Canada’s largest hog plants following a major outbreak of COVID-19 among employees. Olymel, an arm of Sollio Co-operative, said late Wednesday it had recalled “employees that are needed to ensure that the gradual restarting of operations goes smoothly” at its Red Deer, Alta. […] Read more


CME April 2021 lean hogs with Bollinger (20,2) bands. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Lean hogs up on new swine fever outbreak in China

April live cattle down, feeders up

Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures jumped on Wednesday as China reported a new outbreak of a deadly pig disease, raising expectations that Chinese importers could increase U.S. purchases. China’s farm ministry confirmed African swine fever in piglets being illegally transported through Funing county in the southwestern province of Yunnan. The […] Read more

Elanco Animal Health CEO Jeff Simmons speaks during an interview at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Sept. 20, 2018. (Photo: Reuters/Brendan McDermid)

Second activist investor buys into Elanco

Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters — Hedge fund Starboard Value LP has taken a stake in Elanco Animal Health and nominated three directors to the animal healthcare company’s board, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The WSJ report did not mention the size of Starboard’s stake in Elanco, which makes treatments for pets […] Read more


CME April 2021 lean hogs with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Lean hogs down off recent gains

April live cattle end up off five-week low

Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures dropped 2.7 per cent on Tuesday as the market retreated from recent surges. Profit-taking has weighed on prices since most-active April hog futures reached a life-of-contract high on Thursday. Still, traders said robust Chinese demand for pork imports is underpinning the futures market. Traders are […] Read more

(Lovelyshot/iStock/Getty Images)

Klassen: Steady demand supports feeder cattle prices

Reading Time: 2 minutes Compared to last week, western Canadian yearling prices were unchanged while calves were steady to $2 higher on average. Auction barns received larger supplies of backgrounded cattle and there was a fair amount of direct trade of yearlings off farm. Larger supplies of heavier-weight feeders appeared to limit the upside but there was no slippage. […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Canada’s year-end cattle herd continues shrinking

Slaughter beat pre-pandemic pace in second half, StatsCan says

Reading Time: 2 minutes Year-over-year contraction continued for Canada’s cattle herd at the start of 2021, while newborn piglet counts kept Canada’s hog herd on the rise during the same period, according to Statistics Canada. StatsCan on Monday reported 11.2 million cattle on Canadian farms at Jan, 1, 2021 — down one per cent from the year-earlier date and […] Read more

CME April 2021 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Live cattle hit five-week low

Technical selling, weaker beef prices bring pressure

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Technical selling on Monday drove Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures to their lowest prices in more than five weeks, while lean hog futures recovered from a sell-off. The cattle market’s losses brought the most-active April contract down six per cent from a life-of-contract high reached on Feb. 16. Strong domestic […] Read more