(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Klassen: Feeder market continues consolidation pattern

Reading Time: 2 minutes Compared to last week, western Canadian feeder cattle markets traded $3-$5 on either side of unchanged. The market was quite variable across the Prairies. Demand from south of the border evaporated due to adverse weather while southern Alberta experienced favourable spring conditions. Alberta packers were buying fed cattle at $260 on a dressed basis, up […] Read more

U.S. livestock: Hog futures rise on pork export optimism

U.S. livestock: Hog futures rise on pork export optimism

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. front-month hog futures surged on Monday, extending last week’s advances on expectations of additional export sales to China, where African swine fever has decimated the world’s largest hog herd, traders said. “We had that huge sale of pork to China last week, and the market is anticipating more sales,” said […] Read more


(Shadowinternet/E+/Getty Images)

Alberta confirms fourth PED outbreak

Reading Time: 2 minutes Alberta took another punch last week in its fight with porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED), having confirmed the province’s fourth on-farm case of the disease. Officials with the provincial ag department and Alberta Pork haven’t said where the fourth case is located, nor how far it is from the three southern Alberta properties where outbreaks in […] Read more

Workers sort cuts of fresh pork in a processing plant of pork producer WH Group in Zhengzhou in China’s Henan province in this file photo, taken through glass, from Nov. 24, 2017. (File photo: Reuters/Dominique Patton)

U.S. seizes pork from China on swine fever concerns

Reading Time: < 1 minute Washington | Reuters — U.S. border agents have seized around one million pounds of pork from China, a spokesman for the agency said on Friday, over suspicions that it might contain African swine flu disease which has hit Chinese pork output. Federal agents have seized the supplies over the past week in New York. “The […] Read more


U.S. livestock: Hogs limit up as swine fever cuts Chinese herd

U.S. livestock: Hogs limit up as swine fever cuts Chinese herd

Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago | Reuters –– U.S. hog futures rallied to a five-month high on Friday, closing at their daily trading limit on improving export prospects due to a sharp reduction in China’s domestic supplies, traders said. China’s pig herd slid 16.6 per cent in February from the previous year, as African swine fever swept the country, […] Read more

Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, shown here March 14, 2019 at the Montreal-Trudeau airport with Canadian border services officers and detector dogs, announced new funding to expand Canada’s detector dog corps. (CNW Group/CFIA)

Canada to boost airport detector dog corps

Reading Time: 2 minutes With African swine fever top of mind, the federal government plans to more than double the total number of detector dog teams at Canada’s airports within five years. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, speaking in Montreal Thursday, announced new funding of up to $31 million over five years to add 24 Food, Plant, and Animal Detector […] Read more



U.S. livestock: Hog futures mixed after hitting three-month high

U.S. livestock: Hog futures mixed after hitting three-month high

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. lean hog futures were mixed on Wednesday, with the front-month contract easing on profit-taking after rallying to a three-month high while deferred contracts rose on expectations of tight supplies, traders said. Live cattle contracts were firm following two straight days of declines with concerns about a massive U.S. storm system […] Read more


U.S. livestock: Hogs extend win streak on short-covering, firm cash

U.S. livestock: Hogs extend win streak on short-covering, firm cash

Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago | Reuters — U.S. lean hog futures rallied to two-month high on Tuesday, their third straight day of gains, as investors scrambled to cover shorts amid concerns about supplies and signs of cash market strength, traders said. Live cattle futures were weaker, with abundant supplies continuing to weigh on the market. Concerns about African […] Read more

CME April 2019 live cattle, with August 2019 live cattle in brown. (Barchart)

Klassen: Feeder market holds value

Reading Time: 2 minutes Western Canadian feeder cattle prices were relatively unchanged compared to seven days earlier. Buying interest for yearlings was somewhat stronger while calves in the eastern Prairie regions were softer. Moderate temperatures are in the seven-day forecast for most of Western Canada, so the risk discount due to adverse weather has evaporated. Barley jumped an additional […] Read more