Livestock Production & Management

Chicks atop images from a genetic map of a chicken. (Peggy Greb photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Gene-edited chickens planned in bid to halt next pandemic

By Kate Kelland January 22, 2019

Reading Time: 2 minutes London | Reuters — British scientists are developing gene-edited chickens designed to be totally resistant to flu in a new approach to trying to stop the next deadly human pandemic. The first of the transgenic chicks will be hatched later this year at the Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, said Wendy […] Read more

Livestock, Markets, Reuters

U.S. livestock: Hogs rise on hopes for China trade talks

By Tom Polansek January 19, 2019

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Hopes for progress in talks to resolve the U.S.-China trade war lifted Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures on Friday, traders said. Wall Street and commodities advanced after Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that China offered to go on a six-year buying spree to ramp up imports from […] Read more

Hogs, Livestock

Alberta’s PED outbreak so far held to one spot

By GFM Staff January 18, 2019

Reading Time: 3 minutes The probe into Alberta’s first-ever outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhea hasn’t yet shown any paths by which the PED virus might have got to the farm — nor any new cases anywhere else in the province. The provincial government on Jan. 7 confirmed the first case of PED to appear in hogs in Alberta, at […] Read more

Livestock, Markets, Reuters, Weather

U.S. livestock: Cattle ease on technical selling ahead of storm

By Michael Hirtzer January 18, 2019

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange livestock futures were lower on Thursday, with live cattle prices easing from recent contract highs on technical selling ahead of a major winter storm forecast to hit U.S. cattle country, traders said. Feeder cattle futures fell to a roughly 1-1/2 week low, pressured in part by rising corn […] Read more

Livestock, Markets, Reuters

U.S. livestock: Hog futures tumble to two-month low

By Michael Hirtzer January 17, 2019

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters –– Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures dropped as much as 3.7 per cent on Wednesday, skidding to the lowest levels in two months on pressure from chart-based selling and ample U.S. hog supplies, traders said. Hog prices on Tuesday had dipped below their closely watched 200-day moving average and on Wednesday […] Read more

Dairy Cattle, Livestock, Reuters

Louis Dreyfus to exit dairy by mid-2019

By Reuters January 16, 2019

Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters –– Louis Dreyfus Co. said on Wednesday it would sell or wind down its small dairy business by the middle of this year as part of an overhaul to revive growth at the agricultural commodity giant. Privately-held Louis Dreyfus had previously earmarked dairy as one of several activities to be sold or […] Read more

Livestock, Markets, Reuters, Weather

U.S. livestock: Live cattle hit contract highs on storm forecast

By Michael Hirtzer January 15, 2019

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Live cattle futures rose to life-of-contract highs at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday, lifted by worries that severe winter weather could prompt beef packers to pay higher prices for animals in the U.S. Plains, traders said. Technical buying and short-covering also buoyed cattle prices while lean hog futures finished narrowly […] Read more

Chad and Erika Maarhuis operate Magnum Meats in Rock Creek, British Columbia.

Guide Business, Livestock

A cut ahead

With farm support, here’s how this young couple beat the odds to open a successful short-line abattoir

By Madeleine Baerg January 15, 2019

Reading Time: 10 minutes If chat starts to lag at a get-together with strangers, Chad and Erika Maarhuis know just how to get a conversation started: they casually mention their day jobs. First, there’s a few seconds of silence. Then the questions start. “Really?” (Yup). “Isn’t that gross?” (Nope). “What’s it like?” (It’s a job, but one we care […] Read more

Finishers, Livestock, Markets

Klassen: Fed cattle market lifts feeder prices

By Jerry Klassen January 14, 2019

Reading Time: 2 minutes Compared to last week, western Canadian feeder cattle markets traded $4 on either side of unchanged. Early in the week, the market was rather sluggish but a fortuitous bounce in the live cattle futures quickly spilled over into the feeder complex. Yearlings and heavier calves ended the week $2 to $4 higher. Feeding margins are […] Read more

A customer eats an ‘insect tsukemen’ ramen noodle topped with fried worms and crickets at Ramen Nagi restaurant in Tokyo on April 9, 2017. (Photo: Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon)

Livestock, Reuters

Farming insects may solve one problem, create others

By Thin Lei Win January 14, 2019

Reading Time: 2 minutes Rome | Thomson Reuters Foundation — Insects have great potential as an alternative source of protein, but further research is urgently needed before mass production begins in order to avoid environmental disaster, Swedish researchers warned Monday. There is currently an “overwhelming lack of knowledge” on basic questions such as suitable species, their housing and feed […] Read more

Daily Network News

Monarch electric tractor’s future in Canada unclear as Caterpillar takes over

Western Australia farmers turn to canola over wheat as fuel, fertilizer costs rise

U.S. is leading G20 initiative to ensure fertilizer access, sources say

Livestock