Andchris Just Crushin’ It 20J, Grand Champion Speckle Park Bull.

News from the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair

Purely Purebred, news from the December 2023 issue of Canadian Cattlemen

The Canadian Speckle Park Association hosted their first Speckle Park breed show at this year’s Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto, Ont.  Grand Champion Female honours were awarded to Watson Land and Livestock Inc. with two-year-old female Watson Leopard Trillium 7J. Reserve Female honours went to MartinStar Farms with senior yearling Steele Katelynn 3K.  Grand […] Read more

Danika Mayer in the show ring.

First-generation cattlewoman earns her cowboy boots

Danika Mayer channels empathy and experience gained in nursing into career as beef producer

[Update: December 9, 2023] Starting small is better than not starting at all, and first-generation rancher Danika Mayer knows that better than most. Without growing up with any direct connection to the beef industry, the enthusiastic Canadian Cattle Young Leaders program graduate has made many miles, carving out her place in the Canadian beef industry, […] Read more


Dr. Anatoliy Trokhymchuk holding some of the equipment used to identify specific BRD-causing pathogens.

Tech for cattle disease diagnostics edges into the Star Trek age

Researchers are testing new, compact equipment to see if it can quickly and accurately diagnose specific pathogens that cause BRD in the field and feedlot

Remember the COVID rapid test? That was a point-of-need test designed to find a target and match it to a “binder” which then changes the colour if it’s positive or negative. The same principle is applied to the rapid lateral flow device test for anthrax, Dr. Anatoliy Trokhymchuk explains, which was developed by the U.S. […] Read more

CME February 2024 live cattle with 10-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME cattle drop on fund selling, beef demand concerns

Chicago lean hogs continue higher

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures dropped on Thursday after two sessions of gains, pressured by fund long liquidation and as higher corn feed prices and worries about demand for high-priced beef cuts hung over the market. Technical selling accelerated the break, the live cattle market’s sixth in the last eight sessions, […] Read more


Producers need to think about how to wean and when to wean their calves.

Decision tree busy come calf weaning time

Vet Advice with Dr. Ron Clarke

During 2023, work, family events and funerals carried me across ranching country from Grand Prairie in Peace River country to Maple Creek on the Saskatchewan side of the Cypress Hills. The travel took me through a patchwork of pastures alternating from satisfactory to barren depending on precipitation. Cow condition varied from good and sleek to […] Read more

BeefWatch: Record-high cattle prices yet to spur herd expansion

BeefWatch: Record-high cattle prices yet to spur herd expansion

Prepared by the staff of Canfax and Canfax Research Services, divisions of the Canadian Cattle Association

Despite record-high prices for feeder cattle this spring and summer there appears to be no signal that the North American cattle herd has transitioned to the expansion phase. The heifers kept for breeding were down, as of July 1, while heifers for slaughter were up. Depleted feedstocks, record-high feeder cattle prices and widespread areas of […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

U.S. livestock: CME cattle gain for second straight day after selloff

Chicago lean hog futures also firm

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures rose for a second consecutive session on Wednesday on short covering and follow-through technical and bargain buying after the market plunged to multi-month lows to start the week. Improving packer margins and futures’ steep discount to cash cattle prices also supported the market following the fund-selling […] Read more

Dr. Roger Davis, based in Alberta, continues to influence embryo transplant technology in Canada and around the world.

Embryo evolution: Transplant technology fuels a career for Roger Davis

Dr. Roger Davis reflects on what he’s learned after decades as a leader in the embryo transfer and export business

Canadian beef cattle genetics have improved over decades as trends, production methods and market access channels evolve. Dr. Roger Davis, one of the founders of Davis-Rairdan Embryo Transplants, an elite embryo export business, is synonymous with the advancement and movement of beef cattle genetics. Throughout Davis’s notable career, he has been actively involved in spearheading […] Read more


CME February 2024 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME cattle up on short covering, discount to cash

Short covering also lifts CME hogs

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures surged on Tuesday in a short-covering rebound from multi-month lows in the prior session, supported by the market’s steep discount to cash market prices. Feeder cattle futures rose by as much as the daily trading limit, triggering expanded limits for both feeders and live cattle for […] Read more

File photo of cattle in an Alberta feedlot. (Geralyn Wichers photo)

Klassen: Strong demand continues to support feeder market

Significant downside risk ahead

For the week ending Nov. 25, western Canadian yearling prices were $4-$8/cwt lower compared to seven days earlier. However, calf markets were firm trading $5-$8/cwt on either side of unchanged compared to values quoted a week prior. Optimal weather in southern Alberta caused major feedlot operators to stretch their hands across the Prairies. At the […] Read more