(USDA.gov via Flickr)

Klassen: Feeder cattle markets digest USDA inventory report

Western Canadian feeder cattle markets traded $5 higher to as much as $10 lower compared to week-ago levels. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Cattle on Feed report, along with U.S. inventory data, confirmed larger beef supplies in upcoming months, which set a negative sentiment amongst feedlot operators. Auction markets experienced variable price ranges on similar-weight […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

More BSE tests, no BSE seen in 2016

Canadian beef cattle producers handed over more samples in 2016 than in 2015 to be tested for BSE, turning up zero cases of the brain-wasting disease. The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association on Monday reported 27,346 samples were submitted to the national BSE surveillance program in 2016 — up four per cent from 26,285 in 2015, but […] Read more


CRSB moving ‘verified sustainable beef’ forward

CRSB moving ‘verified sustainable beef’ forward

McDonald’s headline-grabbing pilot is over, but the effort to boost the cattle industry’s environmental and welfare credentials continues

It won’t happen in a hurry, but the effort to create a Canadian ‘verified sustainable’ beef brand is moving along and will reach an important milestone by the end of the year. When McDonald’s Canada ended its groundbreaking sustainable beef pilot project last year, the torch was passed to an industry initiative called the Canadian […] Read more

calves and cattle in a feedlot

BSE lawsuit aims for a trial date in 2017

$8-billion class-action suit says Ottawa should have done more

It’s been more than a decade since it started, but a class-action suit against the federal government for damages incurred as a result of BSE could be going to trial by the end of the year. “We had the first round of discoveries for 2015 and various questions arose from that, that there were outstanding […] Read more





To veer away from producing beef that the consumer wants is the fastest way to lose even more.

The attempted resurrection of a horrible idea

Free Market Reflections with Steve Dittmer

As is often true with proposed regulation, it helps to consider the source in evaluating the origin, impetus and motivation. With the attempted resurrection of then GIPSA administrator J. Dudley Butler’s so-called “GIPSA Rule,” the cast of proponents is very similar to mCOOL, with which Canadians are all too familiar. R-CALF, the Organization for Competitive Markets […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

U.S. December feedlot cattle placements hit six-year high

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. feedlots brought in 18 per cent more cattle in December than the year-earlier month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Friday, which topped forecasts and reached a six-year high for that month. Higher prices for slaughter-ready, or cash, cattle last month improved profit for feedlots. That allowed them to […] Read more



ABP focused on checkoff and TB

Associations: News Roundup from the January 2017 issue of Canadian Cattlemen

For three days in early December Alberta Beef Producers’ (ABP) delegates debated resolutions passed at their district fall meetings related to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), carbon tax and sequestration, industry funding and collaboration, and electoral structure. “The resolutions that were carried will provide clear direction to ABP as we move into 2017,” said […] Read more