To defer income under LTD, the breeding herd must have been reduced by at least 15 per cent.  Photo: Canada Beef

Feds announce early livestock tax deferral

Livestock producers in drought-affected areas are getting and early livestock tax deferral (LTD) for the 2024 season. The federal government said the situation has become more challenging for producers due to climate change, when announcing a list of regions eligible for the deferral on June 14. The LTD allows producers in designated areas, who were […] Read more

Photo: iStock/File

U.S. livestock: Lean hog futures retreat as wholesale US pork prices sag

Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures backpedaled on Thursday from a one-week high reached during the previous session, while live cattle futures strengthened. Hog futures eased after wholesale U.S. pork prices pulled back from a jump on Tuesday. The U.S. Department of Agriculture priced the pork carcass cutout at $97.02 per […] Read more


Photo: File

Cattle producers wary of grasslands conservation proposal

Glacier FarmMedia – Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association members want the Canadian Cattle Association to press pause on its Grasslands Conservation Initiative until it can better communicate its plan. Several resolutions about the initiative were debated during the SSGA annual meeting June 11 and while some were defeated members did approve one calling on CCA to […] Read more

Photo: jjmiller11/iStock/Getty Images Plus

U.S. livestock: Live cattle, lean hog futures end lower

Chicago | Reuters – Live cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange closed lower on Tuesday in dull technical trade as market players await cash cattle trade to develop, brokers said. CME August live cattle LCQ24 settled down 1.050 cents at 178.925 cents per pound, although the contract stayed above its 100- and 200-day moving averages. CME August […] Read more



Jodie Griffin, program coordinator for the Livestock Price Insurance program, presents at the SSGA AGM.  Photo: Melissa Jeffers-Bezan

Livestock Price Insurance coming to maritime producers

At the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association (SSGA) conference on June 10 in Swift Current, Sask., Canadian Cattle Association (CCA) vice president Tyler Fulton highlighted the expansion of Livestock Price Insurance, which will be available to producers in Eastern Canada. Initially announced in February, the expansion will finally come into effect sometime this week. “It’s something […] Read more


Ryan Canart offloads yearlings in this corral, then familiarizes them with electric fence in a training paddock with several wires, before turning them into paddocks with one wire.

Manitoba beef producer focuses on rotational grazing on yearling operation

Longer rest period, daily moves and water infrastructure underpin 
Ryan Canart’s grazing system

Though Ryan Canart grew up in Kamloops, B.C., he has always had roots in Manitoba. He spent much of his time as a kid with cattle in sales barns with his brother and his father, who worked as an order buyer but was originally from Elkhorn, Man. He was comfortable around cattle at a young […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Strike possibility looms at Calgary Cargill plant

June vote will determine if Calgary Cargill workers will echo Cargill Guelph work stoppage

Nearly 1,000 workers at Cargill’s beef processing plant in Guelph were on strike at the end of May, and there’s a possibility that workers at the Cargill Case Ready plant in Calgary could also hit the picket lines.


Photo: File

U.S. livestock: CME cattle futures mixed, hog futures lower, amid demand questions

Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures ended Monday mixed, after conflicting market signals sent feeder cattle futures lower and nearby live cattle contracts slightly higher. Lean hog futures eased, as market participants wrestled with growing uncertainty over consumer demand for meat as the U.S. enters into the traditional summer grilling season. In […] Read more

Livestock producers have several options for water systems, and the Beef Cattle Research Council has a free online tool to help them evaluate those options.

Water systems for cattle operations

A water system can help beef producers make the best use possible of their resources

In Western Canada, the land aches for water. Drought has plagued parts of the Prairies for years now. Water levels in rivers, lakes and producers’ dugouts have dropped. Grass in the summer looks the same as it does in the fall — brown, crunchy and dead. The concern lingers going into the growing and calving […] Read more