CME October 2022 live cattle (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, dark red and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME live cattle mixed

Tight supplies underpin futures

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures were mixed to firmer on Monday, supported by diminished supplies of market-ready cattle that should be reflected in the U.S. Agriculture Department’s monthly Cattle on Feed report, due Friday. “It’s been a slow climb, but it’s also predicated on very large demand,” said Dennis Smith, […] Read more

File photo of chicks on a genetic map of a chicken. (Peggy Greb photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Avian flu returns to southwestern Ontario

More cases also turn up in western provinces

Highly pathogenic avian influenza has circled back to Ontario for the first time in four months with an outbreak in a commercial poultry flock in Oxford County. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) on Friday confirmed the outbreak at a farm in the township of Zorra, about 20 km east of London. Details on the […] Read more


Calvin Gavelin (centre) is surrounded by field day attendees as he talks about his cover crops during the Prairie South Holistic Management field day.

Saskatchewan family shares passion for cover cropping

The Gavelin family finds their cover crops perform well even under adverse conditions

Dark clouds roll in as a charter bus drives down gravel roads near McCord, Sask. Marla Gavelin, one of the people hosting the field day from the Prairie South Holistic Management group, speaks to the people in attendance. She compares the Gavelins’ farm to the Sahara Desert with a fond laugh, and the 70-plus people […] Read more

(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Manitoba pork industry grows despite ‘uncertainty’

Bacon plant, breeding facility show sector strength

MarketsFarm — The current state of Manitoba’s pork industry is evident in a pair of large investments within the sector, according to the general manager of Manitoba Pork. Cam Dahl, who was named GM of the provincial pork organization in February last year after previously working for Manitoba Beef Producers and Cereals Canada, cited two […] Read more


CME December 2022 live cattle (candlesticks) with Bollinger bands (20,2). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME lean hogs end firmer, live cattle stumble

Feeder cattle futures mixed

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures ended higher on Friday as the market moved up toward cash prices, analysts said. October lean hogs closed 0.85 cent stronger at 96.9 cents/lb. (all figures US$). The contract earlier in the session rose to 96.925 cents, its highest price since Aug. 23. Most-active December […] Read more

CME December 2022 lean hogs (candlesticks, right column) with 20-day moving average (brown line) and CME cash lean hog index (pink line, left column). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: December lean hogs hit four-week high

CME live cattle also finish stronger

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures touched a four-week high on Thursday on technical buying and concerns about tightening supplies, analysts said. Demand from pork processors helped underpin futures as packers’ profit margins improved, a broker said. Margins were estimated to be $2.45 per hog, up from a loss of $4.15 […] Read more


(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Avian flu circles back in Western Canada

All western provinces book new cases in commercial birds

A relatively quiet summer for highly pathogenic avian influenza in Canada has turned for the worse, with outbreaks on commercial poultry farms in all four western provinces in the past week alone. Cases of high-path avian flu in domestic birds in Canada confirmed and reported by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency since Aug. 31 include: […] Read more

A side of beef. The grading system is the common language of the industry, writes Charlie Gracey.

Show us the money, Part 2: Balancing beef carcass quality and yield

Only by sharing grading information can the industry signal market demand to cow-calf producers

In my previous column, our editor kept me on track when she titled it Show Us the Money. That was appropriate because I have noted that cattle producers do follow the money. That is to say, they absolutely do respond to market signals, but when no such signal exists, they can’t. In this column, I […] Read more


CME October 2022 lean hogs (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, brown and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Hog futures fall

Cattle futures mixed

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. hog futures fell on Wednesday, turning lower on a round of profit-taking after the most-active December contract hit its highest in more than three weeks early in the trading session. Cattle futures were mixed, with live cattle contracts easing for the second day in a row while feeder cattle futures […] Read more

File photo of a plate of tandoori chicken legs. (Paul_Brighton/iStock/Getty Images)

Ontario halal processor to buy poultry packing capacity

Amir Quality Meats taking up Wellington Poultry

An Ontario meat processor specializing in the halal market has a deal in place to boost its capacity by buying a nearby chicken and specialty fowl packer. Amir Quality Meats, which operates a federally registered HACCP-certified boning and cutting plant at Brampton, has an agreement in place to buy the processing plant and “associated supply” […] Read more