To improve your operation’s profitability, run the numbers to see which profit centres work best for you in your environment.

What is custom grazing?

From the Ground Up with Steve Kenyon

Custom grazing is an arrangement or contract between two parties where a livestock owner pays grazing fees to another for the management of the animals on pasture. The custom grazier would have control of the land, manage the animals, and deal with water and fencing. The labour and equipment costs would be included in the […] Read more

CME December 2021 lean hogs (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, brown and dark red lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME hog futures rise on sustained buying

Interest tied to bullish USDA report; cattle futures continue lower

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures closed higher on Thursday on continued buying interest tied to the recent bullish quarterly hog report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), traders said. CME October lean hogs settled up 0.8 cent at 91.6 cents/lb., while the most-active December contract rose 1.8 cents […] Read more


Crops, pastures and haylands throughout Western and Central Canada are parched.

Today’s forage research provides tomorrow’s solutions

Research on the Record with Reynold Bergen

Today’s research won’t help you weather this year’s drought, but the practical information and advice you’ll read elsewhere in the September issue of Canadian Cattlemen (and at beefresearch.ca) will. Those tips, covering everything from alternative feeds to weaning, all originate from past research done by scientists and refined by producers. But producer-funded research underway today […] Read more

File photo of piglets grazing in a U.K. pasture. (Grandbrothers/iStock/Getty Images)

Britain facing mass cull of pigs due to butcher shortage

London | Reuters — Britain’s farming industry has warned that hundreds of thousands of pigs may have to be culled within weeks unless the government issues visas to allow more butchers into the country. An acute shortage of butchers and slaughterers in the meat processing industry has been exacerbated by COVID-19 and Britain’s post-Brexit immigration […] Read more


CME October 2021 lean hogs (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, dark red and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME hog futures pause after rally

Cattle futures end lower

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures closed mixed on Wednesday as the market paused following a surge tied to last week’s bullish quarterly hog report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), traders said. CME October lean hogs settled down 0.875 cent at 90.8 cents/lb. while the most-active December contract […] Read more

File photo of hogs on a farm in the Dominican Republic. (RD-SunPhotography/iStock/Getty Images)

U.S. puts up funds to prevent African swine fever

Haiti, Dominican Republic now 'countries of concern' on CFIA list

Chicago | Reuters — The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday pledged up to US$500 million to prevent the spread of the fatal pig virus African swine fever, after Haiti and the Dominican Republic recently confirmed outbreaks. A U.S. outbreak would likely slash U.S. pork exports and pig prices, hurting farmers and meat companies such […] Read more


Continued demand for beef keeps fed cattle prices steady

Continued demand for beef keeps fed cattle prices steady

The Markets with Deb McMillin, from the September 27, 2021 issue of Canadian Cattlemen

Fed cattle Aggressive local slaughter, continued beef demand and up-to-date marketing of front-end supply kept fed cattle prices steady to slightly higher through August and September. The first week of September leading into the Labour Day weekend saw an average fed steer price at $156.27/cwt, an increase of $1.88/cwt from the previous week and over […] Read more

File photo of a steak sandwich with chimichurri sauce at a street food market in Buenos Aires. (Aleksandr_Vorobev/iStock/Getty Images)

Argentina to restart beef exports to China after caps lifted

Buenos Aires | Reuters — Argentina on Tuesday said it would once again allow cattle farmers to freely export beef to China, lifting a cap imposed earlier this year that had stoked tensions with the agricultural sector. The government had capped beef exports at 50 per cent of the normal volumes to tamp down fast-rising […] Read more


CME December 2021 lean hogs (candlesticks) with Bollinger bands (20,2). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME hog futures extend rally on USDA data

Feeder cattle up on bargain-buying

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures rose on Tuesday for a fourth straight session as traders continued to digest Friday’s U.S. government report that signaled tighter hog supplies into 2022, analysts said. CME October lean hogs settled up 1.425 cents at 91.675 cents/lb. and the benchmark December contract rose 2.025 […] Read more