CME February 2021 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Live cattle futures follow cash prices, beef values lower

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. live cattle futures fell for a fourth straight session on Tuesday as cash cattle traded lower at southern U.S. Plains feedlot markets and as wholesale beef prices continued a steep seasonal slide. Declines, however, were limited by bargain buying as some traders viewed the recent drop in cattle prices as […] Read more



Photo: File

U.S. livestock: Cattle, hog futures fall as accelerating pandemic stirs demand concern

Chicago | Reuters – U.S. cattle and hog futures fell on Monday as cash beef and pork prices weakened and as accelerating coronavirus infection rates prompted tighter restrictions on restaurants and other food service outlets, threatening meat sales. Meanwhile, renewed tensions between the United States and China, after fresh U.S. sanctions on 14 Chinese officials, […] Read more



(Gloria Solano-Aguilar photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Ontario hog set-aside plan underway

AgriRecovery program taking applications through March

Ontario hog farmers can now apply for AgriRecovery toward feed costs for hogs held back from sale when certain pork packers went into COVID-19-induced slowdowns. Agricorp, the province’s ag program delivery agency, on Nov. 25 announced the Canada-Ontario COVID-19 2020 Hog Maintenance Feed Initiative, which started effective Nov. 6 and will run through to March […] Read more

Poking the beehive

Poking the beehive

Vet Advice with Dr. Ron Clarke

COVID-19 may never go away — with or without a vaccine. Dr. Vineet Menachery, a coronavirus researcher at the University of Texas medical branch, is guarded in his forecast of how we will adapt to COVID-19. The future has a lot to do with immunity. Menachery points out that we haven’t been successful at eradicating […] Read more


CME February 2021 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Live cattle futures step back on demand uncertainty

Lean hogs down with pork production up

Chicago | Reuters — Live cattle futures fell on Friday as a third day of softer wholesale beef prices brought retailer demand into question, traders said. “Wholesale beef prices appear to have topped again and could head lower into the holidays, other than some late buying by retailers last minute,” said Doug Houghton, technical analyst […] Read more

This photo, taken about three miles from the site of the tragedy, shows the lack of cover for man or beast.

Scapa-area ranchers memorialize victims of 1906 blizzard

Lee Brainard overestimated the frequency of chinooks in the area he settled with his son and hired hand, leaving them ill-prepared for an Alberta winter

Located 28 km north of Hanna, Alta., Scapa’s claim to fame is one of tragedy. On January 29, 1907, a fierce blizzard struck. When it ended a few days later, two men were dead, about 550 head of beef cattle and horses perished, and only one man survived — and just barely. Montana rancher Lee […] Read more


An image created by Nexu Science Communication, together with Trinity College in Dublin, shows a model structurally representative of a betacoronavirus, the type of virus linked to COVID-19. (Nexu Science Communication via Reuters)

U.S. pork packer Smithfield offers ultra-cold vaccine storage

COVID-19 vaccines need storage at -20 C, -70 C

Chicago | Reuters — Smithfield Foods, the world’s biggest pork processor, said on Thursday it had offered to help U.S. health officials distribute COVID-19 vaccines and store them in ultra-cold freezers that are in high demand to support a public vaccination campaign. U.S. states, cities and hospitals are scrambling to buy freezers that can safely […] Read more

CME February 2021 live cattle (candlesticks) with 20- and 50-day moving averages and January 2021 feeder cattle (black line). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Cattle futures step back on demand uncertainty

February lean hog futures lower

Chicago | Reuters — Live cattle futures trimmed on Thursday as fears of additional pandemic closures weighed on the demand outlook, traders said. Chicago Mercantile Exchange February live cattle futures fell 1.35 cents to 112.575 cents/lb., the contract’s biggest decline in two weeks (all figures US$). CME January feeder cattle ended two cents lower at […] Read more