File photo

U.S. livestock: Bargain buying strengthens live cattle futures

Chicago / Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle closed steady to higher on Thursday, with support from bargain buying and futures’ discounts to initial cash prices, said traders. Investors bought deferred months and simultaneously sold August futures after digesting last Friday’s bearish U.S. Department of Agriculture cattle reports. August ended unchanged at 114.300 cents per […] Read more

A herd of Black Angus Cattle

Taking aim at dart gun pros and cons

Effective yes, but they need to be used with the proper diagnosis and product

Remote drug delivery (RDD) devices are becoming more common in some modern cow-calf operations. The older-style capture guns used in the past were generally used by veterinarians to tranquilize and “capture” cattle needing further treatment. Tranquilized animals could then be loaded and transported if that was necessary or put in a smaller compound if further […] Read more


Photo: Canada Beef Inc.

Livestock premises ID participation strengthens Canadian agriculture

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is considering changes to the Health of Animals Regulations for livestock traceability, the agency announced during PremisesIDWeek July 26, a federal release says. The changes would require all Canadian operators of premises where livestock may be loaded or unloaded from a vehicle to have a valid premises identification number for […] Read more

Photo: Canada Beef Inc.

U.S. livestock: Live cattle turn higher on futures’ cash discount

Chicago / Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle contracts on Wednesday pared some recent losses, helped by bargain buying and futures’ discounts to early-week cash prices, said traders. Investors bought August futures and sold deferred months in a trading strategy known as bull spreads. August ended 1.125 cents per pound higher at 114.300 cents, […] Read more


Photo: File

U.S. livestock: Fund-selling extends CME live cattle futures losses

Chicago / Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures closed lower on Tuesday, led by lingering bearishness from last Friday’s U.S. Department of Agriculture cattle reports, traders said. USDA’s reports suggested a supply buildup in the coming months, which dropped futures by their 3-cent per pound daily price limit on Monday. August ended 0.700 […] Read more

Controlling liver flukes in beef cattle

Controlling liver flukes in beef cattle

Parasite often not identified until after an animal dies

A couple of years ago, a beef producer from southeast corner of Manitoba showed me a test tube filled with water. It contained a worm that was about three inches long, one inch wide and flat enough to almost see through. He told me that it was a deer liver fluke that the vet had taken […] Read more


Photo: Government of Yukon.

Want free farmland? Grab your parka and head North

Toronto / Thomson Reuters Foundation – In Canada’s far north, the government of Yukon Territory wants to attract small farmers to the frigid region with a simple pitch: free land. And as global warming makes Canada’s northern regions more hospitable to agriculture by opening once frozen land to farming, the opportunities are growing. Bordering on Alaska […] Read more




Cows in a holding pen

Things I learned from auctioneers

Lee Hart gets an education from the Livestock Markets Association of Canada

Find me a microphone, a gavel, a cowboy hat and an unwanted emu and I might just become an auctioneer (The emu? Well, a person has to start somewhere.) This is my plan after recently being exposed to a major learning experience during the annual convention of the Livestock Markets Association of Canada (LMAC). This […] Read more