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Klassen: Feeder market continues downward slide

Prairies' snowstorm leads to risk discount

Compared to last week, western Canadian yearling prices were steady to $2 lower; calves traded $2-$4 below week-ago levels. Saskatchewan and Manitoba experienced their first major snowstorm of the season last week. The market tends to incorporate a risk discount for adverse weather as buyers factor in higher death loss. Also, major feedlot operators believe

Flooded roads are seen near Chilliwack, B.C. on Nov. 15, 2021 after rainstorms lashed parts of the province, triggering landslides and floods and shutting highways. (Photo: Reuters/Jennifer Gauthier)

Severe B.C. rainstorms spur landslides, shut roads

Ottawa | Reuters — Canadian helicopters carried out multiple missions on Monday to rescue hundreds of people trapped in their vehicles on a highway after huge rainstorms sparked landslides in British Columbia. The rainstorms that started on Sunday triggered landslides, shut roads, prompted the evacuation of an entire community, forced an oil pipeline to close


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

U.S. livestock: CME cattle firm, cash cattle supportive

Heavier slaughters weigh on hog futures

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures firmed on Monday, supported by tighter supplies of market-ready cattle that propped up cash prices last week, traders said. “In theory, the feedlots have a little more leverage, because there’s fewer cattle available for the packer to buy,” said Alan Brugler, president of Brugler Marketing.

(Firehouse Subs/BusinessWire)

Tim Hortons parent to buy Firehouse Subs as other brands drag

Chain's comparable year-to-date sales up 20 per cent against pre-pandemic levels

Reuters — Tim Hortons parent Restaurant Brands International said Monday it will buy sandwich chain Firehouse Subs for US$1 billion, at a time when its popular brands are struggling due to increased competition from rivals launching new menu items. Analysts have said fried chicken sandwich pioneer Popeyes, owned by RBI, has been hurt by McDonald’s


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

U.S. livestock: CME cattle futures mostly lower as corn climbs

Technical buying supports lean hogs

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures closed mostly lower on Friday, pressured by rising corn prices that depressed feeder cattle futures, traders said. But firmer cash cattle prices this week underpinned the market. CME January feeder cattle futures fell 1.35 cents to end at 157.725 cents/lb., sagging as Chicago Board of

Cattle prices steady to firmer

Cattle prices steady to firmer

Seasonal lows could be in — at least for the time being

The fall run remained in full effect at Manitoba’s cattle auction yards during the first week of November, although activity should be slowing down over the next few weeks. Prices were generally steady to firmer for most classes of feeder cattle during the week, with the seasonal lows possibly in for the time being. Feeder



A Western blot analysis, used to detect specific proteins in tissue samples, is used to confirm BSE in cattle. (Peggy Greb photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Brazil plays down BSE risk in suspect cases in people

Sao Paulo/Rio de Janeiro | Reuters — Brazil’s agriculture ministry said that two cases reported on Thursday of a neurodegenerative disorder in patients in Rio de Janeiro state were not related to beef consumption, tamping down fears of possible BSE causing human illness. Federal biomedical institute Fiocruz, which is investigating the possibility of bovine spongiform


UFCW Local 401 board member and Cargill employee Joseph Kog (l) and Local 401 president Thomas Hesse with their strike notice on Nov. 10, 2021. (GoUnion.ca)

Cargill beef plant workers serve strike notice

Without a deal, High River workers will walk Dec. 6

Unionized workers at Cargill’s cattle slaughter and processing plant at High River, Alta. will start strike action next month unless a deal can be reached with the company, their union said Wednesday. A strike would begin at High River no sooner than Dec. 6 at 12:01 a.m. if a new collective bargaining agreement isn’t reached

CME December 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 up on slaughter speed plan

December live cattle touch two-month high, end lower

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures rose on Wednesday after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said it will allow nine pork processing plants to apply to operate faster line speeds under a pilot program. The announcement eased concerns that slower processing speeds had slowed meatpackers’ demand for pigs to slaughter,