(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

U.S. livestock: CME live cattle finish mostly weak

Chicago | Reuters — Most Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle contracts closed weak on Thursday, after investors sold deferred months and bought February in anticipation of at least steady cash prices by Friday, traders said. Packers in Kansas and Texas on Thursday bid $138/cwt for market-ready, or cash, cattle, which matched last week’s sales, said








(USDA.gov via Flickr)

U.S. cattle herd growth to five-year high spells cheaper beef ahead

Chicago | Reuters — Beef prices will keep trending lower, analysts said after the government’s semi-annual cattle inventory report on Friday showed the U.S. cattle herd as of Jan. 1 grew three per cent from a year ago, to a five-year high. Healthy pastures, more-affordable grain and record-high cattle prices a year ago encouraged ranchers