Abundant supplies and improved livestock sectors boosting Canadian feed demand

Oct 15, 2025

Different regions across Canada experienced a mix of growing and weather conditions, which affected crop and forage production in various ways this year. Crop production is expected to be slightly higher than last year while overall forage production is expected to decline. Most cattle producers are adjusting to lower forage production by making use of feed alternatives. An abundance of feed grain supplies and improving profitability in the livestock sector are expected to support strong feed demand and sales. In this report, we present the feed outlook through winter and lay out implications for the Canadian livestock industry and commercial feed sectors.

Regional feed and forage production

Areas in western Canada had adequate rainfall and warm temperatures, increasing crop yields, while on the other hand, eastern Canada had a hot and dry summer, which is lowering yields. However, recent heavy rain in western Canada has raised concerns for unharvested crops. Many cereal crops, especially wheat, may be downgraded to feed quality. Overall despite regional differences, total crop production is still expected to rise slightly.

While Canada’s overall crop production is expected to increase, hay and pasture conditions in western Canada were below average this summer as rainfall came too late to support strong hay growth or grazing. However, the recent rainfall has brought relief to drought-affected areas in the Prairies. The moisture has helped extend grazing and may continue to support late-season forage growth. Ontario and Quebec saw good first hay cuts, but cool and wet weather affected quality in some regions. In the Atlantic provinces, warm and dry conditions supported better haying progress early in the season.

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Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.