Hog Markets Start 2018 On Positive Note

 

The director of risk management with Hams Marketing Services says most of the forward hog contracts were at or near contract highs to start the new year.

 

"We're a shade lower than what we would have been for the forward contract prices this time last year, given the fact that we're dealing with a significantly larger supply and there's some questions on demand," he said. "I think we're in pretty good shape. It definitely represents good profitability for producers for most of the year."

 

Fulton adds U.S. cash markets are expected to trade near steady in the post-holiday period.

 

"We're just coming off of the two short holiday slaughter weeks, which typically has a bit of a negative implication on cash prices, but producers were very current going into the holiday period. Their hog weights indicated that they were not behind in their marketings, and packers were very aggressive in sourcing those hogs. In fact, we saw likely the two biggest hog slaughters that we have ever seen in the two weeks leading up to Christmas."

 

Video: How the corn-soy diet transformed swine nutrition

At the 2026 ASAS Midwest Section meeting, Dr. Robert Easter, professor emeritus of swine nutrition at the University of Illinois, spoke at the U.S. Soy sponsored Swine Application Symposium, offering a historical perspective on one of the most important developments in modern pig production: the corn-soybean meal diet. What today is considered a foundational feeding strategy was not always obvious or even accepted.