Hog Prices Continue To Struggle

Forward hog contract prices continue to struggle to make any positive headway.

 

Tyler Fulton is the Director of Risk Management with Hams Marketing Services.

 

"Overwhelmingly the hog supply is putting a lot of pressure on cash markets and futures markets and so consequently the forward prices that Western Canadian hog producers can contract for are also depressed...We're dealing with lean hog futures that are the main input into a forward contract price and then you of course will convert it into Canadian dollars and consequently because the U.S. futures are under severe pressure, due to the record large hog supplies, we're seeing really not a lot of opportunity to price at better levels than what we saw five or six months ago."

 

Fulton notes the main issue right now is the cash hog market and how many hogs there are, adding it's putting a lot of pressure on at a time when we would typically be hoping to see increased flow and increased positive price influence coming from the increased exports.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.