Beef packers are losing $73 per head and pork packers $8, says a new report from Sterling Beef Profit Tracker.

Beef farmers are made $129 per head last week but farrow-to-finish hog farmers lost $2 per head.

The situation for beef packers is a sharp contrast from last year when they faced outspoken criticism and the threat of federal government investigations. President Joe Biden’s administration launched a subsidy program to encourage the formation of more meat-packing companies.

Beef packer losses are now the largest since February, 2015. Last year the packers were making $378 per beef animal in the first week of December.

Average cattle feeding margins were estimated at $129 per head the week ending Dec. 3, according to the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker.

Costs associated with finishing cattle have increased dramatically since April. The cattle sold last week carried a total feed cost of $582 per head, which is 26 per cent more than for cattle sold the same week a year ago.

 

The estimated total cost for finishing a steer last week was $2,071 per head, up 18 per cent from last year’s estimate of $1,690 per head.

Cattle slaughter totaled an estimated 663,000 head, about 4,000 head fewer than the same week last year. Packing plant capacity utilization was estimated at 89.2 per cent compared with 92.4 per cent last year.

Lean carcass hog prices averaged $88.06 per hundredweight which is 30 per cent more than a year ago.

The pork packers are running at 96.4 per cent capacity compared 98.8 per cent last year.

In Ontario, there isn’t enough packing-plant capacity to handle either hogs or cattle coming to market, but the good news is that the Canadian dollar has weakened so much that it has been pushing up prices.