Weekly livestock news: July 11, 2022

Smithfield Foods agrees to pay $42 million to settle pork price-fixing lawsuit

Smithfield Foods has agreed to pay restaurants and caterers $42 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the meat producer of conspiring to inflate pork prices. This will likely add to concerns about how the lack of competition in the industry affects meat prices, CBS News reports. Smithfield previously settled with a different group of pork buyers for $83 million, and JBS has paid millions of dollars in settlements related to pork price-fixing. Restaurant companies had sued Smithfield and other meat processors that together control more than 70% of pork production, accusing them of coordinating efforts to limit the supply of hogs and inflate prices between 2009 and this year. The new settlement is awaiting approval by a federal judge. The lawsuit remains pending against other major pork producers including Hormel, Tyson Foods, Seaboard Foods and Triumph Foods, as well as the Agri Stats database company they allegedly used to share confidential information about price, capacity and demand. Additional lawsuits have been filed against chicken producers, with nearly $200 million of settlements approved in chicken price-fixing cases to date.

Dechra acquires Zimeta from Elanco Animal Health

Dechra has acquired Zimeta (dipyrone injection) from Elanco Animal Health. According to the announcement, Zimeta is the first and only FDA-approved drug for the control of pyrexia in horses. Dechra has been distributing the product since January 2021 and has now acquired the registrations. Veterinary customers will not experience any change in how they order the product.

How to avoid heat stress in dairy cattle

Dairy cows can develop heat stress as temperatures increase, raising issues like reduced milk production, decreased fertility and lameness. Experts at the University of Wisconsin suggest minimizing animal handling during heat bouts. Given humidity, heat stress may occur even in relatively mild temperatures, so it’s important for producers to know when heat stress is possible and plan activities around those times. Keeping animals calm, limiting transport and providing plenty of water are all ways to minimize heat stress, according to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Dairy Extension Team. Bovine Veterinarian has more.

Foot and mouth disease outbreak in Indonesia threatens livestock sales ahead of major holiday

Livestock sellers in Indonesia were worried about low sales ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha as the country deals with an outbreak of foot and mouth disease, Reuters reports. The holiday, called the “Festival of Sacrifice,” involves slaughtering animals and sharing the meat with the poor. The spread of the disease has dampened sales of cows. “This year is a year of loss for us,” said Jamal Lulay, a trader in West Java who has sold only 50 cows this year. “Before COVID, we could sell up to 330 cows, and during COVID it was around 170….This year sales have dropped drastically.” More than 317,000 animals have been infected with foot and mouth disease in 21 Indonesian provinces, largely on the most populated islands of Java and Sumatra, with more than 3,400 animals culled, according to government data. The disease can be lethal to animals but isn’t generally considered a threat to humans. “People’s enthusiasm for sacrifice has not been diminished, but they are more worried about the health (of the animals),” said a Jakarta livestock trader. Indonesia launched a nationwide livestock vaccination program to mitigate the outbreak, which began in May. Before that, the country had been free of the disease since 1986.

U.S. producer sentiment dropped further in June, Purdue ag barometer finds

While U.S. agricultural producers said they were slightly more optimistic about current conditions in June than they were the previous month, their outlook on the future weakened further, according to the latest Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer reading. The overall barometer reading dropped two points from the prior month to 97. The Index of Future Conditions fell five points to 96, its lowest level since October 2016. The Index of Current Conditions improved five points to 99. “Rising input costs and uncertainty about the future continue to weigh on farmer sentiment,” said James Mintert, the barometer’s principal investigator. “Many producers remain concerned about the ongoing escalation in production costs as well as commodity price volatility, which could lead to a production cost/income squeeze in 2023.”

Poultry demand is up but supplies are tight as industry deals with challenges: Rabobank

Consumer demand for poultry is high even as producers deal with challenges that will likely lead to tight supplies, Rabobank says in its latest quarterly report on the global industry. Prices for feed and energy are up due to inflation, lack of labor and the impact of avian influenza, according to Rabobank senior analyst of animal protein Nan-Dirk Mulder. “One consequence of this challenging context is that supply will be tight,” Mulder said. But shoppers are buying chicken instead of more expensive items like beef. “Weaker economic growth and reduced consumer confidence—in part related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—will lead to more consumers trading down to chicken,” Mulder said. Meat + Poultry reports.