Weekly Canadian Cattle Market and Slaughter Activity

WASHINGTON - May 11/04 - SNS -- The latest weekly slaughter activity and feeder cattle price summary was released by the USDA today, based on data available from Agriculture Canada and CANFAX.

Canadian Livestock Prices and Federal Inspected Slaughter Figures

Area:       Alberta Direct Sales, 4% Shrink
Slaughter Steers, mostly Select 1-2, 1000-1200 lbs                    62.26
Slaughter Heifers, mostly Select 1-2, 850-1050 lbs                    62.53

Area:       Ontario Auctions
Slaughter Steers, mostly Select 1-2, 1000-1200 lbs                    58.98
Slaughter Heifers, mostly Select 1-2, 850-1050 lbs                    56.50
Slaughter Cows, Cutter and Utility 1-3, 1100-1400 lbs                 15.42

Average Feeder Cattle Prices:
Steers        Southern Alberta        Saskatchewan           Manitoba
            05/07/04   04/30/04  05/07/04  04/30/04    05/07/04   04/30/04
401-500 lbs     81.23       87.81     83.03       84.16      79.07    83.80
501-600 lbs     78.72       83.44     81.59       89.27      76.56    77.97
601-700 lbs     74.76       81.61     78.00       83.80      73.68    74.69
701-800 lbs     70.09       75.78     70.81       75.42      69.01    69.96
801-900 lbs     63.98       70.32     67.21       68.50      62.18    64.85
900# +          58.23       63.76     62.54       63.76      57.15    59.02

Heifers:
301-400 lbs     72.60       73.96No Quote  No Quote          76.92    81.25
401-500 lbs     69.73       76.88     76.20       77.61      72.25    75.42
501-600 lbs     70.45       74.69     70.09       77.24      71.53    71.78
601-700 lbs     67.57       72.51     67.93       72.87      64.70    66.68
701-800 lbs     67.21       66.68     62.90       70.68      61.10    64.13
800# +          61.46       63.03     59.67       63.76      57.87    12.00

Province Ontario
No.2 220-240lbs Hogs, quoted by Provincial Board             46.29

All prices have been converted to U.S. $/CWT.
Exhcange Rate: U.S. dollar equivalent to $1.3911 Candian dollars
Grades changed to approximate U.S. equivalents

Canadian Federally Inspected Slaughter
             Current   Week Ago   Year Ago   04/17/04   04/19/03   %Change
             04/17/04    04/10/04  04/19/03    YTD         YTD
Cattle:        71,713      56,225    52,725   1,078,522    950,412    13.1%
Calves:         5,857       5,543     3,995      90,262     69,312    31.5%
Sheep:          2,258       4,875     6,288      53,445     51,461     2.5%
Hogs:         404,305     371,803   376,295   6,648,243  6,709,375    -0.7%

Source:  Agriculture Canada & CANFAX

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STAT News Service