There was no National Stocker summary issued by the Ag Marketing Service last week due to the holiday-shortened week. Fed-cattle trade was basically at a standstill, too. But a positive tone for stocker and feeder cattle continues based on the bullish June Cattle on Feed report issued June 23.

As Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University livestock economist, explained shortly after the report came out, "In the absence of infinite supply of feeder cattle, there must be a limit to the ability to continually increase feedlot placements. The recent rally in fed prices and strength in feeder markets indicated the market was beginning to realize feeder supplies would be fairly tight in the second half of the year. This latest report should remove any remaining doubts the feedlot situation so far this year has been more a matter of changes in the timing of feedlot production than a huge annual increase."

Specifically, Peel noted, "USDA's June Cattle on Feed report included smaller than expected placements and larger than expected marketings, which resulted in a June 1 on-feed inventory of 104% of a year ago. This is substantially lower than the May 1 total of 109% above the previous year and lower than pre-report expectations. May placements were down a whopping 14% from last year and marketings were up 9% from one year ago."

Note: There was no National Stocker Summary issued by AMS last week because of the limited auction trade due to the July 4th holiday. The summary below reflects the week ended June 30 for Medium and Large 1 -- 500- to 550-lb., 600- to 650-lb., and 700- to 750-lb. feeder heifers and steers (unless otherwise noted). The list is arranged in descending order by auction volume and represents sales reported in the weekly USDA National Feeder and Stocker Cattle Summary: