By Josh Maples, Mississippi State University Extension USDA-AMS reports the National Feeder and Stocker Cattle Summary each week. Feeder and stocker receipts in this data series averaged 255,941 head during the first eight months of 2025. This is 7.6 percent below the average for the same period in 2024 and 10 percent below the 2020-2023 average for January-August. These changes illustrate the tightening supplies of feeder and stocker cattle.

The chart above shows a different approach to analyze receipt patterns over time. The data are weekly; but instead of the current week’s total, the solid lines represent the weekly average for the prior 48 weeks. I used 48 weeks because this is usually the same as one year due to holiday weeks with no reports. For example, the most recent point on th

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