The following is a summary report of the July cattle supply marketings as reported by USDA Livestock & Grain Market News. Feeder cattle marketing in July usually starts with a full-week shut-down for the Fourth of July, but this year the industry was not in total agreement on which week to take its break (with Independence Day falling on a Sunday).

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s newly proposed rules for the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) sparked a flurry of debate from producers and trade associations as to how the government will justify new regulations in the name of promoting fair competition.

Bill Donald is a commercial cattleman with a cow-calf and yearling operation in Melville, Montana, and president-elect for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. In January 2011, he begins a one-year term as president.