A:   Straw and distillers will work for a winter feeding program fo beef cows. Have you considered either bagging or packing in a bunker a combination of straw and wet distillers grains? The price of distillers is less in the summer and price increases in the fall and winter because of the demand as a feed for feedlot cattle. If you are interested in that, go to our website http://beef.unl.edu and on the left-hand side of the home page there is a bar titled "By products", click on that and you will find all the information on bagging and bunkering wet distillers with forage. Wet distillers, by itself, does not have a very long shelf-life, a week to 10 days in the summer and may 3 to 4 week in the winter. The bunkering and/or bagging with forages allows you to exclude air/oxygen and the product can be fed this winter. You can not bunker or bag distillers by itself because it is to wet (65% water).

With straw I would suggest feeding wet distillers and grind the straw. The wet distiller will add some moisture to the diet. I would recommend that you not feed over 7 to 8 lb/hd/da of wet distillers on a dry matter basis. On an as-fed basis, if wet distillers is 35% dry matter and 65% moisture, it calculates to 20 to 23 lb/hd/da on an as-fed basis. The rest of the ration ground straw. Make sure all cows have access to their share if you feed in a bunk or on the ground.

At these levels, sulfur should not be a concern, but get an analysis from the plant. Also, at this level of feeding, fat should not be a concern.

You will not need to supplement phosphorus and you need to supplement calcium. Some feed stores carry a by-product mineral block that contains no Phos and is high in Ca.