Despite recent rainfall, persistent drought in the western Great Plains has forced many operations to feed last season's forage deeper into the summer and graze areas typically reserved for hay. 

As regional demand for forage rises, some producers may look farther afield to places with better growing conditions — but with freight and fuel costs climbing, does a better buy really keep money in your pocket? 

UNL Extension's Feed Cost Cow-Q-Lator, an Excel-based tool, is built to help answer exactly these kinds of nuanced but critical questions. 

Download the Feed Cost Cow-Q-Lator here: Livestock Decision Tools | Center for Agricultural Profitability | Nebraska 

Feed Cost Cow-Q-Lator Guide: 

extensionpubs.unl.edu/publication/g2214/na/html/view 

What the tool offers: 

• A library of over 200 feeds with customizable nutrient concentrations 
• The ability to adjust feed price and account for freight, storage, and feeding costs 
• All-inclusive feed cost calculations on an as-fed basis, a dry-matter basis, and per pound of crude protein and total digestible nutrients 
• Side-by-side comparison of up to four feeds to identify the "best buy" 

This simple but valuable tool can sharpen feed-buying decisions at a time when elevated prices magnify every choice. Getting the most out of it, though, means pairing it with good information on the feedstuffs themselves. 

Apply the following practices to get the most out of the Feed Cost Cow-Q-Lator

Incorporate your feed analysis results 

Forage nutrient content varies with species, maturity, and growing conditions, so updating the dry matter, crude protein (CP), and total digestible nutrients (TDN) values in the feed library with your own forage analysis can lead to real savings on supplemental feed. To do this, locate your feed's name in the "Feed List," copy it into the desired "F tab," and update the CP and TDN cells to reflect your test results. If your feedstuff isn't already in the sheet, add a new row at the bottom, then reference that feed's name in an F tab (F1–F9) to evaluate it. 

Apply your costs to determine the true price of feed the cow consumes 

The purchase price of a feedstuff rarely reflects the true cost of feeding it. Feeds are often freighted, stored, handled, and fed, and each step is dependent on labor, equipment, and infrastructure. The F tabs include cells for entering these estimated costs, letting you account for costs not reflected in the purchase price. 

Estimate dry matter losses between time of purchase and time of consumption 

Dry matter loss, or shrink, can be conceptualized by different hay delivery practices. Consider hay delivered to a bunk, unrolled on the ground, or placed in a ring feeder – all vary in their dry matter loss. Similarly, silages exhibit a range of shrink due to pile management and storage strategy. Even well managed piles exhibit 10-20% shrink on average (Borreani et al., 2018). To account for dry matter loss during transportation, storage, or feeding, use the designated cells within the “F tabs” to input your estimates. 

For hay specifically, the following document provides management considerations to minimize hay waste and outlines differences in hay waste for different methods of delivery that you can use in your own evaluation: "G84-738 Management to Minimize Hay Waste" by Bruce Anderson and Terry L. Mader. 

Focus on price per pound of nutrient consumed 

Because supplements are often used to increase a target nutrient, mainly CP or TDN, in the overall diet, comparing feedstuffs by price per pound of nutrient is a useful way to evaluate them. You'll find these calculations on individual feedstuff tabs (F1–F9) and on the feed comparison tab (Per Pound). 

Make direct comparisons of potential feeds 

Once feed analysis results, costs, and dry matter loss data have been entered for your potential feedstuffs, the "Per Pound" tab lets you select up to four for direct comparison. This goes beyond purchase price, factoring in your prior inputs to calculate a price per pound of nutrient "into the belly of the cow." Keep in mind that some products, like cubes or lick tubs, often cost more than bulk commodities due to added processing and convenience. These can still be effective at meeting nutrient requirements — just make sure the added cost is justified by labor savings. 

Summary and additional resources 

Given the subpar growing conditions of 2026, understanding cow nutrient requirements — and meeting them economically through harvested feedstuffs, supplementation, or drylot feeding — is more important than ever. This November, Nebraska Extension returns with its annual webinar series, Fundamentals of Feeding the Cow, offering tools like the Feed Cost Cow-Q-Lator to help producers sharpen nutritional decisions, cut costs, and optimize cowherd performance. To register for this four-night series, visit this link: 2026 Fundamentals of Feeding the Cow - PEARS | University of Nebraska. 

Citations 

Borreani, G., Tabacco, E., Schmidt, R. J., Holmes, B. J., & Muck, R. E. (2018). Silage review: Factors affecting dry matter and quality losses in silages. Journal of Dairy Science, 101(5), 3952–3979. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2017-13837