Best Bedding for Cattle: Straw, Corn Stalks or Bean Straw?

By the XES Netting team — bale net-wrap manufacturer · Updated October 8, 2026 · ~18 min read

The best bedding for cattle is not one material. It is whatever keeps hides dry at a price you can carry through a long winter, and on most farms that means straw, corn stalks or soybean straw rolled up in round bales. AgTalk threads on bedding run long because every choice trades something: straw for gain, stalks for price, bean straw for a firm pack, sawdust for absorbency. The research is clearer than the arguments, and it says bedding pays most when the weather is at its worst.

This guide is for beef producers bedding cows, calves, backgrounders or finishing cattle in outdoor lots, bed-pack barns, hoops or monoslopes; dairy freestall bedding is a different problem. It is not a veterinary or building-design recommendation. XES manufactures bale net wrap, and much of the bedding in cattle country arrives as net-wrapped round bales of straw or stalks. We read 63 archived AgTalk and HayTalk discussions about bedding (831 posts, 2015–2026; 60 of the threads from 2022–2026) and checked them against research and Extension guidance from North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Nebraska, Kansas State and the University of Kentucky.

Why bedding pays: dry hides and measured gains

Cold costs cattle energy, and wet cold costs far more. Kansas State University’s Jason Warner and Justin Waggoner list the lower critical temperatures for a beef cow in body condition score 5 in Managing Beef Cows During Cold Stress (December 2024):

Below those temperatures, they explain, energy needs rise about 1% for each degree with a dry coat and 2% for each degree with a wet one; a wet cow at an effective 22°F needs 74% more energy than her baseline. Their checklist ends with a line producers can act on: “Provide bedding to help insulate from cold, frozen ground surfaces.”

North Dakota State University measured what that is worth. At the Carrington Research Extension Center, V.L. Anderson and colleagues fed steer calves a finishing diet through two North Dakota winters with no bedding, modest wheat-straw bedding or double that amount, using big round bales spread with a loader grapple about once a week (Carrington Beef Report 2006):

Source: Anderson, Wiederholt and Schoonmaker, NDSU Carrington Research Extension Center Beef Report 2006. Feed intake did not differ. The authors note that manure tags may have inflated the unbedded steers’ weights and that in the second year those steers were moved and bedded late in the trial because of severe cold, wet stress.

South Dakota State University found the same pattern in 2019. In trials by Zach Smith and Dathan Smerchek described in SDSU Extension’s Strategic Feedlot Bedding, steers on concrete were given enough wheat straw for a dry place to lie down, about 4 lb a head a day. Over the first 36 days of early 2019, when temperatures averaged 5.2°F, bedded steers gained 1.08 lb a day more on the same feed, a 49% improvement in feed efficiency, and unbedded steers needed 35 more days on feed to reach the same finish. In a milder fall receiving trial, 2 lb of straw a day still improved feed efficiency 5.6%. SDSU’s priority groups for bedding are light new arrivals and cattle nearly ready for slaughter.

Put a price on it. At $120 a ton, 4 lb of bedding a day costs 24 cents a head. At the $1.28-a-pound value of gain in Nebraska’s 2022 backgrounding example, that is covered by about 0.19 lb of extra gain a day, a fraction of the 0.28 to 1.08 lb responses measured in the Dakota trials. Your weather and cattle will differ, but the math rarely favors skimping in a cold, wet spell.

"i go through about 50-60 6' corn stalk bales a year (Dec-Mar) for 50ish pairs. its easier to haul manure in the spring and fall than to treat or bury a sick calf at my place."

— wurtzy, Valley NE · AgTalk thread 1091069

"I don't hold back on straw during these times. I'm sure it saves on feed, but I definitely know those cows are less stressed when they have a nice bed, and this is the sort of extreme weather when stressed-out cows will start dropping calves."

— northerngrazer, MB Canada · AgTalk thread 1144273

Straw, corn stalks or bean straw?

NDSU ran the head-to-head too. In the 2004–05 winter, 113 steer calves on a corn-based ration were either scraped twice a month with no bedding or bedded with wheat straw, corn stover or soybean residue, all baled in large round bales and mostly blown in with a bale processor, the same number of bales per pen. Straw-bedded steers gained 3.91 lb a day, soybean residue 3.84, corn stover 3.72 and unbedded steers 3.63; in that single winter, only straw’s advantage over no bedding was statistically clear. Calves on stover tended to eat less of the ration; the researchers note that “calves tend to eat the leaves and husks if available.”

Their conclusion is a fair summary of the forum, too: the old idea that straw is the best bedding held up, but stover and soybean residue “may be more useful in situations where gain is not critical such as growing heifers and beef cows near calving, and these residues are generally available on a cost-competitive basis.”

Absorbency depends on how the material was measured and handled. Jeff Lehmkuhler of the University of Kentucky summarized two sources in a 2026 Ohio BEEF Cattle Letter article. A Canadian fact sheet converted water-holding capacity to a 26-lb bale of dry material:

An Iowa State soak test ranked the straws differently: triticale straw lowest at 1.86 lb of water per lb, with corn stalks at 2.70 and oat straw at 2.86, which for stalks works out to nearly the same 8.8 gallons per 26 lb. Straw’s hollow stems also insulate until saturated, and wood products absorb fast but insulate less. Chopping, the combine and the weather all change the result.

"It can make as much difference how it was processed as what species. Some combines really tear up the straw and some pretty much send it through intact."

— Haleiwa, West Chazy New York · AgTalk thread 1214572

Bean straw drew the longest arguments. Fans like the firm, drier mat it builds on a dirt lot; critics hate the dust and the yield.

"Soybean straw is terribly dusty to bale and bed with. It is more absorbent than cornstalks but likes to clump more. The clumping is fine if building a deep pack but not nice if cleaning weekly."

— 17821x, NE Iowa · AgTalk thread 1129271

"You can dump a beanstraw by the bunk in a dirt lot and add another a week later and keep a firm pack; you will bed every other day with cornstalks to keep a firm bedpack."

— MiradaAcres, scmn · AgTalk thread 1174772

"I like bedding with a mix. A bale of bean straw to 2-3 balez of cornstalks. The bean straw stores outside much better. Keeps a firmer bed pack and keeps the animals much cleaner be it cattle or hogs."

— waterspman, swmn · AgTalk thread 1174772

Cattle eating their bedding came up again and again in the stalk threads. NDSU saw it in the research pens; a veteran Ohio feeder reads it as a ration signal:

"If your animals are eating their bedding, makes me think what ever you are feeding them is not appropriate. I've been bedding with cornstalks for 40 years. They may eat a shuck here and there, but they'd rather eat what's in the bunk."

— Mitchco, SW OH · AgTalk thread 1074222

For how straw and stalk bales are made, see our guides to baling straw behind the combine, making clean cornstalk bales and what bean straw is worth.

How much bedding cattle need

Published rates are averages; real use swings with weather, crowding and floor. This table collects the figures we could verify:

Producers talk in bales, not pounds. Finishing barns in the threads ran about 2 stalk bales a head a year; a southwest Wisconsin feeder wrote “for 250 hd I like to have 500 rounds,” while one monoslope used “0.5 bales/hd going from 600 lbs to 1450 lbs or so.” A North Dakota cow-calf producer reported “I only put up 20 straw bales for 15 cows” for the 2023–24 winter. A roof makes a big difference:

"The shed has more animals in it than the outside lots and ive used probably 25% of the amount of bedding and they are clean as a whistle."

— jcolli140, SC Wisconsin · AgTalk thread 1072433

"If you can reduce crowding, the bedding rate will go down. … I think reducing animal numbers or giving them more space is the only real way to reduce bedding by any real amount."

— bsfarms, south central WI · AgTalk thread 1141104

Bedding bales per head for a winter

Turn a daily rate into a bale order before the snow flies:

Bedding bales per head = lb of bedding a head a day × days bedded ÷ bale weight

The table runs a 150-day bedding season with 800-lb straw bales and 1,200-lb stalk bales. Weigh a few of your own, because bale weights vary widely with crop, moisture and baler; our round bale weight guide explains why.

XES calculation from the rates above. Add a cushion for storage loss and bad weather; one Iowa producer who bought more stalk bales than the spring of 2024 required said “I consider my carryover a REVERSE CD.”

Bedding is a bale line on its own. A 50-cow herd bedded at 10 lb a day for 150 days needs about 63 stalk bales or 94 straw bales, on top of its hay. Our drylot cow-calf guide folds bedding into the daily cost of keeping cows in a pen, and our backgrounding calves guide adds it to the winter bale count for calves.

Outdoor lots, bed packs and calving

Outdoor lots. Nebraska’s 2024 BeefWatch article on bedding cattle yards and managing bed packs treats a cold, wet stretch after rain or snow as the trigger for bedding. Its practical points:

• Scrape dry manure from aprons and traffic areas before precipitation, and pile it into mounds 2 to 4 ft high, about 32 sq ft a head, as high ground and a base for bedding.
• Build the pack at least a foot above the surface, then keep the area around it scraped so cattle do not track mud onto it.
• Scrape at least weekly during cold spells and bed right after scraping; bed before a snow of more than about 3 inches and again after scraping.
• Skip processing in high-traffic, heavily stocked, concrete or unsurfaced pens: processed bedding “will incorporate itself (disappear) into the existing surface by hoof action.”

Producers bedding outdoor areas agreed on depth over neatness. A Wisconsin poster put it bluntly: “Keep adding to it. The depth does as much good as the bedding itself,” and a North Dakota producer drew the line at “If the bedding is complete slop, I’d probably start fresh. If just damp, I’d blow new stuff on top.” Surfaces under bunks and bale feeders are covered in our cattle feeding pad guide.

Bed packs. Roofed packs use less bedding but punish neglect; as one southwest Wisconsin feeder wrote, “cattle belly deep in slop isn’t a bedded pack.” Lehmkuhler notes that sawdust and wood chips suit composting packs better than unprocessed straw.

Calving. Newborn calves are the first priority for the best bedding. A Wisconsin feeder’s rule: “Baby calves in the winter has to be long, dry minimal dust straw.” Cows outdoors get creative bedding in a storm:

"Don't be afread of overfeeding and wasting hay for them to lay on. I tend to feed the best hay first, and when the cows are about 3/4 done eating, unroll some old or marginal hay, and unroll it fairly thin."

— HuskerJ, East of Broken Bow · AgTalk thread 1227502

An Ohio producer who once thought pasture cows did not need bedding changed course: since putting out mulch hay or stalks, the cows lie down a lot more, and new calves seem to be “tucked in the bedding” when it is cold.

Dry country is different. Not everyone beds. In drier parts of the Plains, well-drained lots often stay dry enough to skip it:

"I haven't bedded since 19. We just don't have to things don't get wet or muddy enough to need to. So that's a lot of extra expenses in my eyes."

— ahay68979, Saronville NE · AgTalk thread 1108733

Getting bedding into the pen, and the net wrap off

The low-tech method still works: set the bale in the pen, cut and pull the net, break the bale open with the loader and let the cattle spread the rest. Bale processors and straw blowers save labor and can bed a pen from the feed alley without moving cattle; most of the NDSU comparison pens were bedded that way. They also throw dust, need horsepower and, in high-traffic pens, chop bedding fine enough to disappear into the pen surface. Our bale processor buying guide compares the machines.

Whatever spreads the bedding, take every strand of net wrap off first. Cattle eat bedding, especially stalks, and our guide to cattle eating net wrap explains why they cannot digest it. Wrap left in a pack also rides out with the manure:

"I absolutely hate netwrap. Even smaller chunks in manure end up wrapped around stuff on the toolbar, planter, tillage tools, hay tools etc."

— blowsand, mercer county il · AgTalk thread 1216432

Producers shared ways to strip wrap without climbing off the loader:

"Use one tine to rip the net on top of the bale. Peel net wrap down one/both sides with loader. Grab bale and spread out."

— JAnderson, McCanna ND · AgTalk thread 1231224

A western Iowa feeder reported that a spear method “works good with heavy wrap,and works really good if it is not the cover edge wrap.” Wrap that tears into pieces is harder to get off and harder to keep out of the pack; see our guides to removing net wrap safely, removing frozen net wrap and used net wrap disposal, and never grind a bedding bale with the wrap on (here is why).

Bedding crops are also hard on wrap at the baler. Sharp, stemmy residue needs dry stems and enough wraps:

"DON’T try to bale it with moisture in the stems yet. Will rupture netwrap constantly. Let it get totally dry first which happens fast enough anyway."

— Gearclash, Sioux County NWIA · AgTalk thread 1174772

An Alberta producer baling canola straw had to add a couple of extra wraps just to hold the bales together, because “The straw cut through it like a knife.” Our guide to how many wraps per bale covers stemmy crops. As for cost, a southwest Minnesota feeder figured in 2022 that net wrap on stalk bales “Ends up costing less the $2 per bale” and doubted stacks could save a penny; another reply figured loose stacks would cost twice that in fuel, plus shrink. Check your own numbers with our cost-per-bale calculator.

Make, buy and store bedding bales

Buy or bale? In April 2024 a northwest Iowa producer reported “corn stalks selling for 30-45 $/ton” at a local auction, and most replies said to buy them. Custom baling ran about $10 to $15 a bale in 2024 and 2025 posts, and the soil pays too:

"I think I figured last fall it was around $27/ton just in nutrients removed. I can probably make the bales for $13. … So cash up front I might be ahead, but I’d say long term, you’d be far ahead buying them for $40 just on fertility."

— blowsand, mercer county il · AgTalk thread 1156330

Nutrient removal and soil cover are covered in graze vs bale cornstalks and net wrap for cornstalk bales.

Bale it dry. Wet stalk bales heat, mold and get eaten instead of laid on. A northwest Iowa custom baler warned that “It can take 2-3 weeks for stalks baled too wet to start heating” and that stacking wet bales tight end to end is the worst thing you can do.

Keep it dry. Bedding that soaks up rain in the stack has less room left for urine in the pen.

"We put up a big Britespan hoop for bedding in 2013. Love it. I don't get out of shower and dry off with a 1/2 wet towel--so I don't bed my cattle with 1/2 wet bales either."

— Sandberg1984 · AgTalk thread 1213007

Without a shed, round bales tolerate weather better than uncovered big squares; the same northwest Iowa baler warned that on uncovered big-square stalk bales “every couple inches of rain will go down easily a foot into the bales.” A well-drained base and space between rows help either way. Our guides to storing net-wrapped bales outside and round bale storage cover layout.

What bedding costs and what it gives back

Price bedding per head per day so you can compare it with feed and yardage:

XES calculation. Add processing, labor and the nutrients removed from the field if you bale your own.

Custom feedlots often fold bedding into yardage. One producer worked out a custom yard’s bedding at “about $15/hd or 6 cents a day/hd” against yardage of 40 cents a day.

The manure is worth more with bedding in it. NDSU analyzed manure from the 2004–05 pens:

Source: Carrington Beef Report 2006, Table 6, as reported. Composted manure from bedded pens also held more nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

Bedding keeps urine, and the nitrogen in it, in the pack. The researchers say corn stover acted “more like a sponge” and held more urine, which is why its fresh manure contained “nearly twice as much” ammonium nitrogen. They list carbon-to-nitrogen ratios of about 65 for stover, 80 for wheat straw and 40 for soybean straw against 15 for beef manure, with 30 to 40 ideal for composting. A western Iowa feeder valued wet pack manure at “around $10 a ton” at late-2022 fertilizer prices. Test your own manure and apply it to crop need; spreading rates and timing are covered in our guide to manure on hay ground, and state rules on winter spreading vary.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best bedding for cattle?

Wheat straw produced the most gain in North Dakota State winter trials, followed by soybean residue and corn stalks, and bedded steers out-gained unbedded ones. In practice, the best bedding for cattle is the dry, absorbent material you can buy or bale cheaply and keep dry, which is why corn stalks and bean straw dominate in the Corn Belt.

Is straw or corn stalks better for cattle bedding?

Straw usually performs better. In a North Dakota State trial, straw-bedded steers gained 3.91 lb a day against 3.72 lb on corn stover, partly because calves ate the stover. Stalks cost less in the Corn Belt and hold urine well, so they suit cows and heifers where top gain matters less.

How much bedding does a cow need per day?

Plan about 4 lb a head a day for growing cattle over a winter, Nebraska Extension’s long-run figure, and more in wet, crowded or open pens. An Ohio BEEF Cattle Letter estimate for mature beef cows in confinement is 10 to 15 lb a day. Starting a new pack takes 12 to 14 lb a head.

Do cattle need bedding in winter?

Not always, but it pays when hides get wet or ground is frozen. Kansas State puts a wet cow’s lower critical temperature at 59°F versus 32°F with a dry winter coat, and energy needs rise 2% per degree below it when wet. Herds on dry, well-drained lots often skip bedding.

Should you take net wrap off bedding bales?

Yes. Remove every strand before you bed, process or blow a bale. Cattle eat bedding, especially stalks, and they cannot digest net wrap they swallow. Wrap left in the pack also ends up in the manure, where producers report it wrapping around planters, tillage tools and hay equipment.

The bottom line on the best bedding for cattle

The best bedding for cattle is the material that keeps hides dry at a cost your cattle can repay: straw where gain matters most, stalks or bean straw where they are cheap and close, and enough of either to build depth before the worst weather arrives. Price it per head per day, order bales by the head before winter, store them dry and pull every strand of wrap before they go in the pen. Most bedding bales start in the field like hay, so wrap them to last: round bales finished with XES bale net wrap hold together from the field to the pen, and wrap that comes off in one piece is wrap that stays out of your cattle and your manure.

Research note: We read 63 archived AgTalk and HayTalk discussions about cattle bedding (831 posts, 2015–2026; 60 of the threads from 2022–2026), set aside dairy-freestall-only threads, then checked the linked research and Extension guidance on October 8, 2026. Prices are what producers reported at the time, not current quotes, and post counts include questions and replies, not counts of farms. Bale and cost tables are XES calculations from the cited rates. XES sells bale net wrap and does not endorse any bedding product or equipment brand.

Featured photograph: Bedding the Cattle with the Straw blower, john bateson, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (Geograph Britain and Ireland). A tractor-drawn straw blower beds an open-front cattle shed in Moray, Scotland, March 2010. Image unchanged apart from display resizing.