It's doubtful that a diet for a 300-pound, early weaned calf can be that simple. You are working with a small rumen, and the quality of the feed needs to be high so that the calf continues to gain. If the calf were still with its dam it would gain between 1.9 and 2.2 pounds per day. You should consider including a pellet in the ration just to get an ionophore (Rumensin or Bovetec) into the ration. Also, a ration that has distillers will have plenty of phosphorus, and you will need to add some calcium, perhaps in the form of limestone, to the ration. The ration should be less than one-third distillers on a dry matter basis. Straw is a bulky feed, and lightweight calves may be challenged to consume a complete ration that includes wheat straw. Calves of this weight will consume 2.7 percent to 3.0 percent of their body weight on a dry matter basis (8.1 to 9.0 pounds of feed dry matter daily). The following diets look good on paper. One example is a combination of wet distillers and cracked corn that is not ground fine. On a dry matter basis, use 22 percent good quality grass hay, 22 percent straw, 22 percent cracked corn, 22 percent wet distillers, 10 percent protein supplement with ionophore and 2 percent limestone. If the calf eats 8.5 pounds of dry matter per day; the supplement, hays, and cracked corn are 90 percent dry matter; and the wet distillers is 35 percent dry matter, the as-fed diet per calf would be 2 pounds per head per day of hay, 2 pounds per head per day of straw, 2 pounds per head per day of cracked corn, 1 pound per head per day of supplement, 5.5 pounds per head per day of wet distillers, and .2 lb per head per day of limestone, which adds up to 12.5 pounds per head, per day on an as-fed basis. With this diet, calves gain from 1.9 to 2.3 pounds a day. It's about 70 percent TDN and 16 percent crude protein. A ration with straw alone as the forage source appears to be bulky and might not be accepted by calves. On a dry matter basis, the diet would be 24 percent corn, 24 percent wet distillers, 10 percent protein supplement, 2 percent limestone and 40 percent wheat straw. This diet is 69 percent TDN and 15 percent CP.

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