Abstract Two-hundred and forty Continental × English beef steers (allotment BW = 365 kg [SD 22.5]) were used in a randomized complete block design feedlot study to evaluate the effects of bedding application during the finishing phase. Steers were allotted to 30 concrete surface pens (n = 8 steers/pen) at the Ruminant Nutrition Center (RNC) in Brookings, SD. A common diet was fed that contained 2.09 Mcal/kg of NEm and 1.39 Mcal/kg of NEg and provided 30 g/ton of monensin sodium to diet DM. Pens were assigned to 1 of 2 treatments: 1) No bedding applied (NO) or 2) 1.8 kg (as-is basis) of wheat straw bedding/steer/d (BED). The first 9 pen replicates began on test 14 d prior to the last 6 pen replicates. Pen was the experimental unit; an α of 0.05 determined significance. This study was part of a factorial experiment that included steroidal implant. No interactions were detected (P ≥ 0.09). Daily ambient temperature (n = 183) averaged 4.33°C [SD 3.21] during the study. Dry matter intake was increased (P = 0.01) by 5.8% in BED compared to NO. Carcass-adjusted ADG (P = 0.01) and G:F (P = 0.01) were increased in BED by 21.0% and 14.4%, respectively. Carcass-adjusted final BW and HCW tended to differ (P ≤ 0.07) between NO and BED. Cattle from NO required an additional 35 days to achieve similar final live BW. Rib eye area (P = 0.69) did not differ between NO and BED. Dressing percentage (P = 0.01; 63.29 vs. 62.30 ± 0.410%), backfat (P = 0.01; 1.19 vs. 1.09 ± 0.410 cm), marbling (P = 0.01; 475 vs. 437 ± 6.6), and yield grade (P = 0.03; 2.95 vs. 2.81 ± 0.045) were increased in NO. Estimated metabolic rate was elevated (P = 0.02; 0.0995 vs. 0.0948 ± 0.013 Mcal/BW0.75, kg), for NO vs. BED. Bedding improved feedlot finishing phase growth performance and gain efficiency during finishing in eastern South Dakota.