Hay cost per ton in Georgia

Georgia hay pricing is driven almost entirely by bermudagrass and fescue, which together account for the bulk of the state's forage acres. Growers typically take three to five cuttings of bermudagrass between May and September, with first-cutting yields often the highest in tonnage but lowest in relative feed value. Good-quality grass hay at the barn has ranged from roughly $180 to $240 per ton in 2024-2025, according to USDA AMS Hay Market Reports, with large round 4x5 bales trading at $60-$110 each depending on weight and moisture.

Rainfall pattern is the single biggest variable in any given year. Georgia averages 45-55 inches of rain annually, but the distribution matters more than the total: a wet May-June stretch can delay first cutting, drive mold losses, and push good grass hay above $240 per ton, while a dry, clean curing window collapses prices back toward $160. Alfalfa is effectively an import crop here - UGA Extension notes that Georgia humidity makes field-curing alfalfa impractical at scale, so premium and supreme alfalfa is trucked from the Midwest and typically lands at $280-$420 per ton delivered.

For a cow-calf operator, the practical math is what matters. A 1,200 lb beef cow eating roughly 25 lb of hay per day (about 2 percent of body weight on a dry-matter basis, per UGA Extension feeding guidelines) consumes around 750 lb over a 30-day month and about 1.5 tons across a typical 120-day Georgia winter feeding window. At $200 per ton for decent bermudagrass hay, that pencils out to roughly $300 per cow per winter in hay alone, before accounting for 10-20 percent feeding waste on unrolled round bales - which can push the real delivered cost closer to $350-$360 per head.