Hay cost per ton in Kansas

Kansas hay production is dominated by two systems: irrigated alfalfa in the western high plains (Finney, Ford, Gray counties) yielding 4-5 cuttings a year, and dryland brome/prairie hay across the Flint Hills and eastern third of the state yielding 1-2 cuttings. The USDA AMS Dodge City Hay Report is the benchmark price discovery tool, publishing weekly FOB-stack quotes by quality grade, and in 2024 it showed premium alfalfa clearing $220-$260/ton with supreme dairy-quality hay touching $300/ton.

Rainfall is the single biggest swing factor. Western Kansas averages 18-22 inches annually versus 35-40 inches in the east, so a dry summer compresses grass hay supply fast. The 2022-2023 drought documented by K-State Extension pushed alfalfa auction prices above $300/ton and forced Kansas buyers to truck hay from Nebraska and eastern Colorado, adding $30-$50/ton in freight. Normal-rainfall years like 2024 bring prices back toward the long-run $150-$200/ton midpoint for grass hay.

Translating this to a real feed bill: a 1,200 lb mature cow eating roughly 25 lb of hay per day over a 120-day Kansas winter feeding window consumes about 3,000 lb, or 1.5 tons per cow per season. At a mid-2024 Kansas grass hay price of $160/ton (per USDA AMS Dodge City reporting), that is roughly $240 per cow in winter hay alone; a 200-head herd runs about $48,000 for the winter, and the same herd in a drought year at $260/ton runs closer to $78,000. That $30,000 swing is why Kansas cow-calf operators watch the Dodge City report as closely as the cattle futures board.