Hay cost per ton in Missouri

Missouri hay markets are driven by the state's fescue-dominated pastures and a cow-calf herd of roughly 1.9 million beef cows, the third-largest in the nation according to USDA NASS. Most grass hay is put up as large round bales weighing 1,000-1,200 lbs, and at 2024 USDA AMS Missouri Weekly Hay Summary prices of $160-$240 per ton, a single round bale costs a rancher roughly $80 to $140 delivered within 50 miles of the baler.

Missouri typically gets three cuttings of alfalfa and two cuttings of cool-season grass hay per year, with first cutting in late May, second in mid-July, and a lighter third cutting in September. Rainfall patterns matter enormously: the drought-stressed 2022 and 2023 seasons cut hay tonnage and pushed grass hay above $200 per ton per University of Missouri Extension reporting, while wetter years like 2019 flooded the market and dropped round bales below $100 each.

For budgeting, a 1,200 lb dry beef cow eats roughly 25 lbs of hay per day through a 120-day Missouri winter feeding window, which works out to 3,000 lbs or 1.5 tons per cow. At the 2024 mid-range grass hay price of about $200 per ton from the USDA AMS Missouri report, that is roughly $300 per cow per winter in hay cost alone, before counting mineral, protein tubs, or pasture rent. A 100-head herd therefore carries a $30,000 winter hay bill in a normal year and can exceed $45,000 in a drought year.