Hay Markets

Montana Hay Report

Direct Hay Weighted Average Report for week ending 10/31/2025

Compared to last report(10-17-25): Hay sold generally steady. Very few new hay sales were seen again this session. Weather conditions have been ideal over the past few weeks as fall rains and unseasonably warm weather have greened pastures and range land. Many cattleman still have cows out on pasture and plan on leaving them out for the foreseeable future as long as snowfall holds off. This has curbed demand for hay significantly. Many ranchers are busy hauling and cows and marketing calves and have put buying hay on the back burner as a result. Some producers are cutting one last cutting of hay as weather conditions have made putting up a late 3rd or 4th cutting possible. Hay supplies remain heavy around much of the central and south central portions of the state. Western and northern supplies are mostly light due to summer drought. According to the drought monitor 54.31 of the state is in Moderate drought or worse, up 7.53% from 2 weeks ago. 25.27% of the state is in an Severe drought or worse, down 3.62% from 2 weeks ago. 2.03% of the state is in Extreme drought or worse, down 6.52% from 2 weeks ago. 0% of the state is in Expectational drought, unchanged from 2 weeks ago. Notably, 69.32% of the state is abnormally dry, down 8.86% from 2 weeks ago. 

Wyoming Hay Report

Compared to two weeks ago, all reported hay sales sold steady. Demand was mostly light for local sales with good demand for small squares getting shipped out of state. Interesting that the local hay market is rather stagnate as ranchers sit on the fence and haven’t really bought that much hay. Cow numbers are rather light across the state and that plays into the equation. Maybe ranchers have carry over hay from last year and do not need extra hay sitting around. Some ranchers ship cows to corn fields in and out of state. But overall the hay market is slow to take off this growing season. Most producers in the East have put haying equipment away and the producers in the west have their last cutting on the ground. Many areas the dry edible beans are picked, sugar beets are out of the field and corn is getting combined.