Hay Market

• Uruguay is not considered a large producer of hay for animal feed. This is due to the fact that the country has a preference for grass-fed meats and due to the fact that there is no snow in the region, cattle are grass-fed year-round.
• In order to calculate the value of the market, we combined the value of imports and exports of fodder and similar products in the region. Due to our findings that hay is not commonly used for feed in the region due to the preference for grass-fed livestock, we assume that trade represents the majority of the market. Using these findings, we determined that the hay market in Uruguay, including fodder, hay, alfalfa, and other products in any form, was worth $586,576 USD or $24.97 billion UYD in 2018.
• In 2018, Uruguay produced hay on 172,974 acres (70,000 hectares) producing approximately 18.8 tons of hay per hectare or 7.49 tons per acre.
• In addition, according to agricultural research, hay or alfalfa is not considered a top producing commodity in Uruguay and is not represented by the government in the official agricultural produce statistics. 
• The exports of fodder and similar products accounted for 0.005% of the total export market in Uruguay in 2018.
•  Research shows that beef cattle are only fed grain for the last 25 days prior to export for certain countries. In general, dairy cows and beef cows are fed with grass, not hay or alfalfa.
• After determining the amount of hay produced per acre we calculated the tons produced annually by multiplying the tons per hectare by total hectares (70,000*18.8=1,302,000).