USDA launched its Crop Production Annual Summary yesterday, which contains final numbers for hay production, acreage, and average yields in 2025.
According to the report, forage production was relatively stable from 2024 to 2025, with slight improvements for several categories. Although year-over-year fluctuations for total production and harvested acres appeared for individual states across the board, there were few instances of any drastic changes, and those likely reflect the regional weather patterns experienced last year.
Hay production
National production of all types of dry hay in 2025 totaled 123.03 million tons, which was up 0.5% compared to 2024. Kansas had the greatest individual leap in year-over-year hay production with a 57% jump. North Dakota dry hay production also made big gains, up 31% year-over-year. Ohio rounded out the top three best improvements with 27% more dry hay.
Texas dry hay production posted a steep decline, down 20% year-over-year. Six other states — Louisiana, Maryland, Montana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — reported dry hay production reductions between 10% to 20%.
Total alfalfa dry-hay production in the United States was pegged at 50.21 million tons, which was just shy of a 1% improvement year-over-year. South Dakota reigned supreme with a total of 3.576 million tons, followed by Idaho with 3.567 million tons. To round out the top five alfalfa dry-hay production leaderboard, Nebraska had 3.20 million tons, California had 3.13 million tons, and Montana had 3.08 million tons.
North Dakota had the greatest uptick in alfalfa dry-hay production year-over-year, up 618,000 tons, or 34%, to end with 2.45 million tons. Other representatives from the Midwest and Great Plains regions rounded out the best year-over-year alfalfa dry-hay production gains:
Minnesota — up 300,000 tons
Iowa — up 288,000 tons
Michigan — up 275,000 tons
Kansas — up 227,000 tons
Idaho had the biggest individual drop in alfalfa dry-hay production, down 287,000 tons, which was about 7% less than the previous year. Other significant declines in alfalfa dry-hay production were seen in:
Nebraska — down 282,000 tons
New Mexico — down 267,000 tons
Wisconsin — down 261,000 tons
Oklahoma — down 216,000 tons
Seventeen states report total alfalfa production considering all harvest methods: dry hay, haylage, and greenchop. Wisconsin clinched the top spot in this category for the second year in a row with 5.99 million tons of alfalfa produced in 2025. Idaho maintained second place with 4.19 million tons of alfalfa harvested across all methods. South Dakota maintained third place with 3.65 million tons, and Minnesota had the fourth-largest alfalfa harvest at 3.38 million tons.
Harvested hay acres
USDA reported the final 2025 harvested hay acreage across all types at 49.56 million acres, which was up slightly from the 49.39 million acres harvested in 2024. This estimate only includes acres that had at least one cutting harvested as dry hay.
The Lone Star State topped the charts with 5.10 million dry hay acres, up roughly 4% compared to the year prior. Oklahoma was a distant second with 3.34 million dry hay acres, followed by Missouri (2.99 million acres), South Dakota (2.64 million acres), Kansas (2.40 million acres), and North Dakota (2.39 million acres).
Homing in on alfalfa and alfalfa-grass mixtures, dry hay production for these types totaled 14.68 million acres in 2025, which was up roughly 64,000 acres from 2024. The top states in this category were South Dakota (1.49 million acres), Montana (1.40 million acres), and North Dakota (1.29 million acres). The next largest alfalfa and alfalfa-grass dry-hay acreages went to Idaho and Nebraska with 870,000 and 865,000 acres, respectively.
On an individual state basis, North Dakota had the largest uptick in alfalfa dry-hay acres with 350,000 more acres. The next biggest jump in alfalfa dry-hay acres was in Minnesota, up 80,000 acres year-over-year, followed by Wyoming and Nebraska, up 60,000 and 55,000 acres, respectively.
Wisconsin lost the most acres of alfalfa and alfalfa-grass dry hay in 2025, falling 120,000 acres year-over-year. Montana also posted a notable decline of 100,000 acres, followed by Kansas dropping by 90,000 acres and Idaho by 70,000.
Of the 17 states that report alfalfa production data considering all harvest methods (dry hay, haylage, and greenchop), Wisconsin and South Dakota tied for the top slot with 1.51 million acres a piece. Idaho followed in third with 960,000 acres of alfalfa harvested across all methods, and Nebraska and Minnesota trailed with 880,000 and 875,000 acres, respectively.
New alfalfa seedings
New seedings of alfalfa and alfalfa-grass mixtures in the United States totaled 1.68 million acres last year. That was down 170,000 acres year-over-year.
Wisconsin had the greatest installment of alfalfa seedings at 210,000 acres, but this was down 30,000 acres from the previous year. Three other states dedicated more than 100,000 acres to new alfalfa seedings in 2025: Michigan (130,000), Montana (130,000), and Idaho (110,000).
Hay yield
The average dry hay yield (for all types) stayed constant year-over-year at 2.48 tons per acre. Specifically for alfalfa and alfalfa-grass mixes, dry hay yields improved slightly from 3.41 to 3.42 tons per acre in 2025.
Arizona and California continue to dominate the average alfalfa yields category with 7.4 and 6.8 tons per acre, respectively.
For the 17 states reporting all harvest methods of alfalfa (dry hay, haylage, and greenchop,) alfalfa yields on a dry equivalent basis averaged 3.87 tons per acre in 2025, which was a 5% bump compared to 2024. Of these select states, only Missouri and South Dakota had average alfalfa yields less than 3 tons of dry-equivalent forage at 2.41 and 2.42 tons per acre, respectively.
Corn silage
Corn silage production in 2025 was reported at 135.5 million tons, which was nearly 8% greater compared to 2024. The year-over-year increase may be attributed to a better average corn silage yield at 21.8 tons per acre (up 8%) and slightly more acres of corn harvested as silage at 6.21 million.
Wisconsin led the charge with 19.47 million tons of corn silage produced in 2025 — almost 33% more year-over-year. Both acreage (885,000 acres) and average yields (22 tons per acre) were up considerably in America’s Dairyland compared to the previous year. Idaho championed average corn silage yields with 31 tons per acre, followed by Arizona with 29 tons per acre.
In summary . . .
United States hay production continued on a slow climb in 2025, improving for the third year in a row after the downward production trend was reversed in 2023.
North and South Dakota ranked among the top five for many forage production gains, but there was overall positive representation from other Midwestern states in several categories. Wisconsin notably produced the most alfalfa forage (across all harvest methods) and corn silage compared to all other states.
Harvested acres for all types of hay recovered slightly in 2025 after a more dramatic year-over-year loss was posted the previous year. That theme was true for both dry alfalfa and grass hay acres. With that said, new alfalfa seedings across the country were down a total of 170,000 acres in 2025.
Although average yields for all types of hay stayed constant at 2.48 tons per acre, average alfalfa hay yields rose to 3.42 tons per acre. For states reporting alfalfa production across all harvest methods, average yields on a dry equivalent basis were also up at 3.87 tons per acre.
