Last week’s USDA Agricultural Prices report pegged the February all-hay price at $136 per ton, $1 per ton less than the January average price and $17 lower than one year ago. February alfalfa hay prices retreated by $5 per ton from January to $142 per ton. This was $25 per ton less than one year ago.

The largest month-to-month alfalfa hay price drops occurred in Idaho (minus $20), Ohio (minus $20), Oregon (minus $20), Wisconsin (minus $20), Oklahoma (minus $19), Iowa (minus $15) and Michigan (minus $15). No state recorded a price increase of more than $9 per ton (New York). Data for individual states is presented in the table below.

The USDA price averages account for all qualities of hay sold, and the final U.S. estimate is a volume-weighted average rather than a simple average of state values. Those states with the most volume sales will impact the final U.S. dollar value more than those states with fewer sales.