May hay prices drop $6 per ton

After a couple months of rising average hay prices, the all-hay and alfalfa May average prices each dropped by $6 per ton in USDA’s most recent Agricultural Prices report released last week.

The report pegged the May all-hay price at $140 per ton, down from $146 per ton in April and $35 behind last year’s May average price. The May alfalfa average hay price dropped to $147 per ton. This was $45 per ton less than May 2015.

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.

For alfalfa hay, large average price reductions occurred in Arizona (minus $25 per ton), Utah (minus $25), Colorado (minus $20), and Oregon (minus $15). Only one state had a significant spike in average price and that was Nevada (plus $35 per ton).