Hay cost per ton in Hawaii

Hawaii is the most expensive hay market in the United States, with delivered prices for imported alfalfa running $520-$640 per ton in 2024 according to USDA AMS weekly hay reports, compared to $260-$320/ton for the same product FOB the Columbia Basin. The gap is almost entirely ocean freight: a 40-foot container moving roughly 22 tons of compressed hay from Tacoma or Oakland to Honolulu adds approximately $4,000-$5,500 in shipping, which works out to $180-$250 per ton before inter-island barging to Maui, Kauai, or Hawaii Island adds another $40-$80.

Local forage production exists but cannot cover demand. University of Hawaii CTAHR extension documents that leeward ranches on Hawaii Island and Maui bale Kikuyu, guinea grass, and pangola year-round, with 5-7 potential cuttings annually thanks to tropical temperatures, but windward rainfall of 60-150 inches per year makes field curing unreliable and pushes most commercial dairies and horse boarding operations back to imported mainland alfalfa and timothy. Local large round bales of grass hay typically sell for $140-$200 per 800 lb bale, which pencils out to $350-$500 per ton equivalent.

For a rancher budgeting winter feed, a 1,200 lb beef cow eating about 25 lb of hay per day consumes roughly 0.375 tons over a 30-day month and about 2.25 tons across a 180-day supplemental feeding window. At a Hawaii delivered price of $460/ton for mixed hay, that is approximately $11.50 per cow per day, $345 per cow per month, or $1,035 per cow for the winter feeding period - roughly triple what a Texas or Oklahoma rancher pays, which is why Hawaii cow-calf operations lean heavily on year-round pasture rotation and only supplement hay during drought or calving.