Hay cost per ton in New York

New York growers typically take three cuttings per year in the southern tier and Finger Lakes, and two cuttings farther north in the Adirondack foothills. First cutting comes off in late May to mid June, and its quality sets the tone for the whole year's pricing: a rainy first cutting forces more hay into the 'grass, fair' category at $170-$230 per ton while a clean first cutting lets supreme alfalfa clear $300-$360 per ton at the barn, per USDA AMS Northeast hay summaries.

Rainfall patterns drive the spread between premium and utility hay. The Northeast averages a wet June, and when storms stack up during cutting windows, dairy-quality alfalfa gets scarce and supreme prices jump toward the top of the $300-$360 range reported in USDA AMS weekly summaries. Grass and mixed hay, which tolerate more weather damage, stay closer to the $185-$260 per ton band that anchors most NY beef and horse buyers.

For a 1,200 lb beef cow eating roughly 25 lb of hay per day through a 150-day NY winter, that's about 3,750 lb, or 1.88 tons per head. At the midpoint round-bale price of about $210 per ton, winter hay runs around $394 per cow; at supreme alfalfa prices near $330 per ton, the same cow costs about $620 to winter, which is why most NY cow-calf operators buy mixed grass hay and reserve alfalfa for bred heifers and lactating pairs. Cornell Cooperative Extension forage budgets track this same 25 lb/day intake assumption for a mature 1,200 lb cow.