# Hay cost per ton in Delaware

> Delaware hay runs roughly $185-$260 per ton for large round grass and mixed bales, with premium alfalfa trucked in from the Midwest pushing $300-$360 per ton at the farm gate in 2025.

**Headline:** $185-$260 per ton, large round bales grass/mixed, delivered Delaware

## Key Figures

| Metric | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Premium alfalfa (small square, trucked in) | $320-$380 per ton |
| Supreme alfalfa (dairy quality) | $340-$420 per ton |
| Grass hay (timothy/orchard mix) | $200-$280 per ton |
| Mixed grass/legume hay | $185-$260 per ton |
| Large round bale (4x5, grass) | $55-$85 per bale (approx $110-$170/ton) |

## Detail

Delaware sits in a humid Mid-Atlantic zone that averages 45 inches of rainfall per year, with most precipitation falling between May and September - exactly when hay needs to cure in the field. That rainfall pattern means first-cutting grass hay, typically taken in late May, is often rained on and graded down to feeder or mulch quality, while second and third cuttings in July and August command the premium prices reflected in USDA AMS weekly hay reports showing Mid-Atlantic grass hay at $185-$260 per ton in 2025.

Because Delaware's Sussex and Kent county soils are sandy and well-drained but acidic, most producers run mixed timothy-orchardgrass-clover stands rather than pure alfalfa, getting 3 to 4 cuttings per year according to University of Delaware Cooperative Extension forage guidance. True dairy-supreme alfalfa is almost always trucked in from Pennsylvania or further west, which is why delivered alfalfa prices sit $100-$150 above local grass hay in the USDA AMS summaries.

For a typical 1200 lb beef cow eating roughly 25 lb of hay per day through a 120-day Delaware winter (mid-November through mid-March), that works out to 3,000 lb - or 1.5 tons - of hay per cow per winter. At the 2025 mid-range grass hay price of about $220 per ton, a single cow's winter hay bill lands near $330, and a 50-head cow-calf operation is looking at roughly $16,500 in winter forage alone before bedding, mineral, or waste losses, which typically add another 15-20 percent to real-world consumption per USDA NASS Delaware production data.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Why is alfalfa more expensive than grass hay in Delaware?

Delaware's humid Mid-Atlantic climate and sandy coastal-plain soils make high-quality alfalfa hard to cure without rain damage, so most dairy-grade alfalfa is trucked from Pennsylvania, New York, or the Midwest, adding $40-$80 per ton in freight.

### When is hay cheapest to buy in Delaware?

Prices are typically lowest from late June through early August right after first and second cutting, and highest from February through April when winter stocks run thin and demand from horse owners peaks.

### How many cuttings of hay does Delaware get per year?

Most Delaware producers get 3 to 4 cuttings of grass or mixed hay per season, with first cutting in late May, and alfalfa stands can yield 4 cuttings in a good year given adequate drainage.

## Sources

1. USDA AMS National Hay, Feed & Seed Weekly Summary (2025) — https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/ams_3020.pdf
2. University of Delaware Cooperative Extension - Forage Production and Hay Marketing (2024) — https://www.udel.edu/academics/colleges/canr/cooperative-extension/fact-sheets/forage-production/
3. USDA NASS Delaware Agricultural Statistics - Hay Production (2024) — https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Delaware/

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Source: Vellum — https://vellum.app/hay-cost-per-ton/delaware