Alfalfa hay for sale, priced to your barn
Most bulk alfalfa grows a long way from where it gets fed, so the freight is a real part of the price. hayroute.com maps alfalfa producers across the West, High Plains and Midwest, then prices the run to your operation — loaded miles, empty miles and the trip home — so you can compare offers on delivered cost per ton.
Start your free trialAlfalfa quality grades
Supreme / dairy quality
Fine-stemmed, leafy, early-cut alfalfa with high relative feed value. This is what lactating dairy herds and high-performance horses get, and it carries the biggest premium per ton.
Premium and good
Solid protein with a bit more stem. The usual choice for growing cattle, beef rations and most horse barns — considerably cheaper per ton than dairy-grade with most of the feed value.
Fair / feeder grade
Later cuttings, coarser stems, sometimes weather-affected. Fine as a maintenance or blending hay for dry cows and beef herds when the price per ton of protein pencils out.
Ask for a forage test on any load you're paying a quality premium for. Relative feed value, crude protein and the cutting date tell you more than a grade name does.
Where bulk alfalfa comes from
Pacific Northwest
Washington and Idaho ship export-grade alfalfa year-round out of the Columbia Basin. Consistent quality and consistent truckload volume, but the longest lanes to eastern buyers.
Intermountain West & Southwest
Utah, Colorado, Arizona and California grow multi-cut irrigated alfalfa. Strong dairy-quality supply, with prices that swing hard on drought and water allocations.
High Plains & Midwest
Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas are the closest bulk alfalfa supply for buyers east of the Mississippi, which usually makes them the cheapest delivered option into Ohio and the Southeast.
What a long alfalfa lane costs
Western alfalfa moving east is a long haul, and the freight has to be in the comparison before you choose between a distant cheap ton and a nearby expensive one.
Planning estimates from road-adjusted straight-line miles, not a freight quote. Confirm rates with the hauler before booking.
Buying alfalfa by the truckload
- Decide the grade you actually need — paying dairy premiums for beef cattle is money left on the table.
- Ask for the forage test, cutting number and crop year, plus whether the hay was rained on.
- Fill the trailer. A full 24-ton load spreads the same trucking bill across the most tons.
- Price the whole trip, including the empty miles out and the run home.
- Line up a return load so the trip home earns instead of costing.
Alfalfa hay questions
How much does alfalfa hay cost per ton?
Alfalfa prices swing with cutting, quality grade, region and drought. Dairy-quality alfalfa commands a large premium over feeder grade, and in short years prices in some states have more than doubled inside a season. Always compare delivered price per ton, since freight can add $50-$120 a ton on a long lane.
Which cutting of alfalfa is best?
Second and third cuttings are usually the leafiest and highest in protein, which is why dairies and performance horse barns pay up for them. First cutting tends to be stemmier and higher in fiber — good value for beef cattle and maintenance feeding.
How much alfalfa fits on a truckload?
About 24 tons of large square bales on a standard flatbed within legal weight. Round bales and small squares cube out first, so you ship fewer tons and pay more freight per ton.
Is alfalfa good for horses?
Yes for many horses, especially hard keepers, broodmares and working performance horses, usually fed as part of a mix rather than alone. Easy keepers and horses prone to metabolic issues generally do better on grass hay with only a little alfalfa.
Should I buy alfalfa from out of state?
Often, when local supply is short. Alfalfa that's $80 a ton cheaper at the source can still win after 800 miles of trucking. Price the specific lane — hay price, road miles and tons on the trailer together — before deciding.
Find alfalfa and price the run
See bulk alfalfa producers with contact details, compare delivered cost per ton across lanes, and rank return loads for the trip home. Also worth a look: hay bales for sale and hay delivery.
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