Alfalfa pellets price

Alfalfa pellets are a fiber source, fed for effective fiber and gut fill more than for nutrients. They are priced and tracked here, but they are not scored on the nutrient-cost screening board: no dry-matter-basis nutrient coefficient for them was verified against a primary extension or NRC table at build, and this site never guesses a coefficient. Prices are quoted per ton, and the cheapest board price is not the cheapest fed price once freight and moisture are counted (see the FOB-vs-delivered guide). Alfalfa pellets are the same dehydrated alfalfa as the meal, compressed into a form that handles and ships with less dust and less sorting loss. Growing regions mirror alfalfa hay generally, irrigated valleys in California, the Pacific Northwest, and the high desert Southwest, and price follows the alfalfa hay market first, then the water and natural gas the dehydration and pelleting process burns through. Horse owners and export buyers favor the pellet for its consistency and shelf life, while dairies lean on it as fiber and protein when hay is tight. Moisture control during pelleting is the main quality risk: pellets too wet will mold in storage.

A grown crop, not a co-product. Unlike most of what trades on this board, alfalfa is planted for its own sake, so its supply behaves like a crop's: an acreage decision weighed against corn, soybeans and, across the irrigated West, every other crop bidding for the same water. Utah State University Extension found that across the West's irrigated hay states, alfalfa hay prices move with corn futures, Class III milk futures and feeder cattle futures, because hay both competes with corn as an energy feed and sells mainly to the dairies and cattle feeders bidding for it. The same forces reach the Great Plains and Pacific Northwest origins this site tracks, since those growing regions compete for many of the same buyers.

Water sets the ceiling on the crop. Irrigated hay ground depends on an allocation, not rainfall, so a dry year that cuts water deliveries cuts tonnage before it touches demand at all. USDA tracks the result once a year in its Crop Production report, known in the hay trade as the May 1 Stocks report, the carryover of hay on hand at the start of the new hay marketing year (May 1 to April 30 by USDA convention). USU Extension's research found it a clear supply-side signal: a bigger May 1 carryover has historically pointed toward softer prices for the year ahead, a smaller one toward firmer ones.

Export demand is a second buyer, on a lag. USU Extension also found rising alfalfa hay exports lift prices, since export buyers compete directly with domestic dairies and horse operations for the same tonnage. Export figures run several months behind in USDA reporting, so this demand shows up in the market before it shows up in the data.

A market that moves in steps, not daily. Alfalfa hay and pellet prices respond to that mix of water, feed-grain and livestock prices, and export demand, but not continuously: USU Extension notes prices can hold unchanged for two, three, even four months at a stretch when little hay is trading in a given area, then step higher or lower once a fresh sale sets a new mark. A single week's quote is a real trade, not a daily-moving index, and is best read as one data point in that stepped pattern rather than a trend on its own. Our guide to the alfalfa pellets market takes each of these drivers in turn.