Hay prices near you.

Farm-gate grass squares — fescue, orchard grass, and Coastal Bermuda — run about $5–10/bale across North Carolina and South Carolina, with horse-quality and trucked-in squares climbing to $14–35. Round bales, the staple for cattle, run $20–75 for a 4×5 or 5×5 roll (about $44–190/ton), with peanut and premium rounds higher. Premium horse hay — alfalfa and timothy hauled in from Pennsylvania, New York, Canada, or out West — costs the most per ton. 2nd cutting is scarcer.

It's a transition zone: warm-season Coastal Bermuda and bahiagrass dominate the coastal plain and sandhills, while cool-season tall fescue and orchard grass run through the piedmont and the mountains; perennial peanut hay shows up in the east. Premium horse hay — alfalfa, timothy, and orchard mixes — is largely trucked in, which is why it costs two to three times local fescue. One local quirk worth knowing: a lot of pasture and hay here is tall fescue, which can carry an endophyte that's risky for pregnant mares — if you keep broodmares, ask whether it's endophyte-free or novel-endophyte fescue.

A real example from this board: an $8 fescue square at about 45 lb works out to roughly $356/ton, while a $45 round at about 900 lb is around $100/ton. The sticker alone won't tell you the real cost; weigh the bale and compare cost per ton. Round-bale ads here usually quote a size (4×5, 5×5) but not pounds, so ask — and trucked-in alfalfa squares are denser than local grass, so they weigh more than they look.

Always compare delivered cost if you can't haul. Plenty of Carolinas sellers deliver for a fee or along regular routes, and several set a minimum load. A cheap field-pickup bale an hour away can lose to a local delivered bale once you count the truck, trailer, and your Saturday — or win big if you're taking a full load.

Cool-season fescue and orchard grass take their first cutting in May–June; warm-season Coastal Bermuda cuts from late spring through early fall. Supply is highest and field prices lowest in season; they firm up over winter once cutting stops. Buy ahead of winter as your storage allows.

A lot of Carolinas hay trades through Facebook groups, Craigslist, and the state directories (the NC Department of Agriculture's Ag Review classifieds, NC Cooperative Extension county hay & straw directories, and Clemson Extension / SC Department of Agriculture listings are the source for many sellers here). Facebook listings change fast and can't be verified or linked the way classifieds and farm sites can, so most don't appear on the board yet. That's what the price checker above is for — paste any ad and we'll tell you how it stacks up against the verified market. Sell hay? Claim a free listing and get on the board.