mistersmom
Junior Member
Abita Springs, LA
Posts: 3,749 
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Post by mistersmom on Dec 2, 2014 20:38:53 GMT
When I picked up hay for Mister this fall, the guy also had "peanut hay" for sale. He said it was like alfalfa but even better and that the horses just love it. Has anyone else hard about this before? It was new to me. I'm not planning on buying any, just curious.  |
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Post by horselover4life on Dec 2, 2014 23:43:04 GMT
Yes, my neighbor feeds it to her horses in the winter as hay she was buying was not so good a quality, typical Florida hay & grass.
The hay to me that she had last year was dirty looking, brown stemmy and seriously had much dirt on it.
My understanding is it is the leaf growth left over after they harvest the peanuts from the ground...
Supposed to be a preferred taste and her horses loved it.
I have also been told and read it is in the alfalfa family of proteins..
I know when I fed her horses a few times for her I fed peanut hay and her coastal...the horse dove into the peanut hay first...
Stuff just made me sneeze from the dust content hers had... 
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Lipizzan
Junior Member
Europe, Croatia
Posts: 2,572
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Post by Lipizzan on Dec 3, 2014 8:19:51 GMT
This is a first for me. Never hurd of it
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Post by horselover4life on Dec 3, 2014 11:16:15 GMT
Well, I asked my neighbor more about the peanut hay....
Here in my state you can buy peanut for around $12.00 - $17.00 a square bale {50 pounds} or "real" alfalfa for $25.00+ she told me.
Now, she goes to visit friends/family in Georgia and when she goes she takes her trailer {empty} and comes back loaded with peanut hay...cost per bale is around $6.00 there.
Nicer looking hay and heavier bales she said...
Stuff she had last year I guess was from "someplace" but I've not seen "dirt" like that in this state...or maybe what she got was not the better stuff.
I know her now ex picked it up for her and brought it home when he went hunting....
Even my Tifton I feed....I can buy that for $6.00 a bale {square} or T&A for $17.00.
My horses eat Tifton, then can actually do well on Coastal too but I like the Tifton better as it has a more varied texture of stems and "leaf growth".
It is only recently that I have seen Coastal as anything but super fine stems...many horses here do well on it, I am concerned with a impaction as I know it happens to often with those only consuming the fine stalked hays...
Hay is horrible expensive down here compared to NY where I use to live.
I have been sorely tempted to buy a tractor trailer load and have my neighbor haul it home for me, but by the time I add in fuel costs and hauling  ....then where do I put that many tons at one-time and get people to pre-pay is not easy... 
I looked into it seriously....
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mistersmom
Junior Member
Abita Springs, LA
Posts: 3,749
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Post by mistersmom on Dec 3, 2014 13:16:43 GMT
Thanks for the info HL4L. My hay guy gave me a flake to try and Mister seemed to like it. I feed an alfalfa hay cube "mash" over the winter to give Mister some extra calories and fluids. I had thought about buying a bale or two of alfalfa to have on hand in case I needed it so when I saw this stuff I asked (at first it looked like alfalfa but then I realized it wasn't). I didn't even ask how much it was.
My Coastal is actually from somewhere in FL. It looks and smells nice but I haven't done a test on it yet. I mainly feed it so he has something to be chewing on until the grass comes back in the spring. He picks through it and wastes so much though, it drives me nuts.
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Post by horselover4life on Dec 3, 2014 14:09:58 GMT
The coastal available by me is nice looking hay, smells good and taste good too.
Greener actually than the Tifton, but when you read the analysis in general about the hays as a variety versus another variety...Tifton is a little better, same price from the local feed supplier.
I have now found some growers and deal directly with one or several of them. Saves me a few $$ per bale....
I had {past tense} bought enough hay to last me for 3 months feeding Chance... well, we threw that out the window when we bought our second horse, Hondo.
Hondo is a chow hound, period! Loves to eat so I do feel like I have to ration hay or he would not stop..I was warned by his former owner of this.
So my boys eat out of slow feed hay nets all the time.
I still don't do round bales because of the huge waste I would have regardless of nets or steel retaining frames, horses just waste a lot.
Besides no tractor with a spear to lift and move a 1100 pound round bale...
Square bales it is for us for some time yet....
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Post by carshon on Dec 3, 2014 14:23:09 GMT
Peanuts and Alfalfa are both legumes so I guess it makes sense that they hay made would taste good to the horses. No peanuts up here and good alfalfa hay is around $5 per bale. I would be interested to see a picture of peanut hay -- just curious.
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mistersmom
Junior Member
Abita Springs, LA
Posts: 3,749
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Post by mistersmom on Dec 3, 2014 14:43:56 GMT
I don't know of anyone around here who feeds Tifton. It's mostly Bahia or some sort of Bermuda.
Here's a pic I found on the internet of peanut hay. 
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Post by horselover4life on Dec 3, 2014 17:13:32 GMT
That's it mm....
The hay my neighbor had last year....well what is nicely golden make browner and dirtier looking but leaves, yes...same stuff!
Now she did get some this year but I have not seen it so no comment on appearance.
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....then where do I put that many tons at one-time and get people to pre-pay is not easy... 
