Where do you all get your hay in the florida Panhandle? I am currently doing research to see what is in the highest demand in the Port St Joe area. I am thinking of buying some cleared land and just making my own hay but I need to find a potential client base to make sure that I can get rid of it because I only have one horse who goes through 1 bale every 2 weeks. I would be growing Alfalfa or alfalfa mixed with Orchard or Timothy.
@Brownie246 what do you know about making hay?
What I know is it’s a dying art form, a difficult craft, and it is very hard work.
And making the kind of hay that you want to "get rid of’ is not worth the time or effort.
Will those types of hay he mentioned even grow in that area? I buy alfalfa, alfalfa mix and Orchard and it’s ALL imported from up north or Canada.
Orchard grass and particularly timothy are cool season grasses. You would be lucky if they lived through a Florida summer much less produced more than one cutting before they croaked. Bermuda and Bahia grow down south in sandy soil and that is why they are for sale everywhere down here. They do grow perennial peanut hay in Florida that is a legume like alfalfa. I don’t think alfalfa does well in heat either but I have seen some alfalfa seed advertised in the Co-op that supposedly does well down here. But maybe people are growing it as an annual.
And then there is the problem of getting hay to cure in the humidity after you cut it and wait for it to dry before a thunderstorm rains all over it.
I am in central Alabama and I just have to find somebody who has brought in a load of OG or timothy and buy from them. Or go north and bring some back. I would NEVER try to grow it myself.
