Anyone have any experience with perennial peanut or oat hay? Just curious. Done research on it (even here on COTH) but maybe someone has some recent experience or feeds it currently?
I know the weather this winter has been terrible for hay growers!
I wish I could find someone to come custom hay my property, but it is only about 4 acres that they could cut. I have a 90% grass 10% alfalfa mix. Buying my own equipment would make zero sense.
TrotTrotP:
Ask around!
My total farmette is 5ac, so the area my neighbors cut is a lot less - maybe 2ac total. It’s the perimeter around my pastures plus a small field shared by me & my neighbor to the North.
My regular hayguy leases fields in different areas also - some just backyard-ish acreage and some regular hayfields.
The neighbors lease fields all over the area too & my place is just convenient as it’s right across the road from them.
Hayguy owns his own tractors, balers, wagons.
The neighbors own some equipment, but share with others for the rest.
Spirit, I have used Perrenial Peanut in place of alfalfa off and on for 30 plus years. Horses seem to love it, but it is a legume and can have the same effects, lol.
I do not have any experience with oat hay.
(as an aside, I had a barn in Beaufort for 8 years!)
I wonder, how much nutrition does hay really lose in a year? I’m sorely tempted to buy some nice alfalfa from last year for next winter, at least that way I’d know it wasn’t moldy and could put it up before it gets so hot…
[QUOTE=Mosey_2003;7465896]
I wonder, how much nutrition does hay really lose in a year? I’m sorely tempted to buy some nice alfalfa from last year for next winter, at least that way I’d know it wasn’t moldy and could put it up before it gets so hot…[/QUOTE]
If baled and stored properly not as much as people think from what I am told. I just used some small bales left over from last year. Looked and smelled fine and the horses cleaned up.
This is the link to the USDA weekly market prices from around the country.
Kind of wish I hadn’t read this thread! :lol:
I’m paying $26/bale for ~110lb bales of orchard grass. Granted, it’s beautiful stuff, but still… :eek:
My farrier was just telling me yesterday he feeds his guys a 50:50 mix of alfalfa and Bermuda, which around here is about $15/bale each (also ~110lbs). I’m thinking of trying that combo out, or perhaps rotating and feeding all three hays- maybe 1/3 of each.
After reading what other folks are doing I did do some quick research to see if I could get a large delivery and store it, but the access to my farm with a huge tractor trailer would be a problem. Too bad, because I have a huge barn to store it in :no:
We feed organic Timothy hay that is grown about an hour from us. It is straight Timothy, but has excellent values - quality enough for lactating cows. My horses hold great weight on in and really seem to like the taste. Even our “picky” eaters eat the heck out of it. We pay $65 for a 900lb bale. All of his hay is kept inside and once delivered, we keep it inside as well.
[QUOTE=hey101;7467438]
Kind of wish I hadn’t read this thread! :lol:
I’m paying $26/bale for ~110lb bales of orchard grass. Granted, it’s beautiful stuff, but still… :eek:
My farrier was just telling me yesterday he feeds his guys a 50:50 mix of alfalfa and Bermuda, which around here is about $15/bale each (also ~110lbs). I’m thinking of trying that combo out, or perhaps rotating and feeding all three hays- maybe 1/3 of each.
After reading what other folks are doing I did do some quick research to see if I could get a large delivery and store it, but the access to my farm with a huge tractor trailer would be a problem. Too bad, because I have a huge barn to store it in :no:[/QUOTE]
Know anybody with a parking lot you could use? If you really want to get a big load I’d say take delivery there and transfer to your own smaller trailer and haul it home yourself.
Hopefully we can keep this thread going. Thanks for the market prices link!!! Definitely checking that out.
[QUOTE=mroades;7464993]
Spirit, I have used Perrenial Peanut in place of alfalfa off and on for 30 plus years. Horses seem to love it, but it is a legume and can have the same effects, lol.
I do not have any experience with oat hay.
(as an aside, I had a barn in Beaufort for 8 years!)[/QUOTE]
Shoot me a PM sometime, mroades! Love to hear about your experiences in the area. 
Still looking…
I prefer an orchard/timothy mix but as the prices here can be on the high side lately I have been feeding what I call “coastal” - which is regular grass. Not great for hard working horses but with 2 retirees and 1 working horse (not working hard lately) there is no need for high nutrition hay, and they have plenty of pasture.
We feed coastal and I hate it. I was brought up with timothy and prefer that, but it’s SUPER expensive down here. The FO buys 2 strand bales at about $12 a bale, and we get our field cut for about $2.00 a bale but we load and haul it away. Rounders cost $60-80 each. I do buy a bale of alfalfa for my colt, $22 for a 3 string. We did find a lady that had hay and bought from her for $5 a bale but I think she moved, didn’t hear from her at all last fall.
I live in coastal VA and rely on hay from November through the end of March (though we just had a snowstorm) or early April. Otherwise, my little herd feasts on abundant pasture (thankfully). I do keep a few small bales on hand in the summer to fill hay bags in their stalls if they want to nibble when they decide to come in.
The past six years I’ve fed large square bales of mostly alfalfa with some orchard grass in it. The bales weigh about 600 lbs. and cost $55 each. The hay is always clean and fragrant, without weeds or trash. My hay man puts two bales in the back of my truck, and I drive into the pasture and push them off. Four horses consume two bales every 7-11 days, depending on how the weather is. They do, inevitably, waste a small portion of it. They have thrived on it…until this year. This year they showed little interest in their hay. I tried some round bales of beautiful orchard grass from a different farmer, and they NEVER touched it. They ate about 50% of the hay from my regular supplier. It looked great and smelled great, but they were not very interested in it. Without storage for small bales, I was forced to just keep buying the large squares and let them eat what they wanted of it (I would give the uneaten bales to a friend whose horses scarfed it down). So, next winter I’m going to arrange some sort of storage and find a good supply of small squares to buy for the winter. I will NOT go through this hassle again, if I can help it. I don’t love the idea of handling hay every day again, but it will be worth the peace of mind of knowing the supply is palatable and consistent.
Locally, hay is very hit-and-miss. Most farmers cut “grass hay” that can be anything from weeds to nice orchard grass and can range in price from $3.50 to $7 per bale (40-45 lb. range). One local farmer puts up several thousand bales of alfalfa. They weigh approximately 50 lbs. and sell for $6 per bale (you load it onto your own vehicle…no delivery options available).
The local feed store sells 60-lb. compressed bales of timothy, but it really is a timothy/orchard mix. That goes for $15.75 per bale. I’ve just recently been paying attention to a hay dealer from up in Delaware who will deliver and stack in our area. He has 1st cut timothy/grass mix (43 lb.) for $7 per bale; 2nd cut timothy/grass mix (48 lb.) for $7.75 per bale; a very soft orchard grass (58 lb.) for $9.50 per bale; Canadian timothy (58 lb.) for $10.50 per bale; Western timothy (100 lb.) for $35 per bale; and western alfalfa (140 lb.) for $38.50 per bale. I just got some of the Canadian timothy, and a friend got some of the 1st cutting timothy/orchard to try (We added onto a load that was coming our way and got free delivery on our measly little 25 bale orders…yay!). I’m very satisfied with it. It’s more expensive than buying direct from the farmer, but our options are so limited around here, it seems worth my while to let someone else make the connections and handle the hay.
