# Peanut hay



## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Devildawg's post in the the gluten thread reminded me that a lot of people in the southeast feed peanut hay to their livestock, especially horses.

A couple of questions:

Has anybody in this group grown peanut hay? What's it like? (Growing cycle, yield, drying?)

How far north can you grow it? Would it work in central Illinois? How do you plant it? Fertilizer?

If I remember right, there are problems with it dropping leaves, like over-dried alfalfa. I'm wondering that that may not be a problem in my area because of my high humidity.

Ralph

Number Five needs more input.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Peanut hay is the leftover crop residue after the peanuts are picked off the vines.....much like corn stalks or wheat straw. Being a legume though the vines would have higher protein than stalks or straw. Not really a feed for horses but ok for cows.

Now perennial peanut hay is a different animal and is very good feed for horses as well as other livestock. Perennial peanut is a tropical perennial legume plant that does not make actual peanuts and is grown just for the hay. It is not cold hardy enough to be grown north of the coastal plain region in the southeast.

Dawg is the expert on this....he may have something else to add that I missed.

Hayden


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

FarmerCline said:


> Peanut hay is the leftover crop residue after the peanuts are picked off the vines..
> 
> .....
> 
> ...


I didn't know there was a difference. And I was thinking that peanuts were below ground and had to be dug up.

Ralph


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

rjmoses said:


> I didn't know there was a difference. And I was thinking that peanuts were below ground and had to be dug up.
> 
> Ralph


 The peanuts are below ground and have to be dug up for harvesting. They don't grow off the roots though.....after blooming the vine sends a peg down into the soil where the peanut then grows. After the peanuts then go through the picker the remaining vines, roots, and a few peanuts are what is baled into peanut hay.

Hayden


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

What makes you ask Ralph? Lots of folks feed it up to goats and cows....not sure it's in the best interest to actually bale it, but it makes decent feed.
If you rent the ground, you bale it....

Edit: Went back and reread....you are talking about perineal peanuts.....the alfalfa of the Deep South. Really good forage, hard to grow/harvest and pencil out.....


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Perineal peanuts...two years to establish maybe 2 cuttings....very few effective herbicides ( cadre works purty good) needs good dirt and hot, hot......it's a toughy, that's why it's pricey


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

The reason I'm asking is that I understand that it looses leaves pretty easily and I would be able to keep the leaves because of my high humidity environment.

As a plus, I was thinking that insects probably wouldn't be as much of a problem. The last 5 years or so of mild winters having been devastating on alfalfa around here because of leaf hoppers and weevils.

I fed perennial peanut hay when I was down in Florida a few years ago and my horse wolfed it down.

Ralph


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Ya, just not hot enuf and too cold....it's hardy to about 15 I think, but it's slow growth characteristics make it tough, even down here, to get two cuttings.....the leaves do stay on purty well, unlike alfalfa the leaves don't crumble but as always, leaf loss is a concern...it has to be handled with care.
Evidently PP is very palatable to animals....I've heard all kinds of stories about how when given the choice, the animal (virtually every one) will go to the PP before anything else. Idk, just what I hear....
There is a good bit grown here in the coastal plains, it has adapted well, not a lot of research $ spent on it, so herbicides could be better, it makes it a pita....very tough to get a stand, a lot of work for two years with minimal income, tough to plant on marginal land, really would prefer irrigation....it's a high dollar crop in all respects except N....


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## reede (May 17, 2010)

It won't survive this far north, so Missouri would be a very long shot on the perennial.


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