20 Common Myths About Perennial Peanut Hay (And the Truth)
After 16 years of selling perennial peanut hay, we've heard every concern, rumor, and misconception. Here are the 20 we hear most often, with the honest answers.
What's in this guide
The basics
- It's made from peanuts
- Peanut allergies will react to it
- It causes colic
- It's too rich for horses
- Only horses can eat it
- It won't grow outside Florida
- All hay is the same
- It's hard to find
Quality, palatability, and feeding 9. It's the same as food-peanut vine hay 10. My horse won't eat it 11. It's dusty / causes respiratory issues 12. It loses quality fast 13. You have to feed grain with it 14. Not safe for mares or foals
Buying, storing, and the bigger picture 15. Round bales are always cheaper 16. It needs irrigation 17. It's a new fad 18. Feed store is cheaper than direct 19. Buy a year's supply at once 20. Won't keep weight on hard-working horses
Plus: The one real concern we'll address honestly
Myth 1: "Peanut hay is made from peanuts."
False.
Perennial peanut (Arachis glabrata) is a different plant than the peanut you eat (Arachis hypogaea). It's a legume in the same family, but it's grown for its leaves and stems, not for nuts. The plant doesn't even produce harvestable peanuts.
If you've never seen a perennial peanut field, picture a low-growing, dense legume that looks more like clover than what you'd find in a peanut farm. Beautiful yellow flowers in summer. Spreads by rhizomes underground.
Myth 2: "Horses or animals with peanut allergies will react to peanut hay."
Almost certainly false.
Peanut allergies (in humans) are reactions to specific proteins in the peanut kernel — the part inside the shell. Perennial peanut hay is leaves and stems, which don't contain those allergenic proteins.
There are no documented cases of allergic reaction in horses, goats, sheep, or cattle to perennial peanut hay. If you have a human worker with a severe peanut allergy who handles the hay, that's worth a conversation with their doctor — but for the animals, it's a non-issue.
Myth 3: "Peanut hay causes colic."
False, if it's good quality.
Any forage can cause colic if it's moldy, dusty, or fed in a sudden change. Perennial peanut hay is neither inherently more nor less colic-risky than any other quality hay.
The risks that DO apply:
- Switching diets too fast (transition over 7–10 days)
- Feeding moldy bales (which is true for ANY hay)
- Free-feeding to a horse with metabolic syndrome (peanut hay is not high in sugar, but always check NSC for at-risk horses)
The actual data on perennial peanut hay shows it's well-tolerated by horses, including those with prior digestive issues. Many veterinarians actually recommend it for horses who struggle on coastal.
Myth 4: "Peanut hay is too rich for horses."
Misleading.
Perennial peanut hay is higher protein than coastal — 14–18% vs 6–10%. But protein-rich isn't the same as "rich" in the colloquial sense (high in sugar or starch).
- NSC (sugar + starch) is lower in perennial peanut hay than in many grass hays
- Carbohydrate content is moderate
- Fat content is low
For most horses, including easy keepers, perennial peanut hay is fine. The exception is severely laminitis-prone horses who need very low NSC across all feeds — for them, ask your vet and get a forage test.
Myth 5: "Peanut hay can only be fed to horses."
False.
Perennial peanut hay is excellent for:
- Horses (any age)
- Dairy and meat goats
- Sheep
- Beef cattle
- Dairy cattle (limited use, expensive feed cost vs. alfalfa)
- Rabbits (small portions)
- Llamas and alpacas
Same bale, same forage, multiple species. This is one of its strongest selling points for hobby farms.
Myth 6: "Peanut hay won't grow outside Florida."
Partially true.
Perennial peanut is best suited to USDA zones 8b–10. That covers Florida, South Alabama, South Georgia, parts of South Texas, and some coastal areas of the Carolinas. North of zone 8a, it struggles or dies in winter.
But hay can be shipped anywhere. We have customers as far north as Tennessee and as far west as Louisiana taking shipped hay. The plant only grows in the Southeast; the hay travels.
Myth 7: "All hay is the same — why pay more for peanut hay?"
False, demonstrably.
A forage analysis is the proof. Run a side-by-side test of coastal and perennial peanut from the same week:
| Metric | Coastal | Perennial peanut |
|---|---|---|
| Crude protein | 8% | 16% |
| TDN | 53% | 62% |
| RFV | 80 | 138 |
That's not a marketing claim — those are real lab numbers from real cuts. The 2x protein difference is why barns reduce grain feeding when they switch.
Myth 8: "Peanut hay is harder to find than coastal."
True today, less true every year.
Perennial peanut is grown by far fewer farms than coastal bermuda. Production is concentrated in Florida, South Alabama, and South Georgia, where it's well adapted to the climate. According to UF/IFAS, perennial peanut acreage in Florida has expanded steadily as growers convert marginal pasture and as more horse and livestock owners discover the forage. See UF/IFAS publication SS-AGR-39, "Perennial Peanut: An Alternative Forage for Beef Cattle and Horses" for the standard agronomic reference.
What's improving every year:
- More university programs (UF/IFAS, Auburn, UGA) are publishing on perennial peanut
- More farms are converting marginal pasture to peanut
- Regional networks (like ours) are making consistent supply easier to find
Want a current acreage number? Florida-specific acreage estimates shift year to year. For the latest figure, contact your local UF/IFAS Extension office — Jackson County Extension in Marianna is the closest to us and stays current on Panhandle production.
At McDaniel Farms specifically, we maintain enough barn inventory and grower partnerships that we never run out. Standing-order customers are guaranteed monthly supply.
Myth 9: "Perennial peanut hay is the same as 'peanut vine hay' from food-peanut fields."
False — and this is the most important distinction in this entire post.
There are two very different products that both get called "peanut hay" in conversation:
- Perennial peanut hay (Arachis glabrata) — what we grow. A purpose-grown forage legume. Cut, cured, and baled like any premium hay.
- Peanut vine hay — the leftover vines from harvesting food peanuts (Arachis hypogaea). It's a byproduct of digging and shaking peanuts for the snack and oil market. Quality varies wildly. Often contains dirt, peanut shells, and herbicide residues used to defoliate the crop before harvest.
Food-peanut vine hay is sometimes fed to cattle as a low-cost roughage. It is not what we sell, and it should not be confused with purpose-grown perennial peanut hay. If a seller offers "peanut hay" at unusually low prices, ask which it is. The difference is real.
Myth 10: "My horse won't eat peanut hay — it's too different from what they're used to."
Almost always false.
In our experience, horses transition to perennial peanut hay faster than to almost any other forage change. The leaf is soft, the smell is sweet, the sugar profile is moderate — there's nothing to dislike.
The cases where horses initially refuse it are almost always:
- Switched cold turkey instead of over 7–10 days
- Free-fed alongside their old hay so they fill up on the familiar one first
- Stalled with a stressed neighbor who isn't eating either
- Suspicious of bright green color if the bale is from a perfect first cut
Solution: introduce it in a clean stall, alone, alongside their current ration, and let them pick. Most horses are eating peanut hay within 48 hours of first exposure.
Myth 11: "Peanut hay is dusty and causes respiratory problems in horses."
False — usually the opposite.
Quality perennial peanut hay is less dusty than most coastal bermuda, because the leaf is intact and the stems are softer. Less leaf shatter means less respirable particulate.
What causes respiratory irritation in any hay:
- Mold (regardless of forage type)
- Excessive leaf fines from over-handling
- Dust accumulated from poor storage
- Improper baling moisture causing fermentation
If you've ever seen a customer dunk their hay in water before feeding ("steamed hay" or "soaked hay") they're managing dust, not a peanut-vs-coastal issue. Quality storage and quality baling solve this for both forages.
Myth 12: "Peanut hay loses quality fast — you have to use it within a few weeks."
False, if it's properly cured and stored.
Perennial peanut hay baled at 12–15% moisture and stored in a dry barn off the ground keeps its quality for 6+ months easily, and remains good feed for 12+ months. We've fed 14-month-old barn-stored hay to our own horses with no quality issue.
What actually loses quality fast:
- Bales stored on concrete (wick moisture)
- Bales stored under wrapped tarp (trapped humidity)
- Bales exposed to direct sun (UV degradation)
- Bales baled too wet (fermentation, mold)
See our storage guide for what proper barn storage looks like.
Myth 13: "You have to feed grain with peanut hay to keep weight on a horse."
False — usually the reverse is true.
Most customers switching from coastal to perennial peanut hay end up reducing grain, not adding it. The higher crude protein (14–18% vs. 6–10%) and digestibility do the work that supplemental grain used to do.
For a typical adult horse on moderate work:
- Coastal-only diet often needs 4–8 lb of grain/day to maintain condition
- Peanut-hay-only diet often needs 0–2 lb of grain/day
Hard keepers and performance horses still benefit from concentrate, but the quantity drops noticeably. Talk to your vet before changing the grain ration — don't drop it on day one.
Myth 14: "Peanut hay isn't safe for pregnant mares or foals."
False. It's often recommended for both.
Perennial peanut hay's protein, calcium, and digestibility profile are well suited to broodmares in late gestation, lactating mares, and growing foals — the life stages with the highest nutritional demands. Many breeding farms in Florida use perennial peanut hay specifically because it can replace expensive alfalfa during gestation.
As with any forage, source matters. Buy from a seller who tests every cut and can verify no problematic herbicides (see our herbicide safety post).
Myth 15: "Round bales are always cheaper per pound."
Misleading.
Round bales appear cheaper at the gate price per bale, but the math gets messy:
- Waste rate on round bales fed in the field is typically 25–40% (animals trample, urinate on, and lay on the bale).
- Storage waste on round bales kept outdoors can hit 30–50% in Florida humidity.
- Handling cost requires a tractor with a spear or grapple.
A 1,000-lb round bale at $80 sounds cheaper than 18 square bales at $14 — but if 40% of the round bale is wasted, your effective cost per pound is higher than the square bale program.
For boarding barns, dairy goat operations, and small-herd horse owners, square bales almost always win on total feed efficiency, even at a higher per-pound sticker price.
Myth 16: "Perennial peanut hay needs irrigation."
False.
Perennial peanut is drought-tolerant — that's one of its main agronomic advantages over alfalfa in the Southeast. Established stands draw moisture from deep root systems and routinely produce strong yields through Florida's seasonal dry spells.
Some growers irrigate to push yield, but it's not a requirement to produce quality hay. See UF/IFAS publication SS-AGR-39 for the agronomic details.
Myth 17: "Perennial peanut hay is a new fad."
False. It's been studied since the 1930s.
Perennial peanut (Arachis glabrata) was first introduced to the Southeastern United States in the 1930s as a forage research crop. UF/IFAS has been publishing on it since the 1980s. The Florigraze and Arbrook varieties — still the foundation of most commercial production today — were released in the late 1970s and 1980s.
What's new is consumer awareness and grower adoption, not the crop itself. Anyone calling it a "trendy hay" hasn't read the research history.
Myth 18: "Buying direct from a farm is more expensive than buying through a feed store."
False, almost always.
Feed stores add 20–40% markup on hay over what they pay the producer. They have to — rent, labor, and warehousing aren't free.
Buying direct from a farm:
- Cuts out the middleman markup
- Lets you verify quality at the source
- Gives you direct access to the grower for questions
- Usually includes free or low-cost local delivery on standing orders
The catch is volume: most farms have a minimum order size. If you need 5 bales once a year, a feed store is convenient. If you need 20+ bales a month, direct from a farm is dramatically cheaper.
Myth 19: "I should buy a year's worth of hay all at once to save money."
False in Florida. Mostly false everywhere.
This logic works for grain or canned goods. It does not work for hay in a humid climate.
The problems:
- Florida summer humidity makes 6+ months of stored hay a mold risk
- Older stored hay loses protein over time
- You need significantly more storage space and pallets
- Mice and pest control get harder at scale
- Your cash is tied up in inventory
The smarter move for most barns is a monthly standing order. We hold the bales in our climate-stable barn; you carry only what you need this month. See our standing-order guide for the math.
Myth 20: "Peanut hay won't keep weight on a hard-working horse."
False — but the math has to work.
Hard-working horses (eventers, ranch horses, endurance horses) burn more calories than maintenance horses. They need enough total feed intake to cover that.
Perennial peanut hay handles the protein and digestibility side better than coastal. Where it can fall short for performance horses is total caloric intake — even at 2.5% of body weight in hay, a horse working hard may still need additional energy from grain or fat sources.
The solution isn't to avoid peanut hay; it's to feed appropriate quantity and supplement with a quality concentrate or fat source when work demands exceed forage capacity. Most performance barns we work with end up at:
- 25–30 lb perennial peanut hay daily
- 3–6 lb low-NSC concentrate
- Stabilized rice bran or similar fat source as needed
That program holds weight on hard-working horses without overloading them on starch.
Honest answer to one real concern
The one valid concern we hear: price variability between sellers. A bale of perennial peanut hay can range from $9 to $22 depending on quality, region, and seller. Some of that is justified (lab-tested, barn-stored, premium first cut), some is not (markup with no quality difference).
The defense is what we describe in every other post on this site: ask for the forage test, inspect the bale, ask about storage. Quality varies; the way to verify is by asking.
See our current cut and forage analysis → or call (850) 573-0470 or (850) 573-0471 with any other myths you've heard. We'll tell you straight.