Peanut Hay for Sale in Florida

Delmar Ropp is a co-owner of Farmers Direct Hay and Feed in Williston, Florida, and a fifth-generation farmer.

We sell peanut hay in a 2-string bale at $18 from our store in Williston, FL. It is a legume forage grown locally in the Southeast, not trucked in from out west like the rest of our hay, and it is the bale goat owners come in for most often. Ordering is by phone, not online. Pickup is six days a week, delivery is $35 flat inside 25 miles and $40 from 25 to 40 miles, and a container of roughly 130 bales delivers free inside 40 miles. Call (352) 528-1255 for what is on the floor today.

Most people searching peanut hay for sale in Florida have already decided they want it. They have fed it before, or their goats have, or a barn manager told them to go find some. The problem is supply: peanut hay shows up and disappears at a lot of feed stores, and the price you were quoted last spring is not the price today. This page is about the buying side. What the bale is, where ours comes from, and exactly how to get it on your trailer or in your barn.

Where to buy peanut hay in North Central Florida

We are Farmers Direct Hay and Feed at 21091 NE US Hwy 27 in Williston, roughly 23 miles from Ocala and an easy run from Gainesville, Chiefland, Dunnellon and Bronson.

• Product: Peanut hay, 2-string bale, $18.00 a bale
• How it is tagged on our site: value priced, goat friendly
• How you order: by phone at (352) 528-1255. There is no cart on the site, and every product page says "Call to order" for a reason. Hay orders get confirmed on a call: variety, bale count, pickup or delivery, and the day.
• Where the live price is: on the product page. Prices move. Do not plan a barn budget off a figure in a blog post, ours included.

Where our peanut hay comes from

This is the part worth knowing before you buy, because it is different from everything else on our floor.

Most of our hay is grown on the family's own farm in Nevada. What we cannot grow ourselves we buy from Nevada and the surrounding western states, a fair amount of Idaho, some Utah, a little California, a little Arizona, chosen for irrigation and a dry curing climate. On top of that we contract a set number of loads a year out of Alberta, Canada for our Canadian-grown blends.

Peanut hay is the exception. It is locally grown in the Southeast, not trucked in from out west. We buy it from growers in this part of the country rather than growing it ourselves, and it comes to Williston over a much shorter haul than a load of western timothy does. The Equi-Analytical lab work we publish covers the western loads, which is where those downloadable panels on our timothy and alfalfa pages come from.

Who actually buys it

Two groups, mostly, and they buy it for different reasons.

• Goat owners. This is the bale goat people ask for by name at our counter. It is a legume, and goats are browsers that go after leaf and leave coarse stems on the ground, which is why owners keep coming back for it.
• Horse owners feeding a legume. We hear from plenty of owners whose horse picks at a grass bale and cleans up peanut hay. Owners of easy keepers and horses with metabolic conditions should run any legume past their vet before switching, the same as they would with alfalfa.

If you are still working out whether it fits your animals rather than where to buy it, we wrote the feeding side up separately: is peanut hay good for horses, and for goats, the best hay for goats guide covers where a legume belongs in the ration and the calcium conversation to have with your vet about wethers and bucks.

Peanut hay next to alfalfa, honestly

People ask us to compare the two on price, and the comparison is not as simple as the bale tags make it look, because the bales are not the same object.

• Peanut hay: 2-string bale, $18.00
• Premium Alfalfa: 3-string bale, $35.00
• Ultra Premium Alfalfa: 3-string bale, $38.00

A 2-string bale and a 3-string bale are different sizes, so putting $18 next to $35 is not a like for like comparison and we are not going to pretend it is. Price only compares within one bale format. What we can tell you flatly: the alfalfa pages publish an Equi-Analytical panel with protein, sugar and RFV on them, so if your vet wants numbers before a diet change, that is where the numbers live. Come in and put your hands in both bales, which tells you more in ten seconds than a price tag does.

Pickup, delivery and container orders

Pickup. 21091 NE US Hwy 27, Williston, FL 32696. Monday through Friday 9am to 5:30pm, Saturday 9am to 2:30pm, closed Sunday. Pull around and we will load you.

Delivery. Flat rate, priced on driving distance from Williston rather than straight-line distance:

• Inside 25 miles: $35 flat, which includes Ocala
• 25 to 40 miles: $40 flat, including Belleview and Summerfield
• Past 40 miles: call for a quote
• Hay by the container, roughly 130 bales, up to 40 miles: free delivery

Deliveries run Monday through Saturday during business hours. Give us 2 to 3 business days of notice, and an order placed before 3:00 PM Eastern can be scheduled for the next business day. The counties we cover are Marion, Alachua, Levy, Citrus, Sumter and Putnam. The full city list and rate card is on the delivery page.

By the container. If you go through hay fast enough that a pickup truck run every week is wearing you out, a container of hay holds roughly 130 bales, delivers free inside 40 miles, and sits on your place with the first 30 days of storage free, then $25 a week after that. When it is empty we bring a full one and take the empty back.

Questions we get about peanut hay

Can I order peanut hay online? No. Call (352) 528-1255. We confirm the bale count and the day on the phone.

Do you have it right now? Call and we will tell you what is on the floor today. We do not publish a live inventory number, and we would rather tell you straight than have you drive out on the strength of a stale page.

Will you deliver just a few bales? The delivery rate above is flat regardless of what is on the truck, so a small order costs the same to bring as a big one. Ask us on the call whether it is worth adding to a run already going your way.

What if I open a bale and it is bad? Bring it back for an exchange. A full unused bale can come back for a refund or an exchange. An opened or partly used bale we cannot take back.

I am not sure peanut is the right hay for my animals. Use the hay finder or call and tell us what you are feeding, how many head, and what your vet has said about sugar or protein. That conversation takes two minutes and saves you a wasted load.

The short version

Peanut hay is a Southeast-grown legume in a 2-string bale, $18 at our counter in Williston, and it is the bale goat owners come back for. Pickup six days a week, flat rate delivery across six counties, and free delivery if you take it by the container. Call (352) 528-1255 and we will tell you what is on the floor today.