Can you make a profit from running a livery yard?

[be positive]

I was wondering whether running a livery yard would bring me in say £500-£1000 per month to cover my own horses costs. I have heard some yards make a loss so was just trying to get a general idea of others’ experiences before producing a detailed Business Plan. I am married so I am not on one income 😊

So if your OH is happy to support you in this idea and to cover all costs related to you and your home other than the horses/ competing you are at least in a reasonable starting position as long as his job is completely secure and he is prepared to back you financially as well as in a more practical way, he will not be seeing much of you as your hours will increase significantly.

Your business plan, like most, can easily paint a good picture but you need to be totally realistic about the outgoings and income, rent will be the main outgoing and most owners will want at least 2 months rent in advance, not too bad if you fill up quickly or take on a yard already up and running but it will drain away the 'profit' until you are established which could take 12 months if you are not offering something that is really required in the area.

Other more practical points, are you experienced enough to offer full livery, to handle possibly difficult horses, not to mention equally difficult to please owners, are you prepared to spend most of every day mucking out and trying to fit in riding your own after doing the liveries, you may be able to employ a freelancer but that will eat into the income unless the yard is big enough but taking on a bigger yard with staff is a bigger risk financially to start with, so plenty to think about before doing a business plan.

Other considerations, can you find a yard that is really close to where you live, is that yard really secure and will people be happy to livery somewhere that is not occupied by the owner, if you are not on site is the actual owner there as a form of security, there are so many things to consider when looking for a yard and the area you are in will have a bearing on what is going to sell your livery places , finding a yard to rent is possibly the easy part as it is often a more attractive prospect for the owner to rent out a whole yard than to run it themselves which says a lot really!

Best of luck if you go for it but have a fall back in place and be prepared to write off a fair amount of money if it doesn't work out within a sensible time frame.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

You won't make a fortune running a livery yard, unless you have an "add-on" such as offering schooling livery or are doing a bit of dealing as well as.

I'm a YO with room for just one DIY livery; we've been doing livery for 25 yrs now and haven't made a fortune at it yet!! We live on-site and I've got my own horses as well as the livery's.

One thing (obvious I know) that you WILL need is insurance to cover you or anyone using the yard, for public liability AND employers liability, and that's before you even open the gates, and it isn't cheap!. Last year we paid £500 for this, and that wasn't NFU which would have been one helluva lot more! So you'll need to factor that into the equation, plus the costs of land maintenance, fencing, etc.

The fact that there is a livery does cover the cost of keeping my two horses, I don't employ any equine staff here, or offer any additional services.

The thing I would say is to be VERY very fussy. If you don't get the right vibes from either a person or a horse, then don't have them! Here, we live on-site so its important to get a nice peaceful atmosphere. In all the time we've been doing it, we've only ever had one really rotten egg and she didn't stay the month! Thank god.

Go with your gut instinct: the livery I have now was a total stranger when they first contacted me, but there was something about them that just seemed "right"......... sometimes you just have to take a risk and it turns out OK!

So no, you won't make a fortune, but over the years we've had some lovely people through the yard, and equally lovely horses. We've laughed together, cried together (through PTS events ) and made lasting friendships both equine and human.

 

[Ceifer]

This is slightly changing the subject so sorry for thread hijacking. A few people have said not to do it and having done it myself I can see why. However if livery yards decline in the same way riding schools are dying out the industry/ horsecare in general is going to suffer.

 

[Cortez]

This is slightly changing the subject so sorry for thread hijacking. A few people have said not to do it and having done it myself I can see why. However if livery yards decline in the same way riding schools are dying out the industry/ horsecare in general is going to suffer.

If there is a need there will always be someone willing to fulfill it. The problem is that there really isn't an "industry", just a lot of amateurs perpetuating a rather ramshackle niche hobby. There needs to be a radical rethink on pricing for it to be possible to provide services to truly professional standards.

 

[Ceifer]

If there is a need there will always be someone willing to fulfill it. The problem is that there really isn't an "industry", just a lot of amateurs perpetuating a rather ramshackle niche hobby. There needs to be a radical rethink on pricing for it to be possible to provide services to truly professional standards.

I agree

I worry that it will just end up being people offering DIY and not willing to get involved with the care side of things.

Pricing is always going to be a sore point for most people. It’s a fine line between making money yourself and pricing people out of being able to pay.
Generally the people side of things is the hardest thing to deal with. The second yard I ran I had to almost have a different persona. I had to throw a livery off the first week I started for blatant theft. Standing up for myself whilst being shouted and sweared at and marching this woman off the yard made the other liveries see me in a different light. Taking no sh*t from the start really helps.

 

[pippixox]

Personally if you only need to make enough money cover your horse I would consider just getting a part time job in something you don’t mind. Running livery to get the money is too much work. It will quickly take away any joy in horses!

My friend makes a small living to cover her horses being a freelance groom as she does things like holiday cover and earns an ok hourly wage. She is usually pretty busy and it works around her child. Husband earns the main wage.

 

[blitznbobs]

Personally if you only need to make enough money cover your horse I would consider just getting a part time job in something you don’t mind. Running livery to get the money is too much work. It will quickly take away any joy in horses!

My friend makes a small living to cover her horses being a freelance groom as she does things like holiday cover and earns an ok hourly wage. She is usually pretty busy and it works around her child. Husband earns the main wage.

Yes good freelance grooms are hard to find and certainly round here in high demand and the overheads are so much smaller

 

[paddi22]

yeah its strange the way its going. there seems to be two types of livery developing where i live - really ramshackle diy set ups or else the really fancy expensive mega yards

 

[flying_high]

Personally if you only need to make enough money cover your horse I would consider just getting a part time job in something you don’t mind. Running livery to get the money is too much work. It will quickly take away any joy in horses!

My friend makes a small living to cover her horses being a freelance groom as she does things like holiday cover and earns an ok hourly wage. She is usually pretty busy and it works around her child. Husband earns the main wage.

Except running a yard would mean that you can make the rules and chose how you keep your horses. It makes renting premises possibly affordable. If you aren't enjoying any of your local livery options, I can see the attraction of being your own boss.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Except running a yard would mean that you can make the rules and chose how you keep your horses. It makes renting premises possibly affordable. If you aren't enjoying any of your local livery options, I can see the attraction of being your own boss.

But if you are renting a yard, you are still not really your own boss and may well have to follow the LO's rules.

 

[Leo Walker]

Except running a yard would mean that you can make the rules and chose how you keep your horses. It makes renting premises possibly affordable. If you aren't enjoying any of your local livery options, I can see the attraction of being your own boss.

So rent a small yard for your own horses instead of working all hours keeping other peoples

 

[flying_high]

So rent a small yard for your own horses instead of working all hours keeping other peoples

Often if you want facilities and an arena, it is cost prohibitive to rent a tiny yard for your own horses, but more viable for a yard of 8 or so horse, as the cost per horse drops.

 

[Theocat]

It’s a fine line between making money yourself and pricing people out of being able to pay

Agree - but it's staggering how many yard owners seem intent on destroying their health and sanity by knowingly running at a loss - or, at most, break even - because "people won't pay more".

Far better to go and work half those hours doing something even at minimum wage, and enjoy your own horses again. Livery yards aren't a public service, but both yard owners and horse owners seem determined to behave as though they are!

 

[tristar]

keep the land for yourself, make your own hay, and use the grazing for your self, so your own cost very little, make money in more interesting ways that leave most of your time for own horses, think hard before driving yourself into the ground with work by creating a monster that may not even allow free time at the weekends.

 

[lannerch]

I cannot believe my livery yard does not make decent money , it charges a fee that reflects the high standard of friendly care and facilities they provide and even though it is the dearest in the area is always full. But they are also the best in the area.

So in summary imo to make money you have to charge a professional fee, in order to do this you must offer as many facilities as possible and to be as large as possible . You must also offer a very high standard of care, which sets you apart from the rest. Good luck op .

 

[imr]

I cannot believe my livery yard does not make decent money , it charges a fee that reflects the high standard of friendly care and facilities they provide and even though it is the dearest in the area is always full. But they are also the best in the area.

So in summary imo to make money you have to charge a professional fee, in order to do this you must offer as many facilities as possible and to be as large as possible . You must also offer a very high standard of care, which sets you apart from the rest. Good luck op .

A lot of sensible points here. If you are offering DIY you probably need a slightly different set up (more storage etc) than full livery, but for 5 day and 7 day livery you need good, reliable staff and to take into account pay and a sensible staff:horse ratio. Generally people will pay more for a big size arena, floodlights, nice stables etc so if you have these you can charge a bit more - on a 20 horse yard another £50 a month per horse means another £1000 of income per month which is a material amount of money in terms of making a living versus operating as a charity for liveries. Obviously a big size arena costs more to put in, but nice brick stables usually cost less to maintain than wooden ones. Size matters because of economies of scale but also because of staff numbers - what you don't want is just enough horses to mean you need an extra member of staff but not enough horses to keep that person busy and their costs covered. Having someone who works part time eg mornings or Saturdays may also help. Your business plan has to be realistic about the costs of everything including staff, electricity, bedding, feed, hay, tax, rates. If you are doing shavings, you need a clear limit on how many are included a week. You have to think about the area you are in and the going rate for livery, plus the level of demand and competitor businesses. Plus can you offer anything else that means you can leverage your client base - eg lessons, schooling etc etc.. You can have some great liveries and also some nightmares unfortunately.

 

[ihatework]

Imr post is very good.
Don’t underestimate staffing - on a small yard that you plan to do mostly yourself, there is little profit and you will still need good cover for when you are off (and this is difficult to find - you need someone you don’t need to supervise),
Go for a bigger yard and your overheads increase dramatically. Get your costings right and if you have a full and happy yard then you might earn a living. But it’s competitive and cycles and loose a few liveries and having empty boxes will mean the overheads are unsustainable.
Staffing pure livery yards is difficult because it’s a mind numbing dull job - predominantly shit shovelling and getting moaned at for making the wrong rug/feed choice or missing a spec of poo in the bed. Few perks to keep people in that type of job.

Then you get to DIY .... often (but not always) people are on DIY as they are managing on a budget. Often a budget that doesn’t quite meet the level that will generate any form of profit.

 

[BOWS28]

I'd love to say its possible but looking at the state the yard i am currently at is in... i'm not so sure. The previous proprietor had the welfare of the horses at the forefront of her mind (Which IMO is what matters) She was wealthy anyway, so a profit was not so much of a priority. No expenses on the horses was spared. She was a cow lol but still did a bloomin good job!! Current girl lives on site, works 6 days a week herself, staff on minimum wage and work until on their knees and quite frankly, there is nothing to show for it. The facilities are basic, poor school surfaces is a big bug bear of mine...
The car park is full of deep pot holes. Which she simply cannot afford to sort out.. No maintenance is every done around the place. If she suddenly gets out of her overdraft and gets an income she will be spending every penny fixing the place... Thank god i love the people (most) and my ponio is settled and happy!!

 

[imr]

QUOTE
Staffing pure livery yards is difficult because it’s a mind numbing dull job - predominantly shit shovelling and getting moaned at for making the wrong rug/feed choice or missing a spec of poo in the bed. Few perks to keep people in that type of job.

This is a really good point. I am super fortunate to be at a really lovely yard run by a dressage rider - her staff are all great and we are lucky to have them - but I think in part that is because (a) some of the staff are part time helping to fund college etc and so for them it isn't a dead end and (b) some of the others are training for exams and/or getting to ride horses and learn and progress, go to shows etc, and so there is more to the job than endless poo picking/mucking out. I was briefly at another yard after the previous one I was at for several years closed and whilst it wasn't for me for several reasons, the YO struggled to recruit staff in part I think because all she could offer was full time job (because she was inflexible) and all there was was mucking out, feeding, turning out and bringing in and no prospect of anything else.