Cost difference between being a DIYer or a Full Livery?

dollymix

dollymix

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Quick question for those who have been on DIY and those who have been on full livery.

I currently pay approx. £190 a month for total DIY livery, which includes 1 bag of shavings and hay.

Having relocated to the area, I am on a nice enough yard, but I would like to find somewhere else really (several reasons, HUGE mixed herds, poor hacking, large yard with limited facilities for the number of riders – hence sometimes 6-7 kids riding in the school at the same time, a bit run down) but there doesn’t seem to be many alternative DIY livery options locally.

However, I have noted that there are a lot of full livery yards (people in Cheshire obviously have a lot of money!) and I have been pondering the prices.
For example, I have come across one yard on preloved, offering full livery for around £260 a month (inc haylage and bedding etc) – not sure if they have a school, but they have miles of offroad hacking. Not sure of other facilities, situation re turnout, but I have emailed to ask.

Now on current yard, during winter, I actually pay £10 a week extra for someone to bring my horse in before they all start kicking off around the gates, so in theory, another £40 a month. So in reality, not much off the full livery charge at all!

So my question is, to all those who have been both full liveries and DIYers, have you really noticed the cost difference between the two? I am thinking of things like buying feed as a DIY (including on Full livery), paying for full livery to cover holidays, visiting twice a day (fuel), having to take holiday time from work for blacksmith or vet etc…
 
I think it generally boils down to what value you put on your time. It is certainly more cost effective to be on full (or what I would class as part livery), if you add in travel time, fuel plus your own labour.

What I would say is there is no way on earth full livery could be offered for £260 a month without some considerable corners being cut. The maths doesn't add up. When you are on livery you get less say in the quality of bedding/forage (and sometimes have little say in quantity).

There are exceptions to the rule but you generally get what you pay for ...
 
If the facilities were ok, the yard owner supportive and the other liveries nice, I would snap someones hand off for full livery for £260 a month! Most places (I am in East Anglia) don't offer full livery for anything less than £90-100 per week, with some being upwards of £150. I am not entirely sure that £260 is the true cost and would wonder what was/wasn't being done to keep it that low.

You need to be clear on what that is though- does this include hard feed, hay, turn out, mucking out, bedding etc? Because that will soon quickly add up on top of your monthly bill.

It also depends on how much independence you still want. Full livery is a god send, or even assisted/part especially if you work a lot, when you want to book holidays, go away etc, but that sometimes means losing the freedom to do things 'your way' i.e beds will be how workers do them, turn out routines may be different etc.

Being DIY, you have to consider that you will be running twice a day (extra fuel), may have to pay for additional services when you are away, have to schedule all your time around visits to your horse etc. Benefits are nothing beats have full responsibility and say on your horse, with things done exactly how you like- I also secretly enjoy mucking out, making up feeds etc, but it is time consuming too! I like the freedom and comings and goings of DIY too.

Being full livery, it is really nice knowing your horse is looked after for you, you can make visits on your own time (and if this is of importance to you, then I would recommend it), without worrying of horse being left out, not fed or rugged properly. You can visit once a day, or whenever you fancy and horse is cared for! It takes the stress away from having to organise everythinnnggg. BUT it does mean doing things by the routine of the yard owner/manager. If you have a nice yard that isn't an issue, but just be aware. It also means you are paying for the privilege of having the help (As I said I don't understand how they could be making any profit by charging £260 a month and including bedding/hay!).

I would say DIY when you look at the basics does work out cheaper. But when you consider the extras like help in the winter/holidays, your time spent there, fuel etc, they are probably very similar. You probably don't notice the cost of DIY so much, because it comes out here and there, when purchasing feed, or bedding, rather than in one monthly lump sum which looks like a big dent in your finances! I would sit down and do your sums.

For me though, I love the freedom DIY brings, but the support that full brings when my life gets a bit busy- hence the reason I share with another lady- it is essentially like part livery- perfect!
 
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£260 seems very cheap for full livery even with no school. Generally full livery, which can mean different things to a lot of people, around here is £450 where your horses is looked after, fed hayed, mucked out and put in and taken out of the field. You don't need to go and check them if you don't want to. DIY is exactly that but we don't tend to get yards that supply bedding and hay. Then there's part livery which is where the horse is hayed, turned out and in, but owner does the mucking out every day. That's around £300 per month. DIY is about £140 per month.
 
I know! I could hardly believe the cost myself. Advert says...

Now only 4 spaces available for full liveries. Will take any sized horse. Our full livery service includes a full daily muck out with your choice or either straw beds or shaving beds which will be provided, Unlimited haylage, 2 hard feeds per day, turnout and bring in with rug changes, daily groom legs washed and feet picked etc. Fantastic hacking. I live on site which means 24/7 security. I have 4 horses of my own and so I am very experienced with both mares and geldings and also have experience of mares in foal. Bedding and feed are supplied and we unlimited home grown haylage of high quality. Fantastic hacking around acres and acres of farm land and access to bridle path without having to use roads. On the outskirts of XX Park we are in a lovely and peaceful setting and provide high quality care for horses.

Price from £265 per month. Please contact for more details

Sounds pretty good to me if not too far away!!
 
From £265 ... possibly for a shetland that lives out and gets checked every day.
However, sounds like it's worth a ring to discuss.
 
I use to feed haylage to my mare.. It is not cheap stuff if you get good quality and during winter it cost between £15-20 a week! Take that amount off the cost of livery and the owner is leaving herself no profit after she also considers bedding, feed, electric, water and labour costs.

You may have found yourself a bargain, particularly if prices are 'from' £265 a month, rather than just a stand alone cost, but I would tread carefully and not get your hopes up until you have had a good look around (the health and happiness of the horses at the yard are one of the best tell tale signs) and a good chat with the owner. I would also want to be knowing what insurance cover etc they also have.

If it does turn out to be a bargain- I am very jealous of the cost!
 
I was on full livery at £260 a month. It wasn't great, wasn't happy with level of care, felt guilty having the evening off.
Moved to another yard, £300 a month part livery, safe in knowledge pony is happy and seen to if I'm not up on the full livery days :)
 
They might not be limiting haylage but what about bedding? Lots limit to a bale a week fine if your horse does not need more than this a recipe for disaster if it does. If they deliver all that they promise for 265 a month I think it is not a yard run for business but someone with horses at home renting a spare stable affording it because of low overheads compared to a proper yard. Where it says from 265 and they take all sizes, unless you have a small pony it is likely it will be more than that.
 
When I had liveries, I charged between $25 and $45 per week more for stall boarders (full in other words) than pasture boarders (also full, I didn't do DIY - stuff of nightmares - no offence to DIY-ers)
 
the 'from' means there are a range of prices I'd imagine? I wuldn't imagine its 260 a month for all that. If it was I'd move there myself!
 
One way to look at it is think in terms of between £7 and £10 per day for the livery services on top of your basic rent and hay/bedding.

When I was on a yard attached to a farm so they could source their own hay, haylage and straw cheaper, the diy was £155 which was very cheap. I paid £210 on top of that for 5 day livery service. And that was very cheap round here.

So £260 does seem very cheap.

I might ask some questions like how long they've been doing it? are there any other liveries and how long they've been there? If they've just decided to take in a few other horses, they may not have thought through the costs properly and may find it doesn't add up in a few months
 
Mine has just gone up to £400 a month for 7 day part livery (i.e. everything included except for exercise and supplements) and it is still one of the cheapest round my way. The owner of the land lives there and runs the yard herself with one other person helping - both of them are very experienced horsey people. They have to outsource their hay, bedding and feed. We are allowed pretty much ad lib hay in that we can top up our nets before leaving in the evening if necessary, but this is not done automatically if we are not there.

I would therefore check very carefully what actually is included in that £260 a month,what she would charge for the size of horse you have, what she means by ad lib haylage, and I would probably also ask the same sort of questions as Criso. Otherwise you may find once you are there that the price increases quite a bit in a short space of time.
 
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