cost of hay and straw on all inclusive?

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daydreamer

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I am currently on a yard where people pay from whatever small bale hay and straw they use or if on haylage there is a daily rate.

There is a suggestion this may move to an all inclusive system so large bale hay can be used. The current suggested price is £75/pcm all year round (probably with a pony rate but not sure how much this would be) and i would like to know how this compares to what other people pay.

thanks,
 
The yard I used to be on used to just calculate how many bales were used in hat month and divide by the number of horses ( with reduction for ponies). The problems occurred when some people used huge amounts and others didn't, but everyone had to pay the same. It was big bale haylage, each bale cost around 35 pounds and the cost varied between £30 and £45 depending on how much they were in. Hope that helps!
 
thanks for this, it did seem expensive to me. We are in east anglia and hay/haylage prices are high but even so! To me it seems a very unfair system as horses are so individual some people feed a lot some people seem to hardly feed anything!
 
When I was in livery the YO used to work round the unfairness bit by having the hay included within a higher livery price, but only for a certain weight of hay per day. you had to make up your haynets then weigh them. If you wanted extra you paid per kg. Stops all the hay wasters!

Your price does sound an awful lot tho, esp as big bales will be cheaper per kg than small bales and also less work for YO.

In addition watch out for quality, big bales esp the outside/top/bottom are often stored exposed to some weather eg at edge of barn so there can be a LOT of wastage unless they have been looked after.

I wouldnt be looking to spend more than £50 pm per horse for hay and if big bale I would also want the proviso that any bad stuff can be rejected (have a big dumpy sack in the barn for the bad bits to go in so they can be agreed to be no good.)

Personally I think small bales are generally easier to ensure good quality and easier to use. Big bales OK for field feeders or if you have a really good supplier and it is you buying it so you have the power of accept/reject.

I was once on part livery a yard where the horses had little grass cos YO took the hay off their fields even tho there wasnt good growth, so she could sell it per bale to the DIY liveries. Meanwhile the part liveries got in their livery the big bale hay that was bought in which was the stuff the local cattle farm's cattle wouldnt eat. Horse got very ill. I went on DIY to escape the hay and get access to the small bales!
 
I find one large round bale at £31 feeds four average size horses for a week at least and one large starw at £26 beds all 7 of mine for 10 days so it sounds very exspensive to me hun i would say £50 is nearer the mark
 
My costs in winter are at least £130 per horse per month for haylage and wood pellets bedding, and so if the inclusive price is for as much as you want then I would say it is a very good price. I feed haylage all year though as the grazing is quite poor here. The horses are out 24/7 for around 3 months of the year and so that is the only time I don't use bedding.
 
i allocate a min of half a bale of very good hay per day. the hay cost £4.50 per bale so £2.25/day would equal £15.75 per week. the bigger horses eat 3/4 to a bale per day. very good quality and analysis.
 
Thanks for the replies. We had a yard meeting which was very long (7-9pm) and basically pointless as the yard owners seem to more or less have decided it was a done deal anyway. Looks like the cost of haylage may be £84/month all yr round for a horse and less for a "pony" although this will not be decided on height but by the yard manager who "knows" how much everyone's horses eat (cough).

So i guess the new question is has anyone been on a yard with all inclusive hay/haylage and straw and how do you reconcile the fact that some people are over paying and some are under paying? Surely people will be less cautious with conserving grass (mainly individual turnout) therefore using more and the price will have to be put even more in a years time? Straw has also been thrown in as a "freebie" so those of us on shavings or other bedding are also losing out.
 
daydreamer said:
Thanks for the replies. We had a yard meeting which was very long (7-9pm) and basically pointless as the yard owners seem to more or less have decided it was a done deal anyway. Looks like the cost of haylage may be £84/month all yr round for a horse and less for a "pony" although this will not be decided on height but by the yard manager who "knows" how much everyone's horses eat (cough).

So i guess the new question is has anyone been on a yard with all inclusive hay/haylage and straw and how do you reconcile the fact that some people are over paying and some are under paying? Surely people will be less cautious with conserving grass (mainly individual turnout) therefore using more and the price will have to be put even more in a years time? Straw has also been thrown in as a "freebie" so those of us on shavings or other bedding are also losing out.
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It is a fact that some horses will eat more than others and so there will be gainers and losers. I run a yard and only do full and part livery. Some horses need ad lib haylage, others are on a diet, but it causes more problems and arguments if you try to taylor a charge individually per horse. It is far easier in the long run to just have a flat rate charge for everyone. People then either accept the livery place or they don't. If you start a conversation regarding the exact amounts horses eat then there will be disagreements. Also, things can change. For example if a horse needs to be on box rest.
 
On our yard we pay a flat rate for hay or haylage, I pay £27 a week for 2 horses. Ponies are cheaper. The hassle on a yard of people paying by weight is dreadful and causes major arguments.

Straw is also a flat fee, but as I'm on shavings can't help you there!
 
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