Cost of hay (on a livery yard)

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Abacus

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If anyone pays for their hay on top of their livery rates I'd be interested to know the price, if they are willing to share. Rather than the cost of buying your own (athough this is also interesting), do you pay a standard rate (rather than buying say 3 bales per week which are allocated to your horse) and if so what is this standard rate? I am charging liveries for hay which we throw out to the horses but if I work out the cost I think I am undercharging, and as well as this they tend to feed extra in haynets on the yard.

At the moment I charge approx £75 per month but a bit less for the little ones. They are probably eating at least half a bale each per day, which at £6 per bale is more than £90 per month. (Small bales)

Thank you!
 
We buy from the yard owner who delivers our order on a weekly basis to our tackrooms (very convenient I love it!), hay is small bales only at I think around £5.50 a bale, haylage is a communal large round bale and is £13 per week per horse (I think its less for ponies), which would be around £56 per month. The haylage works out far cheaper, though I think if we had space for large round bales of hay it would end up a similar price maybe.

For a standard rate you need to work out how much everyone is using and then set a price that covers the cost plus your time etc.
 
Identityincrisis said:
Really?! I pay £45 for a round of haylage from a farmer, my horse eats at least 1 large haynet a night. Is your price for day and night feeding? Or are they out during the day?
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Not sure if you mean me or OP but I'll answer!

That is for just overnight! They are out everyday on grass, if we want to supplement in the field it has to be hay so we would order extra hay to cover any day time forage needed.

Edit: At my last yard I had my own large bale (around £40 two winters back), which feeding day and night as we had no grass would last anywhere from 4-7 days, depending on bale size, for three average sized horses (15.2hh - 16hh).
 
Really yes - I am not charging a markup but this is based on small bales. Round bales aren't possible, I could do large bales and perhaps get them cheaper but handling is more difficult. We feed twice per day as they live out.
Identityincrisis said:
Really?! I pay £45 for a round of haylage from a farmer which lasts me a month, my horse eats at least 1 large haynet a night. Is your price for day and night feeding? Or are they out during the day?
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Mine are at home but due to coughing and fatness they have a national brand of tested low calorie meadow haylage. I'd expect this to be at the expensive end of the scale given the branded nature of it. They find local farmer made haylage stuff too fattening and hay too dusty.

They have access to good grazing but this time of year they CLAIM there isn't much there so hang around the barn shouting at me for food. Over the 10 days of snow I have been a sucker and fed them.

A large square bale lasts 3 good doers a week so a total per horse per month of £60 for the peak winter months (Dec, Jan, Feb) none in the summer and half that in the shoulder months Nov / March

To average £100 a month across all nutritional needs I'd imagine a whole yard of in work hunters / eventers with very few normal riding club types to even out the usage.
Or next to no grazing at all.
 
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I buy 6 large bales of hay or haylage a month between 3 large horses. At £38 a bale it's £76 per month each. All are 16h+ 2 are none working slackers :rolleyes:, there's not much else to eat here so feeding day and night. There'd be complaints if there was only half a small bale each per day so I'd imagine on small bales the cost could be easily £100 pm per horse.
 
I have to buy mine through the yard - I pay £5.50/bale for small bale hay and get through nearly 3 a week, plus an extra bale a fortnight to cover when my horse is out overnight.
 
I split however much is used between the number of horses. It’s £40/bale and last month it was £60/head, this coming month I suspect it will be nearer £80 as they ate more during the cold snap.

ETA - small bale is a very uneconomical way of feeding a group of horses. £75/month is probably about right and what I’d expect to budget as a horse owner, but I’d assume that was big bale ad lib.
 
Polos Mum said:
A large square bale lasts 3 good doers a week so a total per horse per month of £60 for the peak winter months (Dec, Jan, Feb) none in the summer and half that in the shoulder months Nov / March

To average £100 a month across all nutritional needs I'd imagine a whole yard of in work hunters / eventers with very few normal riding club types to even out the usage.
Or next to no grazing at all.
Click to expand...

I think OP is using small bales. If dont have bulk storage for most of winter, this can easily run to £6-7 a small bale, delivered.

So easy to get to £100 a month per horse in small bales.
 
Abacus said:
If anyone pays for their hay on top of their livery rates I'd be interested to know the price, if they are willing to share. Rather than the cost of buying your own (athough this is also interesting), do you pay a standard rate (rather than buying say 3 bales per week which are allocated to your horse) and if so what is this standard rate? I am charging liveries for hay which we throw out to the horses but if I work out the cost I think I am undercharging, and as well as this they tend to feed extra in haynets on the yard.

At the moment I charge approx £75 per month but a bit less for the little ones. They are probably eating at least half a bale each per day, which at £6 per bale is more than £90 per month. (Small bales)

Thank you!
Click to expand...
More common with putting hay out in winter, on livery, if hay is seasonal, is the yard owner determines the amount used, and the cost is divided by the the number of horses using it, paid monthly, in arrears.
 
At one yard I paid £75/ horse per month for homemade hay.
At another I paid 18p per kilo …now I pay 20p per kilo of homemade hay. Last months hay bill for 3 horses was £178.
 
I don't buy from a yard owner as get my own hay in at home.

It's £35/large round bale.
My 3 horses go through a bale every 5 days.
So £210/month between them.

If eating small bale hay, I'd easily expect that to be £280-300 as small bale is so much more expensive.
 
£56 for 8ft bale between four horses lasting two weeks up until really cold weather. Also have access to plenty of grass. Even if they ate twice that much it’s going to be a lot cheaper. Also £10 of it is delivery charge!
 
I think I paid £50 a month from memory from there own produced hay but always felt like we were being watched. In fact the y.o actually told me a lot of the hay I put for my horse was being wasted as it was falling through the corner manger we each had in our stables onto the ground and I had to feed less. Horse ended up skinny.

At the yard I'm at now where my stable is held for the next one both Bailey and Lari were getting through a round bale every 2 weeks and 3 days @ £35 a bale from a supplier we chose who delivered me two at a time.
 
£60 a month. It’s made on the farm. You can change to no hay over summer and pay by the hay net if needed. I don’t know if a lower rate for ponies. If you stay on the £60 all year round as I do I imagine it balances out.
 
humblepie said:
£60 a month. It’s made on the farm. You can change to no hay over summer and pay by the hay net if needed. I don’t know if a lower rate for ponies. If you stay on the £60 all year round as I do I imagine it balances out.
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I only charge for hay when feeding it, so it's £75 in the winter months (less for the little ones) and nothing in summer. At the moment we are still using the 550 bales we made and it does break even at cost price (£3 per bale, but a lot of extra work in getting it in from the field), I was worrying about the cost when I have to buy some in, but if I switch to large bales it should still be ok. I do find though that the liveries are helping themselves and some give a hay net when their horse is standing on the yard (damn things haven't the manners to stand still without it).
 
I like the doing it by the KG method!
I buy my own in, small bales due to storage, go through 2 1/2 each week. So 10 a month at £4.50, £45 every 4 weeks.
I would save a ton by doing large bales, but don't have the storage ☹️

That's based on a 12hh mare, in a lot due to cushings and has a fair bit of hay soaked to keep her busy!
 
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