Cost of hay (on a livery yard)

nutjob said:
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.
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Crikey - I am currently going through 1 large round bale (£40) every 5 - 6 days for 6 large (16.2 plus) horses. They do got out in the field for about 5 -6 hours a day though and there is grass. I get mine delivered two at a time as the farmer prefers it that way although they will deliver just one bale - I don't get charged for delivery so I always go for two bales.

I keep my horses at home so not on livery. Before the cold snap we are in I was going through a bale every 7 - 8 days
 
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We are on large round bale haylage produced by the yard owner at a cost of £42 per bale. They do hay too but we need haylage due to respiratory issues (1 pony) and allergies (me!)

I split the cost of the field bale 50/50 with the neighbouring field and it goes in a haybell between the 2 fields and does my 2 small ponies and their 16.2 horse between 3 and 4 weeks as they are only out during the day.

In the stable, I split the cost 50/50 with another livery who also has a big horse and it last about 2 weeks with us using approx. 24kg a night between us.
 
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!
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my friend is at livery and has to have hay from them... I pay £45 for a large 6 string bale, they charge her £70 for the same size bale..... :mad:
 
Mine is bought from YO who makes it herself for £5.50 a small bale. This last week aside (snow and ice) I go through about 1.5 bales a week averaged all year round, so if it was included in livery I'd be paying about £8.25 - £10 per week.
 
eggs said:
Crikey - I am currently going through 1 large round bale (£40) every 5 - 6 days for 6 large (16.2 plus) horses. They do got out in the field for about 5 -6 hours a day though and there is grass. I get mine delivered two at a time as the farmer prefers it that way although they will deliver just one bale - I don't get charged for delivery so I always go for two bales.

I keep my horses at home so not on livery. Before the cold snap we are in I was going through a bale every 7 - 8 days
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That’s not a lot at all. I’ve got a broodie, 2 x 2yo and a yearling going through a 4 string square (£40) bale every 4 days. They have 24/7 access to grazing and do still graze a bit too. I have a friendly local farmer too who drops off a couple of bales at a time. All love for local farmers!
 
OP if you can find a way to move away from small bales there will be cost and labour savings.

I also wonder whether it is worth talking to liveries about spreading the cost over the whole year to help with cash flow. Especially if you're making your own hay - where you will be paying for it to be made in June / July but not using it until say Nov onwards.

Rather than £75 a month for 5 months if it was £30 a month for all 12 months, then it would be easier to budget for people.

Hard I appreciate if people move into the yard early winter !
 
Small bales are an expensive way of doing it. We bale the middle of the track to smalls and use them in autumn up to Christmas ish and 8 horses have 3/4 a day between them as well as grazing the standing hay that has been left to grow since cutting for hay. Even with the smalls at cost price of £2ish it still is nearly equivalent to when they have ad lib rounds never mind at £6 a bale! After Christmas they have large netted rounds provided ad lib and at a maximum have 2 per week. My partner charges £35 a bale to others delivered. I charge my livery £80 a month for hay but that is between 2 horses and part of the payment is the faff of putting it out as she’s not in the country over winter.
 
I'm Dun said:
Surely if they are paying for ad lib hay then it means ad lib hay and a haynet when tied up shouldn't be an issue?
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I never really said 'ad lib', I said their horses would be fed appropriate amounts of hay. Based on my calculations the amount they pay for is the amount they get, so if they are giving extra then it's not accounted for... they do have enough, I've just come back from the yard (they were fed this morning at 7.30) and there is plenty left in the hay boxes, they'll get more at 4.30 for the night.
Polos Mum said:
OP if you can find a way to move away from small bales there will be cost and labour savings.

I also wonder whether it is worth talking to liveries about spreading the cost over the whole year to help with cash flow. Especially if you're making your own hay - where you will be paying for it to be made in June / July but not using it until say Nov onwards.

Rather than £75 a month for 5 months if it was £30 a month for all 12 months, then it would be easier to budget for people.

Hard I appreciate if people move into the yard early winter !
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I did originally offer the option to spread the cost over the year, but all the liveries (who arrived in summer) decided to just pay in winter. I can understand that they probably don't want to pay in advance for their hay, especially if they think they might leave, then that is money they won't get back. It would definitely be easier to budget if they paid about half the amount all year round!

I think I can solve it by buying big bales when I have to buy it, I hate using them and the big slices but as everyone has said, it is much more cost effective. Making our own costs £2.50 per small bale which is brilliant but there is also a load of work involved in bringing it in.
 
poiuytrewq said:
I don’t really pay sorry as we make our own but was interested in the £50 a round replies.
Daughters BF (Stroud, Glos, If anyone wanted!) is charging £15 for a round bale. I told him that was way too cheap but didn’t realise he was that far out!
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£15??? Can he deliver to North Wales please! 😆
 
Until my yard shut in May I was paying £78.67 per month in haylage, the one I moved to charged £69.76.
These are year round charges although all yards had at least a few hours in every day through the year so they were always having a small amount.
 
I'm on DIY livery at a working farm where hay is made on site. We have to buy our hay from the farm at £4.50 a small bale. My horse is stabled overnight and currently the grass is still good therefore I'm using two bales a week. I don't waste any hay. He has plenty and I know when I'm feeding too much or not enough by how much there is or isn't left in the morning.
 
Abacus said:
I never really said 'ad lib', I said their horses would be fed appropriate amounts of hay. Based on my calculations the amount they pay for is the amount they get, so if they are giving extra then it's not accounted for... they do have enough, I've just come back from the yard (they were fed this morning at 7.30) and there is plenty left in the hay boxes, they'll get more at 4.30 for the night.


I did originally offer the option to spread the cost over the year, but all the liveries (who arrived in summer) decided to just pay in winter. I can understand that they probably don't want to pay in advance for their hay, especially if they think they might leave, then that is money they won't get back. It would definitely be easier to budget if they paid about half the amount all year round!

I think I can solve it by buying big bales when I have to buy it, I hate using them and the big slices but as everyone has said, it is much more cost effective. Making our own costs £2.50 per small bale which is brilliant but there is also a load of work involved in bringing it in.
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I think you should be working on £4 a bale at least no matter what it cost to make, because you have additional costs, maintenance, sprays, fertiliser, time, labour, storage and what it would cost to replace. Effectively if you buy hay in June, which I do, for someone else to use you are hoping you will sell all of it with no wastage, you are taking all the risk, if for any reason it is spoiled you would have to buy it at the market rate.
The size of commercial bales has because they have to be small enough to handle and a bit of shrinkflation, could be 22kg and cost up £6 to replace. One of the feed merchants is selling small straw a £6 a bale. TBH if you are using small bales I would charge them a bale for what they use. Having seen the amount of waste hay on livery yards even when people pay for it they are very wasteful, and in your case it is your money they are wasting.

Hay and straw prices | AHDB

Hay and straw prices
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HufflyPuffly said:
£15??? Can he deliver to North Wales please! 😆
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I’ve not tried it this year but he’s said it’s too nice for his cows and sheep and the horse owners he sells to are pleased with it!
I did have some of him a few years back and it was lovely.

Interestingly though the bay going through big auctions and via dealers isn’t making a lot of money this year.
Mr P is telling everyone you can’t give the stuff away (pretty sure you absolutely could!)
 
poiuytrewq said:
I’ve not tried it this year but he’s said it’s too nice for his cows and sheep and the horse owners he sells to are pleased with it!
I did have some of him a few years back and it was lovely.

Interestingly though the bay going through big auctions and via dealers isn’t making a lot of money this year.
Mr P is telling everyone you can’t give the stuff away (pretty sure you absolutely could!)
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Funny how different it can be in different areas! I’ve found the prices are pretty cheap here generally compared to when I was in Manchester but even here rounds are minimum £30-£40 I’d say.

And yeah if it’s going free someone will have it 🤣!
 
I go through two round bales of haylage a week at £40 each. One in the field (which bits get wasted of) and one for over night nets at the moment. Though the boys have just broken their own record and decimated the field bale to the point the YO has text saying they will need another in 2 days but they did stay out last night as YO is going them this week as I fell over my own foot on Saturday and can’t walk 😱

They do also get a small net of hay as that’s what is included in my livery, but depending on their mood that can last up to 4 days and is just there for variety. YO charges £2 for extra net or if you want to use a huge net for your horse :)
 
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poiuytrewq said:
I’ve not tried it this year but he’s said it’s too nice for his cows and sheep and the horse owners he sells to are pleased with it!
I did have some of him a few years back and it was lovely.

Interestingly though the bay going through big auctions and via dealers isn’t making a lot of money this year.
Mr P is telling everyone you can’t give the stuff away (pretty sure you absolutely could!)
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For £15 a round we’d happily pay delivery!! Also happy to receive free hay 😂😂 my hay bill is a whopper
 
Hay is included in my livery price, but I've worked out that each horse gets through 2 large bales a month, so £80 a month.
Not completely ad lib, as they get hayed twice a day, but they have enough to keep them busy for most of the day. All either live out 24/7, or are out all day.
 
Small bale hay is £5.50
Large round haylage is £35
Large round hay is £45

Or communal haylage is £10 per horse per week.

He buys in the hay and sells it on at cost. His own haylage. If you have more than a pony communal haylage is cheapest. Hed much rather keep it affordable than risk people under feeding - which has happened in the past.
 
£55/month ad lib in winter (24/7 in field + take what you want for nets). Between £15-£25/month ad lib in summer (nothing in field but take what you want for nets - £15 would be for those that live out out and only have a small net per day). Some owners opt out and buy in haylage as we can't get that as a yard. Costs them about £150/month to get good quality + delivered!
 
Large round bales are £35 from our farmer on the yard. I think they charge more for 'external customers ' though. Mine is in overnight and a bale usually lasts about a month. Longer in summer, less in the depths of winter. Luckily we have a covered storage area for all the liveries' large bales so it's easy to make nets up etc
 
In my full livery arrangement, forage and hard feed are charged at cost.

Using conventional bales (due to storage, the hay and feed shed is dinky), I am charged £2.50 a day.
 
I pay £40 for big bales and go through around 3 a month at the moment! so £120 a month for 2 horses and a mini shetland. horses get 6kg net each twice a day and the shetland gets a 3.5kg net twice a day
 
My livery includes ad lib hay in the field and stabled at night in winter, and straw for bedding in winter - I pay £40 a week year round. Straw is produced by the farm but hay is bought in, and when she was box rested in summer I paid my own hay which was £40 a large round bale and she went through half a bale a week when it was her only source of forage ad lib. She's a 16.3hh IDxISH so a big girl. Somewhere less cheap and with a bit of profit on top I'd say £80-100 pcm is fair if charging for hay on its own depending on size of horse.
 
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