Different Income Streams for Yards?

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Do you have room for hiring out part of a field for Camping, Caravan and Motorhomne Clubs, They mostly just need access to a tap and somewhere to empty chemical toilets. They usually meet weekends and maybe a week or two in summer holidays. They have their own stewards to run the camping.

 

[ponypets]

if they have their own stewards that is interesting but again, sadly i dont think that is something the landlord would be happy with

 

[canteron]

2 or 3 day long 'adult' camps. Basically a clinic but longer, so you can charge more. In the morning have an individual lesson and then in the afternoon have either a guest speaker or do something like equine bodywork or video reviews of the morning lessons. Maybe a group lesson afterwards (pole work or similar athen people drop out as the jumps start to go up). Lots about and very popular and they seem to be charging about £100/day for groups of maybe 8.

 

[SusieT]

IF you don't want new people on the yard then you have no additional income tbh - every area has strangles. It's no good saying you can't - you can you just lay it down to all new liveries - since your currenlty not getting new liveries if you get even a few willing to isolate then your on a winner. And new people are unlikely to carry strangles unless they are personally in contact with a strangles horse - which can happen but not that often.
But anyway.. it just seems v. odd how anxious you are about any risk at all which is part of the risk you take running a livery yard

 

[ponypets]

IF you don't want new people on the yard then you have no additional income tbh - every area has strangles. It's no good saying you can't - you can you just lay it down to all new liveries - since your currenlty not getting new liveries if you get even a few willing to isolate then your on a winner. And new people are unlikely to carry strangles unless they are personally in contact with a strangles horse - which can happen but not that often.
But anyway.. it just seems v. odd how anxious you are about any risk at all which is part of the risk you take running a livery yard

TBH we rarely have strangles in the area, only a couple of times in 30 odd years have any of the larger yards had it. We have been running a yard for nearly 17 years and never had it. You would probably have to be in our local area to know how the horsey 'scene' works here but it operates very differently to the main horsey areas in the country (many an outsider who moves to the area is amazed by it!). We care for our liveries and own horses and wont put them at higher risk whilst it is rife in the area - simple as that! (maybe if the other YO's who had it on their yards took more precautions to stop it's spread it would be different). Class that as anxious if you like - but we actually CARE about our liveries and their horses and whilst we are considered a low risk yard by the vets, we are not about to jump into becoming a high risk yard whilst it is in the area.
We are also the kind of yard who is picky who we have on, we have a lovely set of liveries on and would rather have some stables stay empty rather then the wrong people in them causing drama where it is not needed.

 

[Fun Times]

Do you know what kind of fence they have Kaylum - height etc? Fun Times - with your dog if you had chance to use somewhere like this what fence would be your ideal?

Thanks again all

Honestly, good old fashioned sheep wire would be my ideal. Not good for the horses I know, but perfect for stopping a fat beagle escaping! That said, our dog is only short and therefore wouldnt jump over this. I guess people with bigger breeds may want higher fencing.

 

[ponypets]

i know i mentioned it to a livery this evening as i was moving an electric fence for her and we were talking fences - i have a collie cross who can clear 5ft easy and a little one who would go through sheep netting, so i am thinking some form of taller chain link style fence would maybe be needed to suit all.

 

[Nightmare before Christmas]

Don't let the strangles worry you too much. My area always has it going around and has done for years. I have horses hire my school, come in for schooling and holiday and been fine. My yard had strangles once but from a resident pony who never left the yard and I had no visiting horses at this time! Was a mystery. Was cleared in 21 days with no others infected. I wouldn't be worried about people coming to watch lecture demos etc just make them walk through disinfectant and ask they don't touch any horses. That's all that's required at the AI for visiting parties. Make the most of the facilities

 

[Kat]

If you have an isolation field as well as stable then people don't object to isolation (or at least they don't at our yard). I would object if I had to keep in for weeks.

I also object to blanket worming rather than using worm counts.

Your easiest way to make more money would be to fill another box or two. There are bound to be a few owners locally who would appreciate a strict approach to preventing strangles and would welcome isolation procedures as it protects them.

 

[ponypets]

But they do object to being in isolation around here as no-where makes anyone We have a seperate field with large shelter but it still makes people not want their horse in that way as 'they havent got anything!'
the worming policy is that ALL new arrivals are treated with Pramox when they move on full stop..... as people wont do a worm count AND blood test for tapes hence if all are done as they arrive, they then fit in with the yards worming program which is worm count based.
We had someone want to move on a few days before the strangles was confirmed and they have had horses 2 years.... in a local field.... she didnt even know horses can have worms....., she didnt know of any of the vets in the area as they have never been seen by one... this is the type of potential customers in our area hence we are picky

 

[wkiwi]

I used to work in sales and a very top international speaker said that it was best to try to get more money out of the customers you had, which is how MacDonalds increased there profits by billions by saying 'do you want fries with that'!
You may have already done this, but why not get together with your current livery clients and ask them what they would be interested in paying for (jsut for them until the strangles clears)? E.g. a DVD evening with a talk/additional comments from someone else or yourself (such as Badminton eventing with someone who can explain the different types of jumps and why riders have just fallen off; or freestyle dressage where the movements are explained/ Le trec/endurance/western/etc. etc. etc.). If interested you could also have training dvd's too.

This sort of thing often goes down really well in the sort of area you describe, as they get a social evening/lunch combined with a bit of interesting entertainment. I.e. it is not a 'lecture' as such, or a technical training session, but just for fun and a bit of extra knowledge. It would only cost the DVD and some tea/coffee plus biccy's (if you are near an Aldi, then it is very cheap). Maybe charge £10 per person?
You would also end up with a fabulous collection of DVD's of your own!

PS - have a short video at the end on worms and worm control!!

 

[cbmcts]

Could you sell hay and bedding? Mega mark up if you pack small bags for small furries Takes some investment at this time of year but by buying off the field you can sell for considerably more later in the year/early next year.
Become a Simple Systems (or someone like that?) wholesaler?
If you offer delivery there may be interest, a lot of yards don't have much storage for liveries so they need to buy little and often.
Start up an internet/FB/Ebay shop- offer to sell items for others but take commision.
If you have spare stables, do a bit of producing/dealing
If you have space in a barn and security, offer storage, maybe classic cars?
Rent your indoor, that's your best bet for consistent income once the strangles issue has calmed down,
Offer rest/retirement livery if you have spare grazing - people travel for that. I did and as it's full livery, you make more than grass only livery plus no need for owner facilities. Your vets are good people to talk to as they can tell you if there's a need for that in the area.
Raise pedigree chickens/pigs/cattle/bunnies to breed and sell on. If you're tougher than me, you could raise them for meat.

Quite a few years ago I nearly bought a livery yard/farm. When I was doing the business plan the one thing I realised was that, just to cover the bills I needed to make sure that a) I wasn't relying on just one type of income ie horses because that left me too exposed and b) that every inch of the 80 odd acres plus yard had to earn it's keep one way or another. As it happened it was withdrawn from sale (TBH I'm probably glad I didn't buy it ) but it was viable, just as long as I put all the above plus a few more in place.