Grass Livery - Is it out of fashion?

I am on grass livery and we have the same facilities as the DIY people and pay the same price except our horses live out. YO restricts it to native ponies and cobs who do not need masses of grasses so she can have more on the land without needing to feed hay or anything extra. We have loads of grass a bit too much for my pony really who needs to be muzzled in the spring summer for weight control but YO allows 2 acres per horse for grass livery whilst living in DIY's get 1/2 an acre per horse both are in herds.

I think poor doers would probably need more than 2 acres of grass per horse or a lot of hay or hayledge put out.

I don't think it is out of fashion it is just costly to provide and also you need a decent amount of land to provide it and the people that tend to want it often want it because it is a cheaper/easier option than stabled livery so it is not that profitable especially in yards where YO also makes money from services such as turning out/bringing in and mucking out or the sale of bedding or hay. It is also quite difficult to manage if you have a mixed group of poor and good doers.

I think there is certainly a demand for grass livery and there are people who would pay a premium for it in some cases but it is difficult to get it right to suit all different horses.
 
In my humble opinion, I've always thought that Grass Livery should be charged at the same rate as DIY at the very least, as your horse is reaping the benefits of having all year turnout!

I know of a yard that charges an astronomical amount of money per week and the horses are pretty much on grass livery (with hay/haylage put out when needed)...which i'm sure they pay for exactly that privilege....being out.
 
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Mine is on grass livery, but on a yard that offers part/full and it happened entirely by accident!

My mare was very depressed living in last year and so we knew we had to get her living out 24/7, the yard offers it over summer so she was very happy then. Come the winter and all the horses move up off the summer grazing, all the part/full get pair turnout in paddocks but there's a big field which has a little herd in it of an oldie and two youngsters. Thankfully YO let us swap to grass livery, still got access to the arena and can use the hardstanding as well as use hay, but she got a full livery to replace our part livery cost as well so I think that's how it worked out!

I can't think of that many around here who offer 24/7 turnout all year round - most do offer 24/7 in summer.
 
It is hard to find I had to do quite a lot of searching before I found the yard I'm at now. In fact it was only through a friend of a friend I found out about it, although the YO does occasionally advertise in the local tack shop.
 
I think it's lack of land more than anything else. I'm lucky that my arab gelding mixes well in a large mixed herd and has a fabulous lifestyle in Hertfordshire. It costs £23 per week and includes ad lib haylage in the winter. They rotate the fields and probably have over a 100 acres to roam although not all at once. I would love to have my mare out round here as well but she wouldn't cope in such a large mixed herd and it is impossible to find anything with mares only or a small herd local. Currently she is in Hampshire where she was a grass livery for £20 per week in Summer and then £35 once hay was being fed. Struggling to think where I can keep her when she comes back but very much doubt it would be living out. My ideal would be somewhere they can live out in the summer and come in for the winter but think I might have to move before I find that!
 
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