Haylage costs, how to work out?

glamourpuss

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I have a livery with 2 horses. They are out 24/7. The grass on their field is getting low now. She has asked if she can start using my haylage.

I have very good quality hestons of haylage. Each bale cost £50 & lasts my 3 just over a week giving them as much as they can eat.

I have no idea what to charge or even how to formulate a price. I obviously don't want to give it away because I bought this lot working out what my horses needed.
How do you get charged on your yard? Or if you have liveries how do you charge?
Thank you
 
On my yard its priced by slice so a big slice like that would be about £1.50, I would count the slices to give you an idea how many there are and what's appropriate to charge
 
We've always been charged around £8.00 a week for haylage. As much as we want etc. (however horses are in at night during the winter). However, wastage is not tolerated.

So I would say ad lib you're not going to be going too wrong at around £10.00 a week per horse.
 
so if a bale cost £50 and last 3 horses say 10 days that's approx £1.66 per horse per day. Or adjust the calculation accordingly! Add a little as you have paid in advance and store it! She must pay a little for convenience! If she thinks she can do it for less then let her!
 
I pay £1 a net. Usually put a net full out in the field for mine in winter and a big net (split into 2 small nets for night time), so winter costs me around £14 a week and spring/summer/autumn cost me £7 a week
 
Firstly - if you have only purchased enough for your own horses you need to consider if you can buy in any more to cover the extra mouths to feed. On the assumption you can, I'd probably just charge the livery £20-25 per bale used - i.e. £20 for their 2/5th of a bale + a little mark up for your time to order / storage / having to buy in bulk up front.
 
I came off a yard that charged £7 a week per big horse, £5 a week for a pony. I realise that was a good deal as now we split the price of the bale per horse, Ours are £45 a bale, we have 5 sharing it, 4 horses, that pay £10 and the pony pays £5. I doubt we will get a week out of a bale.
We have been told there is a shortage this year, our suppliers hope to get to January!! Other suppliers have said similar and wont take on new customers, so if you are in a similar position Id be aware of that too.
 
Thank you everyone for your advice.
Supply isn't an issue. Where I got this lot from has got plenty.
I did think about charging £10 per horse per week but I get concerned with this sort of arrangement when being out in the field that there will be wastage & a 'well I've paid for my share' attitude which could give a bit of a slap dash approach to feeding it. I'm all for ad lib but I don't want to see ad lib + 50% getting trampled into the mud .don't get me wrong she's a brilliant livery that's why I want the fairest deal for us both!
I think I'll look at slices idea or haynets. That way she's paying for exactly what she's using. Thanks again.
 
I did think about charging £10 per horse per week but I get concerned with this sort of arrangement when being out in the field that there will be wastage

You don't have to tolerate wastage. Simply levy a charge, say that you don't expect to see wastage, and if there is any the charge will increase.

I've only every paid per week, rather than per portion, and it's never been an issue. And where it may have been with one or two liveries taking advantage, YO soon resolved it.
 
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