How much haylage?

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Flora

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Following on from the post "How much bedding?, I do assisted livery and by the time I break everything down, the liveries are only paying about £9 per wk for haylage! I find that, yes, the odd livery does tend to take the mick! They get a net at night, which they fill theirselves but I am actually thinking of weighing their nets as one or two are cramming the haylage in that you can barely lift the net. Im now finding that the amount of haylage I am going through is shocking and the cost is more than what I am charging.
How do other yards measure and charge for haylage? I am thinking of weighing their nets either that or bump up their livery!
 
Weighing each net will prove time consuming and there is nothing to stop them topping up later, I worked out roughly how much each horse should get on an ad lib basis and charge a set amount to cover it, I may lose out a bit if they stay in for a day or two but I went slightly over to cover this, mine pay about £2 per day, charged monthly, which just about breaks even in an average month.
 
I feed adlib haylage and it costs me about £10 a week to feed two 15hh horses - that's using big bale haylage that I pay £35 for - I share it with another person. I think if you're charging £9 a week for it then you're not on too bad a deal.
 
Are they wasting haylage that's the important thing .
If the horses look healthy weights and there's not mountains of Haylage on the muck heap I don't think you can expect them to feed less .
I can't lift two of my horses night nets I have to drag them .
 
It costs me around £20 per week per horse in the winter. I have three over 16hh and one around 15.1hh. I do always buy premium haylage, and wrapped compressed hay which tends to be more expensive.
 
gryff said:
I feed adlib haylage and it costs me about £10 a week to feed two 15hh horses - that's using big bale haylage that I pay £35 for - I share it with another person. I think if you're charging £9 a week for it then you're not on too bad a deal.
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Most of mine get through about half a big bale each week at this time of year, two big nets each night, I use about 2 bales a week to feed 4 plus a bit that goes to the ponies usually they get the leftovers, I don't think £9 is anywhere near enough to cover the costs for bigger horses eating adlib unless they are out each day on very good grass or having big hard feeds.
 
I agree I could not feed mine on the Haylage I feed for £9 a week each .
Last time I worked it out J my biggest eater was eating £35 in haylage a week.thats one small bale a day during the worse part of winter .
But if OP has uncharged in her calculation then she needs to address the pricing .
 
I pay £30 for a big bale of haylage and that lasts my three horses, two adlib, a week - I think you really need to work out the costing, as you can see from the replies it can vary massively :)
 
Up your charges to cover the cost - simples!
I wouldn't be dictated to as to how much forage I could feed my horse, but I am happy to pay my way!
 
We used to pay £60 a month for 20lb a day of haylage. Any more and we were charged extra, so if I fed 30lb q day it was an extra £1, as £2 was equivalent to 20lb.

The 20lb a day was calculated on 1.5% bodyweight of a 600kg horse.
 
Depends on how many people are using it. I assume you're using large rounds? In which case at my last yard we all paid £10 per week and you could use as much as you liked. I've also know other yards to charge a set fee a week for a certain amount no anymore you then pay about 50p per extra kg.
 
I think you should up the price rather than try and restrict the haylege allowance this just causes angst amongst liveries. Unless you think people are wasting the haylege.
 
I would either up the price which you may find those who use the right amount will be unhappy about. or make up the nets for them and have them pay per kilo which would be seen as fair to them all. doing nets may take longer but you are not there to subsidise them neither are the people who use less
 
Up your price, don't restrict people's haylage. I use 3 bales of hay per week on a 16.1 not particularly good doer, so around £12 per week. £9 would be a bargain, it would be a steal for my friend with her hungry TB.
 
Goldenstar said:
Are they wasting haylage that's the important thing .
If the horses look healthy weights and there's not mountains of Haylage on the muck heap I don't think you can expect them to feed less .
I can't lift two of my horses night nets I have to drag them .
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Im sorry i find this rude. The OP has said it is costing them more to buy than they get in return. Whether the horses need the hayledge isnt in question. If you own a horse, you have to pay what it costs to feed it. That is the owners responsibility, not YO. Im so fed up of seeing people expecting YO to subsiside their horses keep. If a horse needs X amount of hayledge a night, you should have to pay for it, the YO shouldnt be out of pocket!!
 
jenz87 said:
Im sorry i find this rude. The OP has said it is costing them more to buy than they get in return. Whether the horses need the hayledge isnt in question. If you own a horse, you have to pay what it costs to feed it. That is the owners responsibility, not YO. Im so fed up of seeing people expecting YO to subsiside their horses keep. If a horse needs X amount of hayledge a night, you should have to pay for it, the YO shouldnt be out of pocket!!
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I think you have got hold of the wrong end of the stick maybe.
 
I've got a similar problem as a very small livery yard owner ( 3 liveries) and my own 3. I have been charging £10 pw which last winter covered the 2 nets per night for each stabled horse. With November and December being so wet (here in Yorks) ours havent had as much turnout so have been inside much more eating between one and 2 extra nets through the day. I've been using a £35 large round in 3 days which equates to £82 pw or £13.66 pw per horse. I have asked my liveries for an extra contribution towards Nov/Dec haylage but wondering if I just ought to up my weekly charge and make life easier for me. I have my own 3 to feed and can't be expected to subsidize my liveries as I just can't afford to carry on doing this. I must add the horses are all looking over well for this time of year due to the amount of haylage they are getting through and owners are reducing hard feeds accordingley
 
My haylage costs are worked into my liveries' total monthly cost which has not been increased in three years. But in the winter I would say that some larger horses get through around £30 of haylage in a week. I have now discovered wrapped compressed hay which I feed alongside the haylage and this is not cheap at £6.13 a small bale, but it's the best quality hay I have come across with no weeds and which the horses seem to love as much as the haylage. It gives them some variety and helps eliminate any runny droppings some horses get when fed just haylage. OP you are definitely charging far too little.
 
I'm on a DIY yard where we get ad lib haylage during the winter. Rather than paying a flat fee all year round we pay an extra £15 a week as soon as the horses come in and the haylage is opened. I know YO is just about breaking even on that. £9 a week is probably fine if they're paying it all year and are out 24/7 in summer as it will even out but if you're feeding it all year round, that does seem cheap.
 
Flora said:
Following on from the post "How much bedding?, I do assisted livery and by the time I break everything down, the liveries are only paying about £9 per wk for haylage! I find that, yes, the odd livery does tend to take the mick! They get a net at night, which they fill theirselves but I am actually thinking of weighing their nets as one or two are cramming the haylage in that you can barely lift the net. Im now finding that the amount of haylage I am going through is shocking and the cost is more than what I am charging.
How do other yards measure and charge for haylage? I am thinking of weighing their nets either that or bump up their livery!
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On my yard they fill their own nets and then weigh them in either 5kg or 10kg size. I leave the weigher right next to the haylage bales so they can't have any excuse not to weigh it. I have to buy haylage in (we make our own hay) so I don't make any money on it, but I like to give people a choice. I would NEVER do Adlib for a set price as you will always get those who take the mick and then as you are now finding you end up paying to feed your clients horses!
 
chocolategirl said:
On my yard they fill their own nets and then weigh them in either 5kg or 10kg size. I leave the weigher right next to the haylage bales so they can't have any excuse not to weigh it. I have to buy haylage in (we make our own hay) so I don't make any money on it, but I like to give people a choice. I would NEVER do Adlib for a set price as you will always get those who take the mick and then as you are now finding you end up paying to feed your clients horses!
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If you offer ad lib then it means people can take what they want, so if they take what they want they are not taking the mick they are doing what they have been told they can, ad lib is ad lib I agree it can leave people out of pocket so personally think it is not a good thing to offer.
 
twiggy2 said:
If you offer ad lib then it means people can take what they want, so if they take what they want they are not taking the mick they are doing what they have been told they can, ad lib is ad lib I agree it can leave people out of pocket so personally think it is not a good thing to offer.
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Exactly! And that is why I would never offer Adlib. I've seen too much over the years, from my time on the other side of the fence, people who just abuse that type of system. Weighing make much more sense all round IMO as its better for the animal and better for the YO. it's no extra work for me apart from hubby having to fetch me the bale with the JCB so I think it's a good way of doing things. Incidentally OP, if mine use 7x10kg nets a week, this would cost them £17.50. This gives you a comparison to make FWIW!
 
chocolategirl said:
Exactly! And that is why I would never offer Adlib. I've seen too much over the years, from my time on the other side of the fence, people who just abuse that type of system. Weighing make much more sense all round IMO as its better for the animal and better for the YO. it's no extra work for me apart from hubby having to fetch me the bale with the JCB so I think it's a good way of doing things. Incidentally OP, if mine use 7x10kg nets a week, this would cost them £17.50. This gives you a comparison to make FWIW!
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My 700kg boy eats about 8-9kg a day (overnight as out on fairly good grazing in the day) so my £15 a week sounds about right.
 
jenz87 said:
Im sorry i find this rude. The OP has said it is costing them more to buy than they get in return. Whether the horses need the hayledge isnt in question. If you own a horse, you have to pay what it costs to feed it. That is the owners responsibility, not YO. Im so fed up of seeing people expecting YO to subsiside their horses keep. If a horse needs X amount of hayledge a night, you should have to pay for it, the YO shouldnt be out of pocket!!
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How on earth is that rude .
It's not the liveries fault if OP is not charging enough .
People offering livery need to charge enough to cover the costs not expect liveries to feed their horses less .
 
At my yard you get a set allocation (16lbs) each day included in the price and then if you want more than that you have to pay extra per lbs or supply your own. Most liveries just use small bales of hay or haylage to top up the amount as needed as the additional cost per lb is very expensive.
 
Flora said:
Following on from the post "How much bedding?, I do assisted livery and by the time I break everything down, the liveries are only paying about £9 per wk for haylage! I find that, yes, the odd livery does tend to take the mick! They get a net at night, which they fill theirselves but I am actually thinking of weighing their nets as one or two are cramming the haylage in that you can barely lift the net. Im now finding that the amount of haylage I am going through is shocking and the cost is more than what I am charging.
How do other yards measure and charge for haylage? I am thinking of weighing their nets either that or bump up their livery!
Click to expand...

Why dont you just devide how much haylage you have you by everyone at the end of the month?

Weighing would be time consuming.

Also the horses should be getting the haylage they need not what you want to use.
So saying you have gone through loads is irreverent.
As long as its not getting wasted, by mixing into beds and wee'ed on!
Then the horse obviously need more than you originally expected.
 
I can't understand how you aren't at least breaking even on £9 a week unless some are really greedy with their useage or you are overpaying for your haylage.

I run a small haylage club for my two horses and three others. We have two extra large bales a month approximately off our YO at £60 a bale. It is all individually weighed per horse so I know what to charge each person. Bales average 13 pence per kg.

My mare is the biggest user - 16.3 Hanovarian (very Tb'dy) and her average cost per month is £30-40. We do have excellent grass and daily turnout though.

Having said all that it's entirely your decision as YO on what you charge, as you are providing a service really as well as the forage as your liveries don't have the hassle of sourcing their own. I would certainly be adding say £2-3 a horse for that. Most single owners would have to pay for small bale haylage or hay without your service so shouldn't object to paying more. Small bale works out about 25 pence per kg or did last I calculated.
 
I share a yard with a friend. Currently our two horses are getting through a £35 bale of haylage in 1 1/2 weeks. It seems like a massive amount but horses are eating and are a good weight so we will keep feeding it! That works out £13.50 per week per horse.
 
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