How much would you charge for grass livery

I was looking at grass livery in my area of kent and only found one place, that was £35 pw for field and ad lib haylage, and the place has got a school and fairly good hacking. I'd say £35-40 PW is reasonable for what you're offering
 
I was on a grass livery yard in Surrey and the facilities I had there were a large secure field, a hard standing yard of 7 boxes with water and electricity, a feed room and hay barn, horses were hayed morning and eve and field poo picked twice a day everyday, self filling water troughs in the field and fantastic on the doorstep hacking.

I did my share of poo picking at the weekend and paid for all the additional extra's myself. I paid £100 a month for my box and grazing.
 
Misst, as one of R2R's grass liveries I can wholeheartedly vouch for how lovely the place is and what great value for money it is/bargain!!! Having just moved from DIY to grass livery, I struggled to actually find anywhere around here that did grass livery and had decent grazing, without having too many horses on too little grass.


That is so nice to hear! I have a wonderful YO where we are she just doesn't really do grass livery (but is accomodating me at the moment). I wonder how anyone makes any sort of profit out of yards around Surrey at all at the moment, everything is so expensive and land is at such a premium. My friend moved to Devon 2 years ago and it is not just livery and grazing that is cheaper she pays less than half of what I pay for hay and her farrier is dirt cheap too. Vets fees also seem to be less and even supliments were less in her local feed shop - and I mean significantly less!
 
£40 pw. Possibly more if you want to make a profit.
(when you add on insurance, fencing costs, yard maintenance etc you wont get any change out of £40)
 
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We are not money grabbing – as a Surrey Y/O, I do it to keep my horses, not to earn a living, and therefore everything is done at a minimum and for the benefit of my liveries.

FYI, apparently small bale hay has just gone up to £9 a bale….yes £9!!!! Everything is extortionate…so therefore we have to charge – and it is even expensive for the minimum cost!

You dont have to justify yourslf to me, i understand the costs of running a yard! I think you should actually do a proper costing out of hay, feed, time for services, etc and add it on to a basic cost of providing just the field and water. When i say 'just the field and water' dont forget the maintenance costs, rates, insurance, etc too. All these will vary depending on the area, so someone in wales for example cant really comment accurately.

Bearing in mind a horse could need a bale of hay a day in winter you need to work it out properly! Big bales would make it more cost effective if you can store and handle them.
 
I think you also need to consider what facilities you have - even if she does not use a school it is there and could be used and therefore you can charge more than someone with just a field.

You might want to charge a different rate in the winter to the summer when it is harder work and the horse is eating more hay.

I would say at the very least £150 a month if you have a school in the summer and possibly £200 in the winter. I am in the south and paying £160 a month in the winter for DIY grass livery which includes 2 slices of hay a day per horse put out in the field but I do have access to a school and a stable for my sole use as well.

I would be charging at least £5 a day for services above what you charge for DIY if you include feeding, checking, fly spray, farrier, worming etc. After all you are not doing to be doing hard work nothing.
 
I suppose it depends where you are in the country. Grass livery alone (without hay, feed, daily checks etc.) is £15 - £20 per week where I am, and if you're providing all the other things you listed I think it's worth at least £50 per week. And that's still very good value. Remember, it is a big responsibility looking after someone else's horse so you need to factor that in too. x
 
im moving to london/kent borders.
iv been looking for grass livery for my two.
Its 18.50 pw diy grass where you have to poo pick,fill water,feed,check etc yourself.

Im taking my two to a full grass livery yard which is 148pcm per pony.
for that they are looked after 7 days a week.brought in once a day for a feed,feet picked out and check over/rug change.they do all poo picking, supply and put out all hay,supply all feed,sort all waters, hold for farrier/vet,do routine work egg counts and let you know if they need a wormer.

i dont think this is too bad value as diy alone is about 75 pcm, then by the time you supply feed and hay, in winter it would add up to almost as much.

it wont be such great value in summer but im happy to pay that knowing i get peace of mind and my two are looked after properly when i cant get down.
 
I know of someone in surrey that charges £130 for full grass livery. That includes all feed, worming, farrier (will charge more if shod), rug changes and hay in the field if needed. There are no facilities just a grass paddock to ride in, a grass roundpen and a short hack. Most of her clients have youngsters or oldies in retirement.
 
I paid £180 for DIY with a stable in Surrey. we also had an indoor school/outdoor school and jumping paddock. The yard down the road had no facilities but good grazing and was £120 (again in surrey)

So add onto that all the extra bits you're talking about and I'd say that the extras alone are worth £90 a month and then the actual grass livery at £25 a week so I'd say £195 a month....
 
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