AliSpin
New User
If you were given a load of stables & land, plus some capital to invest, what business would you create in your area which you feel would give you a return?
I'll be watching this post with interest. I'm a farmer as is my family as we all live closely and work the farm. Farming is becoming harder and we look at ways to make land work for us. We've had DiY people renting for their horses but to be honest had problems with the volume of mess and destruction they left and how they wrecked the fields not rotating properly.
We wondered if building a large decent flood light arena would pay off for hire? There's a lot of horses in the area. Not sure if it would be a viable business?
Thanks for the advice. I’m beginning to think that people invest in people as opposed to facilities. I’m pilates, Equipilates & Spin qualified & wondering if having a small fitness studio alongside would be worthwhile. I already teach several private classes, mostly riders but some not. Customers are always saying they need to get fitter in both cardio & core strength for their chosen discipline but are never too keen to join a gym....
I would look at a track system for grass livery or retirement livery, possibly a combination of both depending on what facilities were already around and how much investment was available, I have done full/ training/ competition livery and want an easier life.
Fair enough. I personally would not want to be the only person hands on sorting out other people's horses. I had years of that working at a yard as instructor and manager for part of the time. Now my family are older I have more responsibility on the farm and unless I was to employ staff personally wouldnt have enough time to over see everything. I couldn't give up farming totally as love it. Maybe doing that and employing could be the way to go forward. There's limited livery in the area and the two closest are not great. Could be worth the investment. We cut our own hay and haylage which is a bonus. May look into retirement livery as that's a bit more neich isn't it. None I know of anywhere here.I don't think it would be viable as a stand alone business and you still have the maintenance to consider, planning which may not be easy to get, people coming and going at all hours etc, it could be an attraction for renting the stables and some land to one person or make full/ part livery an option, retirement livery is also worth considering if you are happy to be hands on as it gives you control.
That's a very good idea. I have 4 natives one has cushings one has IR so I keep them either on my track system and I also have what I call the starvation paddock. It's not it's just decent size hill field that has been turned over to herbs scrub and woodland that I put hay out in greedy feeder nets 5 X a day. I did t think there would be a call for liveries like that. I have more woodland and adjoining fields i could easily turn over to that. We have barns but used for cattle etc but could build a open barn stable building. Plus as I said we cut our own hay etc I have a few fields that I specifically cut late for my natives and have tested to make sure it's low everything. There's a few locals who order a few big bales before we've even cut because it's low. I sow them fields with natural grasses and herbs which are lower in sugars than cattle pastures which is what the rest is. Never occurred to me to set up a lami friendly place. If there's a call for it you may of just saved our farm!
I'll be watching this post with interest. I'm a farmer as is my family as we all live closely and work the farm. Farming is becoming harder and we look at ways to make land work for us. We've had DiY people renting for their horses but to be honest had problems with the volume of mess and destruction they left and how they wrecked the fields not rotating properly.
We wondered if building a large decent flood light arena would pay off for hire? There's a lot of horses in the area. Not sure if it would be a viable business?
I'll be watching this post with interest. I'm a farmer as is my family as we all live closely and work the farm. Farming is becoming harder and we look at ways to make land work for us. We've had DiY people renting for their horses but to be honest had problems with the volume of mess and destruction they left and how they wrecked the fields not rotating properly.
We wondered if building a large decent flood light arena would pay off for hire? There's a lot of horses in the area. Not sure if it would be a viable business?
If you were given a load of stables & land, plus some capital to invest, what business would you create in your area which you feel would give you a return?
How much out of interest would someone like you pay to be at a lami friendly yard with access to 24/7 gras turnout or extra for stable use? I'm out of touch on livery and DIY costs even. The last woman we charged £10 per week per horse for DIY. We gave her 3 acres and charged her £25 for a large round bale of hay. As for doing lami friendly forage etc that's very costly to start up with the machinery involved. We already do low sugar high fiber hay bales and that's a good earner. We can't turn all our fields to that though as have cattle that need rich grass. You also need massive flat fields to get best forage production and we keep the best for silage and very good hay. That's our winter feed for cows. We'd either need no cows or more land.I would love to find something like what you've described for mine!
I have to make do with a coral and soaked hay for night time and turnout in a fairly normal paddock with 1 for company in a muzzle for day time. I'd kill to be able to turn her out more horse like but we make the best of what we've got and I'm lucky to be able to do what I can.
There's certainly enough other posters on here with lami/metabolic horses,
So yes, I think it could be done successfully as a business venture if done well and marketed appropriately.
Failing that, my YM made the comment that a lot of yards she knows are moving to doggy day care/cattery/kennel set ups. If full livery for a horse is usually £10-15 a day but kennel/cattery is usually £15 a day upwards and the costs and work involved significantly less, why wouldn't you.
How much out of interest would someone like you pay to be at a lami friendly yard with access to 24/7 gras turnout or extra for stable use? I'm out of touch on livery and DIY costs even. The last woman we charged £10 per week per horse for DIY. We gave her 3 acres and charged her £25 for a large round bale of hay. As for doing lami friendly forage etc that's very costly to start up with the machinery involved. We already do low sugar high fiber hay bales and that's a good earner. We can't turn all our fields to that though as have cattle that need rich grass. You also need massive flat fields to get best forage production and we keep the best for silage and very good hay. That's our winter feed for cows. We'd either need no cows or more land.
How much out of interest would someone like you pay to be at a lami friendly yard with access to 24/7 gras turnout or extra for stable use? I'm out of touch on livery and DIY costs even. The last woman we charged £10 per week per horse for DIY. We gave her 3 acres and charged her £25 for a large round bale of hay. As for doing lami friendly forage etc that's very costly to start up with the machinery involved. We already do low sugar high fiber hay bales and that's a good earner. We can't turn all our fields to that though as have cattle that need rich grass. You also need massive flat fields to get best forage production and we keep the best for silage and very good hay. That's our winter feed for cows. We'd either need no cows or more land.