Legality of yard haylage surcharge!! help

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Scottish_Miss

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Yard owner came around yesterday saying all liveries shall incur a surcharge due to the amounts of haylage we are going through due to weather. Each horse shall be an additional £15 - now as you can imagine not very impressed as I make sure I get my horse out every day and clear my own paths to fields - most dont bother..... And am not using any more haylage than normal, as I get him out.Feel very angry as this sets a precedence that he can just add these 'surcharges' as and when he feels like it!!!



Did suggest they allocate a ration each horse - but that would involve work on the yard part and they dont really do much work!
Anyone know if this is legal - as we are getting a few days notice till bill comes out?

or anyone else had this done to them.
thanks
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Tia x
 
I can see why you are annoyed but as a former YO I can also see the YO view point. If the horses are eating more haylage than expected then its costing the YO more so this cost has to be covered. YO runs yards as businesses not charities. If you are not using more haylage than normal then simply make sure you do use more even if this means taking it to the field for him. BTW the horse isnt being turned out with no hay or haylege is he? thats risking colic.
 
Does the yard owner provide haylage for everyone?If so, surely it is only fair to charge more if more is being used? I can see that it makes it hard for you if you are not using more but it's difficult to see how else they could do it without giving everyone a set ration which is a lot of extra work and will probably create arguments too! Could you source your own haylage until everyone else goes back to normal? Just a thought?

I have to say that all mine are all eating far more than usual, whether in or out, due to the low temperatures.
 
I doubt it's illegal....

Can you not go and speak to him about it? Explain you have been putting your horse out?

Although as another poster said, are you not putting hayledge out in the field for your horse? What is he eating?

For the last 4 years, your YO organised communal hayledge for us end Oct-April. This year she said she wasn't, so me and 2 others are sharing a big bale together, and even with the huge price increase it is working out SSOOOO much cheaper!! Just goes to show when there is communal hayledge how people just give what the want (I used to watch one woman give her horse a net in the morning before he went out.... she didn't before the communal hayledge was there and was buying her own bales) and are very wasteful with it.
 
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If the haylage is included inthe livery then I would say its fair to expect to pay extra in this weather. Surely you are not turning out without haylage?

There is nothing to eat at all inmy fields - the grass was still quite good but inthe freeze, thaw, freeze that we have had it has gone and would be too frozen to eat even if it was still there!

I am using almost double hay at the moment. One of mine is a native and doedn;t normally need a lot but due to the very low temperatures, (-6 here today) then he is getting much more than normal.
 
Hi
thanks for posts - whilst I dont mind paying this as a one of due to a month of continued snow, just worried that its a precedence that he can add 'willy nilly' when he sees fit. I have expressed my concearns and appreciate he has had to purchase more to suffice through to winters end and prices have shot up since being bald. We have some owners who pumped in huge amounts and also waste it as they throw out when they muck out or any their horse does not eat - they could throw into another pony that is less fussy.

Yes my horse has been out without haylage in field - they have been digging and some of the field has been at times uncovered.

Our practice vet was onsite last week and this is where it all stems from - he said far to many horses are pumped too much and are obese. I do agree and work very hard to keep my boys weight down - I also sometimes mix it with straw as we only have haylage option. Its also good quality. He aslo said horses are also very good at finding grass in these conditions - despite what we may think.
I agree a lot of horses are coming in hungry - mines also but again I use a small holed double haynet to even out how much he can eat at once, many people just throw in huge piles, when there horses are in good condition.


We can buy in yes but storage is a problem at yard as it would be kept some distance from main yard - already kep wod pellets there and thats had work to keep suuplied up at main yard.


Just really wondered what the legality of this was - It would be very difficult for yard to police indivduals rations - its a difficult situation which I appreciate - just feel a little unfair as some people are worse offenders than I


thansk tia
 
Ok. Boot on the other foot for a minute.

If you were the YO and haylage costs had gone up, what would you do? Subsidise your Boarders?

Yards are businesses, if they don't make some sort of money then they may as well shut down, chuck off the horses and grow hay to sell...in fact, not a bad idea, cash crop, no whinging Boarders, no bickering, no PL insurance, no huge electricity bills, no trashed land, no fence mending etc, etc, no hassle, and, long winter holidays in Cuba.

If you were buying your feed for yourself you'd have to meet the extra cost, and few suppliers or retailers give you advanced warning of price hikes. Perhaps you could discuss the possibility of sourcing your own haylage and therefore not pay the increase?
 
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Blitzenfys said:
Ok.
Yards are businesses, if they don't make some sort of money then they may as well shut down, chuck off the horses and grow hay to sell...in fact, not a bad idea, cash crop, no whinging Boarders, no bickering, no PL insurance, no huge electricity bills, no trashed land, no fence mending etc, etc, no hassle, and, long winter holidays in Cuba.

QUOTE]

Now that is a good idea! Pity about the blinkin' British weather tho'!
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regarding feeding quantiites of forage. the horse is designed to eat for about 18 hours a day. the forage fed should reflect this. ie if the horses are being fed haylage but getting too fat then change from haylage to a less calorific feed such as last years hay . if the horse is too fat on ad lib hay then feed a quantity of oat straw. the horse needs to eat lots of forage not have it restricted. its a basic fact many seem unable to understand. thats another reason why grazing muzzles are cruel IMO. slightly Off topic but relevant I think.
 
How many horses on yard? I agree horses in would eat more, but £15 extra per week on any yard seems excessive. Mine are out for a few hours daily without hay etc. I'm more concerned all water frozen for so long now!
 
Azmar said:
How many horses on yard? I agree horses in would eat more, but £15 extra per week on any yard seems excessive. Mine are out for a few hours daily without hay etc. I'm more concerned all water frozen for so long now!
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My seven are eating almost twice as much haylage, a bale is only lasting 4 days instead of the normal 6. They are having the extra in the field to make up fro the frozen solid ground; even if grass does get found it is frozen to the ground unlike with normal snow so that can't get at it at all.
 
£15 a month increase? If so that is less than £4 per week. OP do you think it illegal for petrol stations and supermarket to increase their prices without giving you a months notice? Your livery yard is a business the same.
 
Our full liveries last winter had to pay a couple of one off payments over december and january to cover the extra hayledge we were going through and that was only to cover my extra costs I didn't make any more profit by doing it. I spoke to my liveries and said would they like to make a couple of extra payments to cover this during winter (I am talking an extra £20 per livery per month) or would they prefer I put up weekly prices all year round to allow for the exrta in winter and majority prefered the on off extras which again I sent a letter out before the bill ue to ate to warn them. I on't think it is Precedent as I feel he prob generally is going through more haylage.
 
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I can understand your frustration but I can also understand the need for a surcharge and as long as it is fairly applied to everyone on the yard (ie per horse-not per owner) and isn't a permanent rise I guess it is fair enough.
 
Many years ago I was a YO, admittedly a small DIY yard. We made our own hay & my livery charge didn't include hay or bedding. Every livery had a small storage area & because they were paying for their own bedding & hay the waste was minimal! I don't think £15 extra a month is too much. You're not just paying the increased cost of the haylage you're also paying for the convenience of someone else sourcing & acquiring it.
 
It's a bummer of a situation on both sides unfortunately. Although I tend to agree with the others that £15 a month (if it is a month) is quite reasonable. Maybe you can negotiate some sort of discount in the summer?

Something that is a constant battle for our YO is the number of people who waste hay and haylage. Apparently, if some people's stable routine is to be believed, haylage becomes poisonous once it hits the floor, and once it has been in a hay net for longer than 8 hours. It makes me want to weep the amount of haylage I see getting thrown away each day at our yard. My lad cleans up his hay, and if he doesn't, he just gets it served up again.
 
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