Livery Yard Prices

G

gemini87

Member
Joined
11 May 2010
Messages
20
Visit site
I am thinking about taking over my in-laws livery yard on my husbands farm. I have been doing the sums and trying to work out if it would be worthwhile.

Currently the livery is £130 per month which includes haylage and straw which we make ourselves on the farm. There are 15 stables, 20x40 menage, round pen for lunging and turnout when it's wet, horsewalker, showjumps, tea room with washer and dryer, toilet, individual or group turnout, some off road hacking around the farm and the rest you do have to go down a main round for abt 500m to get onto the country lanes. We are also within hacking distance of a competition centre and within 5mins drive of two very good xc courses. The yard has 24hour supervision and is off the road down a long drive with an electric gate. We are in leicestershire within Quorn country.

So my questions are do u think £130 per month is ok or how much would you pay? Also I was thinking of offering diy then charging for extras, how much do you think is an appropriate amount for: bringing in/ turning out, skipping out, mucking out, feeding, giving hay, etc?

Any advice would be much appreciated.
 
i think that sounds right, potentially you could charge more, although i dont know your area. my yard is £110 p/m plus hay and shavings and we dont have as many facilities as you.. although i would wonder how you expect people to jump? do you have a jumping field? as a 20x40 really wouldnt be big enough

we have
big(ish) menege
lunging pen
showjumps
toilet
group turnout
LOADS of off road hacking around the farm
we are also a 15min drive from the hand equestrian

to give you an idea for comparison
oh and were on the outskirts bristol
 
Slightly off kilter from pricing but bearing in mind the number of complaints about timings on DIY yards, I would ensure that it is clear that if a horse is not fed/seen to by x time, you will do it and it will be charged at x (and make it slightly more expensive than if they had "booked" you to ensure people just leave it to you). When looking at your pricing, if you have a lot more "extras" than comparative yards, then I would look at a base rate, then a price for extras (gallops etc) that not everyone would want to use, with a higher rate for those off the yard.
 
£130 pm seems low, but I don't know your area. All the yards I've talked to in my area charge £50-£80 per week so thats £225-£360 pcm for similar services to you (assuming you do the mucking out/turnout/rug change etc, which you imply you do).
A yard local to me also offers full livery including grooming, riding etc, thats £150 per week.
 
Thank you for your input everyone, tigerlily we dont currently have a jumping paddock but that would be possible after the hays been cut.

Luci07 thanks for that I agree that timings etc are very important as there have been issues with certain individuals and it's something I'm definitely going to have rules about. Another thing I was wondering about was poo picking. People in individual Paddocks are good about doing it regularly but in the group fields there are people who don't pull their weight, how do other yards deal with this? P
Or is it better to just have individual turnout?
 
Hi i pay £40 per week for diy livery in shropshire
For £40 i get a stable and occasional turnout and haylage
i can also use the indoor and outdoor school and there is toilet facilities on site ...
 
In Suffolk for DIY I pay £30 a week with use of a school 20x60 and super grazing (not 24h). I buy all my own supplies. Services are £2.50 for a bring in or turn out, and extra £1.50 for rug changes. £15 for full care (muck out, feed rugs hay etc not ridden) if horse needs holding for vet etc it should be £5 but I never get charged this. This is a private yard and super!
 
We only have DIY livery on my yard

Stables are £20 per week (all large boxes)
Unlimited hay or haylage £12 per week
So £128 a month
Facilities include..

24/7 Summer turnout in 4 fields which are used in turn (in winter the option of turning out for an hour in the outdoor and indoor arenas if they're not being used - which they never are during the day)
2 further fields suitable for laminitics.
Use of an indoor arena/outdoor arena.
Grazing fields are rotated every 4 weeks and we can ride in the fields that have been vacated.
Cafe and ice-cream parlour :D
Central to several show venues

Best of all we have a great bunch of people on here and we all get on with each other (most of the time;)) which seems to be quite unusual for a livery yard of this size...about 25 horses/ponies.

ETA...The yard is just outside Manchester
 
I think doing some research about what other local liveries charge and what facilities they offer. Hay and straw prices have gone up enormously these last few months, make sure you are not selling yourself short. £130 seems low to me. regarding DIY livery,it is often a recipe for disaster, why not offer assisted DIY only? for example you feed and turn out all horses every morning as well as supplying bedding and hay or haylage.
owners bring in at night,muck out,groom,exercise. I think £60 a week for a horse and £55 a week for a pony sounds about right for this. You can also charge extra for holding for the farrier,dentist,vet. Insist clients pay by DD and have a month or twos deposit up front to cover times when people may not pay for whatever reason. Personally I wouldnt do it any other way or charge any less.
 
wow is this part livery then? I think you should forget about parents in law farm and move to surrey - part livery is at least £400pcm :D ! My grass livery is £240pcm!
 
I charge 40 per week diy (pony)
and 43per large diy which includes me picking up its poo
my part livery is 78 per week 7 days a week

extras available should they be required
summer out in night in in day and reversed in winter
facilities inc

storage for boxes
stable mirrors
2 full sets show jumps
some x country
round pen
rug racks
weekly clear round here threw summer
dressage compertitions
indoor school
out door school
common room ( tea biscuits etc inc)
WC
24hr security
we live on site
close to bridleways
EX grazing well managed and rotated
p&R
large storage for rugs
alarmed tack room
round pen
horse shower
indoor clipping area/ farrier


close to local shows
very close to vet clinic

my diy's buy their own bedding feed , otherwise when there is a hay shortage or bedding goes up i would have to cough up hense why they buy their own.
they make up the feeds and leave them for me to put in in morning

not only that but if you buy the bedding and store it and prices go up your profit goes i would not buy their stuff its enough for me to buy part liveries bedding and feed to have to buy their too.
i do charge for holding for vet farrrier catch in etc change rugs

tho most of us just use nz rugs in stables
horses stay cleaner
less washing rugs
less cost in purchase wardrobe
rugs dry better in winter if left on.
 
Last edited:
to add

is a hay shortage or bedding goes up your giving it to them at the old price and you then have to buy it at the more pricy price but their bill would stay the same either way , so u have to fork out more less profit hense why they buy their own.
 
I have my horses on a yard in Doncaster on a part livery basis, which is basically full livery in the week and DIY at weekends

Mon- fri includes:
feeding, turnout (rugs changed etc if needed), muck out, bed down, bring in, grooming (rugs changed again if needed), hay / feed given etc

Weekends I have to do it all myself (yard will do at extra cost)

Included in the price is all hard feed, unlimited hayledge / bedding free access to a floodlit all weather menage (& jumps) 22 acres of grazing and all year round turnout in small groups, access to miles and miles of off road hacking,

extra's include: exercise, supervising vet and farrier visits, care on weekends (for part liveries)

for this i pay £70 per horse per week (£303 per horse per month)

Full livery (7 day service) is £90 per week
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top