No grazing in paddock

[Bean00]

Just wondering peoples thoughts here,
I have 2 horses on a diy livery, and pay 25pw per horse.this is for a paddock and 2 stables. Problem is there is next to no grazing in the paddocks, it's fairly baron land and the yard owner doesn't take care of anything, if fences break it's up to me to fix else it would never get done.
My biggest gripe is we have to provide a bale of hay in the field every week, putting the weekly cost up to 80
It's easy enough saying leave, but it's very local and we have a good social life here

 

[Arzada]

Just wondering peoples thoughts here,
I have 2 horses on a diy livery, and pay 25pw, this is for a paddock and 2 stables. Problem is there is next to no grazing in the paddocks, it's fairly baron land and the yard owner doesn't take care of anything, if fences break it's up to me to fix else it would never get done.
My biggest gripe is we have to provide a bale of hay in the field every week, putting the weekly cost up to £55.
It's easy enough saying leave, but it's very local and we have a good social life here

So a weekly cost per horse of £27.50 including ad lib hay. This sounds a reasonable cost. If you don't want to leave then you stay as is. If you don't want to stay then you leave.

 

[Bean00]

Sorry, no it's 25 per horse per week. So 50 a week, plus the 30 for a bale makes it 40 for each horse a week

 

[fidleyspromise]

The options are put up with it or move.
I was £30+ per week for 2 ponies with little grazing and 2 stables where I was putting out a bale every week through winter and every fortnight/month in Summer. I chose to vote with my feet and it did mean a longer commute. (That doesn;t include what I was paying for hay)

 

[Bean00]

What do people usually pay for a hay bale?

 

[cobsarefab]

What do people usually pay for a hay bale?

How big a bale? I paid 50p for a bale which would last a week in winter from a local farmer.

 

[Bean00]

How big a bale? I paid 50p for a bale which would last a week in winter from a local farmer.

50p?

 

[cobsarefab]

50p?

Yes for a small bale that would last a week. Bear in mind though my cob didn't need much she would just about get through a haynet a day. If she'd have eaten more I would have given her more.

 

[Sussexbythesea]

What do people usually pay for a hay bale?

I pay £4 -£4.50 for a small bale and £20 for a Eurobale which is equivalent to about 5 small bales.

I don't think there is much you can do if the landowner isn't interested in improving the land. So either put up with it or move.

I pay £35 a week for good grazing, stable, school and great hacking but still buy hay as in at night which costs about an extra £10 - £20 a week depending on the time of year.

 

[fidleyspromise]

£25 a big round bale regardless of size (has been for very small to much bigger) - Hay is now included in my livery so not sure how much it is on this yard.
£4.50 for small bale although it was a few years ago.

 

[SEL]

That sounds similar to what I pay (metabolic horses, so grass is evil and hay is soaked)

A lot of yards don't have much grazing around here - it's all going for housing.

 

[teddypops]

I don't know what you are asking really. If you can't or don't want to move, you will have to stay! £30 seems very expensive for a bale of hay which only lasts a week for 2 horses. I pay £12 for a large round bale of hay and even in winter this will last my 8 ponies a week. So, look for cheaper hay, or keep the bale outside the field and feed it when you go to check your horses rather than them having constant access to it.

 

[ROMANY 1959]

Can you not divide the paddock with elec fence and rest one half, you could even spread some fertiliser and allow it to grow then do same with other half say 2-3 weeks later

 

[Sparemare]

How much land? Is it a tiny paddock on clay?

 

[meleeka]

£30 for a round which also lasts two horses ad lib for a week. I don't think £40 is bad really.

 

[ihatework]

£30 for a round which also lasts two horses ad lib for a week. I don't think £40 is bad really.

Neither do I. Horses aren't a cheap hobby.

 

[Illusion100]

Had mine on an otherwise great yard but there wasn't enough grazing/very small paddocks, although there was some extra forage put out he became frustrated and started being aggressive to other horses in his herd. Moved him and now he has more grass/space than he could possibly need and is totally chilled in his new herd.

On another yard with sparse grazing the ground was sandy and a few horses (one in particular) suffered sand colic. Others would chew fences out of boredom from lack of grazing. Quite a few ended up with poor feet too although to blame that squarely on the lack of grass would be unfair.

I'm not saying that's the case for your horses but I do think having access to decent grazing is a valuable aspect to general health/happiness. If your horses are content with additional forage great, otherwise moving them might be an idea.

 

[JillA]

Are you the only livery there? If not, what do the others think? Could you get together and negotiate a better deal (e.g if you buy the hay from him, maybe at cost?)

 

[twiggy2]

How big is the paddock? How long have you been there?

 

[smellsofhorse]

Id say you have a cheap livery so should expect issues!

However a lot of people are realizing how bad grass can be to a lot of horses and would prefer bare ground and to feed adlib hay.

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

Just wondering peoples thoughts here,
I have 2 horses on a diy livery, and pay 25pw per horse.this is for a paddock and 2 stables. Problem is there is next to no grazing in the paddocks, it's fairly baron land and the yard owner doesn't take care of anything, if fences break it's up to me to fix else it would never get done.
My biggest gripe is we have to provide a bale of hay in the field every week, putting the weekly cost up to 80
It's easy enough saying leave, but it's very local and we have a good social life here

I don't understand what you are asking. It appears you just fancy a moan about your yard. You've got a lazy land owner who doesn't want to put anything back into his property. Horrible tatty fencing & no grazing. Your horses come first over everything else, vote with your feet!

 

[MagicMelon]

Im not sure what moaning about it can really achieve OP? If thats what the yard owner says must be done then I dont think you have my choice other than to leave if you dont like the way he keeps the land or his rules? I pay £20 for a big round bale of hay which I provide ab lib to my horses who live out 24/7 as we also dont have much grazing so it helps supplement their food and also helps keep them off the grass and dry off a bit when they're eating it huddled round on our hardcore yard as opposed to standing about in deep mud. It sounds like you're paying £30 a week for hay, but surely if this is for a big bale your two horses aren't eating that much weekly?? One bale lasts 2 of mine 2 weeks if the weather isnt great.

The only thing you could possibly do is see if you can source cheaper hay but otherwise, you cant force him to fix fences or improve the grazing (to improve it, he'd have to turf you all off it for a while anyway if he was to overseed / fertilise / weedkill etc.).