renting land. some questions??

[BSJAlove]

im looking in to the costs of renting land instead of DIY. i have no idea where to start. im looking for some land for 3 or 4 ponies (all under 14.2hh). stabling isnt nessisary although it would be handy. im in bedfordshire.

how much would it be roughly?
where do i even start to look/best people to ask?
on rented land, is it possible to put up your own stabling?
what do i look for in terms of getting the best grazing, electricity, water ect?
if your renting land, does it work out cheaper then keeping them on DIY?
would you recomend it?

im just trying to weigh up pros and cons.
thank you.

 

[Aoibhin]

i rent 9 acres with a friend, there is no water or electrics & due to it being former landfill we cannot put any stables up (even mobile ones) & we had to fence it ourselves but its fantastic grazing & we havent had to feed hay yet this winter exept for 3 days when we had snow (didnt need to, felt i should & they didnt eat it anyway).

the cost is more than DIY as we have to maintain fencing, land mantiance (topping, weed control ect..) & go visit more often as there is no one on site.
downsides - having to cart water from home, no electrics, no help if ill ect, no one else to blame, hours spent up there but not touching horse (7 hours slent there last week & i got to say hello once to the boy) but the upsides are no bitching, no having stuff walk off, hay as we cut,turned & baled our own last year so knew what was in it ect.. (cost us about £2 per bale) & we can have the regime we want (24/7 turnout in winter ect) the boys are thriving on it & SWA is going into spring with a bit of a belly & a spring in his step.

i wouldnt go back to a yard now.

 

[bexcy-bee]

We have a private yard in Berkshire. The field came with water, and brand new fencing when we got it. We put up 2 stables and feed barn, but had to have planning for it, luckily the owner was happy to pay for half of it!

Its 8 acres, very well drained etc., and as stated above, means we can do pretty much what we like with it, in that we can strip graze, seperate graze, stable, leave out etc.

Its MUCH cheaper for us, as we have 7 horses, and all in DIY would cost a fortune! Just round the corner from my parents, so minimal fuel useage, and we pay £150 a month for it!

bexcy-bee x

 

[Hippona]

Every set up is different- I rent a few acres just along from my house....I have stables and a secure lock up- good fencing and gates but no leccy or water. In winter I use head torches and this is fine. For water we have gutters/pipes into large water containers and this works fine apart from hot weather when we have to take it down in containers.

It works out cheaper for us to rent than DIY livery- plus we can buy large bales in as we need it. I have no menage but ride in a paddock when its dry enough.

I have to maintain grazing and small repairs to fencing etc- anything large and the landlady will pay/go halves etc depending on what the problem is.

I personally wouldn't go back to livery unless I had just the one horse....or I was desperate.

 

[Slightly Foxed]

im looking in to the costs of renting land instead of DIY. i have no idea where to start. im looking for some land for 3 or 4 ponies (all under 14.2hh). stabling isnt nessisary although it would be handy. im in bedfordshire.

how much would it be roughly?
where do i even start to look/best people to ask?
on rented land, is it possible to put up your own stabling?
what do i look for in terms of getting the best grazing, electricity, water ect?
if your renting land, does it work out cheaper then keeping them on DIY?
would you recomend it?

im just trying to weigh up pros and cons.
thank you.

Hard to say how much it would be, depends on so many variables.
Ask local farmers, the parish council, even your local church - the CofE is a large landowner and often have little pockets of land, Google.

Whether or not you can put up your own stabling will depend on the contract you have with the landowner but you'll need planning permission and unless you can be sure you'll be renting that land for a very long time it probably isn't worth the capital outlay. Field shelters may be an option though.
If there's no existing electricity and water on the land it will be prohibitively expensive for you to do it; you'd only be raising the value of someone else's property.

It possibly won't be cheaper than keeping your horses on DIY (depends how many you've got I suppose) but remember you're more than likely to be responsible for maintaining the fences and almost certainly for harrowing, rolling, weeding, re-seeding if necessary.

Whereabouts in Beds are you (PM me if you like) there were two or three acres for rent in our village recently. Woburn Abbey Stud is up for rent, but I suspect that may be a little out of your price range???