"True costs" of DIY livery...

[charterline]

Just pondering really... I have two horses, both on (cheap) full livery, but there is the potential of taking a much lower paid job than I'm on at the minute, which will give me more time, and a move potentially anywhere within the UK.

I don't really want to sell either of them, so the only real cost saving thing I can do with them is put them on DIY livery.

I'm aware all different yards have different pricing structures etc, but I'd be really interested in how much your total bill ends up coming out at weekly/monthly!

 

[AdorableAlice]

Big savings can be had if you are in a position to bulk buy on bedding and forage. If you buy weekly the only real saving you will have is the labour aspect on full livery.

 

[conniegirl]

my costs are:
£20 a week DIY livery
£8 a week for hay/haylege if bought from yard owner
£9 for a dumpy bag of shavings from the saw mill, tends to last 3 weeks.
then fuel to get there and back each day
Feed on top!

 

[Shavings]

for me it worked out cheaper to stay part livery then to go to DIY, if i was able to buy a large number of bags of bedding i would have made a saving but even still between hard feed, hay, charged if it was bad the staff would pull in (yard would choose when to pull in not me) and so on i was about £90 better off on part

 

[Michen]

My Costs:

DIY livery per week (stable and field) £25
Hay storage a week £2.50
Trailer parking £2.50
Hay: £30
Bedding: £30
Feed: £25
Shoes: £12.50 a week (averaged out)
Insurance: £12.50 a week
Petrol:£70...

Services are £2.50 per turnout/bring in and £5 to muck out

And all the extras. I spend about £400 a month not including competing or lessons.

 

[wingedhorse99]

my costs are:
£20 a week DIY livery
£8 a week for hay/haylege if bought from yard owner
£9 for a dumpy bag of shavings from the saw mill, tends to last 3 weeks.
then fuel to get there and back each day
Feed on top!

I estimate each of my horses cost

each £33.5 a month in feed (linseed 1/2 bag, copra 1/2 bag, grass nuts 2 bags)
each £35 a month in hay in winter (about 25 in summer as still in at night) -b
each £36 a month in wood pellets, based on ten bags, as £3.62 each - buy in bulk as cheapest - buy big wrapped hay bales

Stable rent 108

total of rent and raw materials £212.50 per month


services £2.5 bring in / change rug / feed or turnout, feed, change rug - ad hoc
If are going both ends of the day, need to factor in fuel

 

[Regandal]

£30 a week on hay? How many horses are you feeding? ? My 2 big horses get through a large round bale in 10 days roughly.

 

[pippixox]

although DIY can seem the cheapest option, often part livery is more competitive. mostly, because DIY yards have loads of little extras in order to earn enough to make it worthwhile for them.
I am lucky that I rent land and a barn so it is dirt cheap (all though also has basically no facilities). a lot of DIY yards near me (south east) are at least £45 a week as just a base rate.
however, regardless of money, I really enjoy doing my own horses and I'm sure you will enjoy having some more time.

 

[charterline]

It's all pretty much "pie in the sky" atm given I don't know where i will be based. I'd much rather have them on full livery but will have to see what yards are a available. There is the potential to leave one at current yard as I don't ride her much

 

[Holzdweaver]

If you get somewhere with good storage you can really save a lot by buying in big bales or in bulk.

My costs are as follows for one horse and are pcm:
Rent: £130 for stable and grazing, no school etc
Haylage: adlib only £30 as i now share with another lady. I was paying £90 a month for small baled haylage, feeding one every other day!
shoes: £20
Straw: heston bales at £25 i use roughly three quarters of one a month but i like a spotless bed and waste a bit
feed and supps:
Bag of muesli £18
Bag of beet £10
1/3 bag linseed £8 ish
Probio £12
Mint £2
So... £50sih

Insurance: £25 (veteran policy)

so a total of £280 a month for maintence

Doesnt include teeth twice a year at £70 a time
Physio twice a year at £50 a time
Wormer twice a year at £15 a time

just realised why i have no money and yet work full time! haha

But hearing him whicker softly to me at 6am every morning... priceless.

 

[WelshD]

An option may be to rent a field perhaps? they arent easy to come by but I rent aplace which has a stable block for less than DIY livery for the two I have

There is maintenance involved though

 

[DirectorFury]

All prices are per month.
Livery - £100 (stable, turnout, massive floodlit school, XC course, OK hacking, free trailer parking).
Bedding - £45 (1-2 bales of Probed a week).
Hay - £40 (large round bale will do just about a month).
Feed - ~£25 (Fast Fibre and TopSpec Lite Balancer).

Total - £210

Full livery is £60pw but the horses have to be bedded on straw and only have haylage available. If I wanted full livery using my own materials it'd be an extra £80pm, making the total £290.

 

[Luci07]

It really does depend where you are. I am in Surrey and livery is expensive. I moved to assisted DIY, haylage included, and I have more than halved my bill. I don't buy shavings in bulk (we did look into it but needed to buy a lot to get any sort of discount and don't have room to store the 100 bales we were quoted).

 

[Orca]

DIY livery for us costs £25 p/w (+£20 for a second horse) and includes:

12 x 14 stable
Individual turnout (year 'round)
All storage (tack/ yard stuff/ forage/ bedding/ vehicle)
Enormous indoor school (floodlit, sand and rubber)
Several courses worth of jumps
Outdoor sand school (can also be used for short turnouts)
Great hacks
Help on hand from other liveries (who are all great horsewomen)

She's barefoot and goes around 8 weeks between trims at £25 per time, so £12.50 per month.
She is not on hard feed and uses under £20 per month in forage (big bale).

Bedding (miscanthus) would cost around £60 per month (big bale straw would be £20 - £40. She eats it!) but I'm investing in EVA mats. After an initial outlay of around £300, I'm expecting to reduce our monthly bed bill to a quarter or one third, so £15 - £20 per month.

Including rent, bedding, food and feet, our monthly cost will be around £160, give or take. I visit at least twice per day and petrol costs next to nothing because the yard is within a few miles from home, on rural roads

Obviously, there's insurance, dentist and vet on top. I use my vet on area days wherever possible and this reduces our call out fee by half. Every little helps (...me have more to spend/waste on yet more horse stuff ).

 

[Kezzabell2]

£30 A week livery
£28 a week hay (he's eating about a bale a day)
£20 a week on bedding
£5 a week on feed - fast fibre and ultra grass
£36 a month on hoof supplement, but that wouldn't be included on full livery either!

I pay £10 a day if I go away for the YM to turn out, bring in, muck out and make feeds!

 

[eggs]

Don't forget to factor in assisted livery costs for when you are on holiday / sick or injured.

 

[Palindrome]

The cost will depend a lot on how good the fields are and if you have to stable. 24/7 turnout plus good grass (so needing less feed/hay) will reduce the bill a lot. Then if you can buy large bales hay instead of small bales you will also reduce your bill but it is generally not doable on DIY due to space needed and/or having to buy from YM.

 

[chaps89]

I tend to find the only savings are labour/services.
Diy livery here is £150-£250 per month depending on yard but essentially for stable/grazing.
I used wood pellets which I bought in bulk (accommodating yard owner!) which was about £200 upfront but lasted about 4 months.
Hay bill would be about £60-£80/month in winter.
Feed is nominal amount, a bag of chaff usually lasts about 3 months at about £13 a time, balancer I don't feed at full dose so lasts about 2 months a time at £17 a bag.
In winter it's expensive if turnout is limited as being in more = more bedding and more hay being needed. In summer if you can turn out 24/7 it's much cheaper.
You also need to consider that on diy you will need to be at the yard twice a day every day unlike full where you can go as and when (so extra time needed and fuel/mileage on your car). If you need assistance with having 2 horses I would be surprised if it would work out much cheaper than part livery tbh.

 

[Hanson]

Sorry to jump post, but I am astounded (and VERY jealous) of your hay costs. Mine (2 large'ish horses with 10 hrs t/o per day on poor pasture) get through about 9 small bales a week at £6.50 per bale...work that one out per month.

I'm moving north...

 

[ester]

Frank costs me about £230 a month winter, less in summer. No farrier probably helps

 

[tankgirl1]

I am currently on a good deal! I'm paying per week...

£20 stable and grazing
£6 ad lib organic haylage supplied by YO
plus £2.75 per bale of straw supplied by the YO

I pay fortnightly, and usually use 3 bales in that time so works out £60.25 a fortnight over winter - bargain!

 

[Ella19]

I'm surrey hills where everything is expensive! Monthly Part is £510.

Assisted DIY is £320 including hay.
Bedding £80
Feed £40 Alfa a molasses free and mix

Totalling £440

So a saving of £50. Add on the odd bring in and fuel costs (once on her day off and twice daily at weekends) it's not really worth it for me!

 

[AdorableAlice]

Sorry to jump post, but I am astounded (and VERY jealous) of your hay costs. Mine (2 large'ish horses with 10 hrs t/o per day on poor pasture) get through about 9 small bales a week at £6.50 per bale...work that one out per month.

I'm moving north...

Can you store a big bale, far cheaper.

 

[alainax]

Where in the UK are you thinking of moving to? It will have a big impact on the prices. My full livery ( indoor+outdoor, 3000 acres off road hacking, shavings, ad lib haylage, feed, rugs changed, grooming, turn out bring in, tack cleaned, all jobs done except riding etc) is less than the total bill of some of the DIY'ers in this thread and that I know IRL.

I am sure if you live close to the yard, have lots of free time and have plenty of storage space, DIY can work out cheaper. However, it really depends on the area and set up.


If you are looking to really reduce the bill, renting a field with a shelter would be the cheapest option.

 

[Hanson]

AA, not really as we choose to buy from YO. It's good quality hay and I've no wastage. It get delivered to my stables every week, so no transport or delivery costs. I can buy locally if I want but price much the same and quality variable. I don't have storage for big bales sadly.

Mine don't get a short feed, just a handful of Alfa A and multi-vits...they have enough energy! So want them to have good quality ad lib forage.

I do save on bedding as I buy wood pellets by the pallet and can just about fit a pallet load in my storage room.

Other savings are 24/7 turnout as soon as ground good. Again hay a cost as pasture poor, but would prefer that than muzzling.

 

[zigzag]

My daughters pony, cheaper to have on DIY
When I had my TB it was cheaper to put her on full livery (for winter) than DIY

 

[Gottaloveaginger]

For 2 on DIY at a yard with 2 floodlit schools, lunge pen, horsewalker and my own field I pay per month:
£280 rent
£50 hay
£70-140 on shavings depending on how much they have been in/eating/drinking!
£11 bag of feed
Plus supplements (not sure how much it averages)
£70 average cost of farrier a month

I pay a girl about £2 per horse turnout or bring in or £5 per horse half day if i need help but i try to do it all myself where possible as it saves me money and I don't see the point of having horses but paying someone else to look after them! Bit like sending a child to bording school or hiring a nanny!
I have an 18 mile round trip twice a day so fuel costs are horrific!

 

[Shutterbug]

Im in North Lanarkshire and my costs are:

DIY livery - £30 per horse includes morning feeding and haying and use of my own 3 acre field with natural water source and winter t/o daily
Hay - £35 for a large round bale which lasts me around 3 weeks for 2
Feed - £6.75 - large bag of Mollychaff Cherry Showshine - lasts about 10 days in winter
£11.70 - last about 2 weeks
Shavings - £13 per week (1 bale per horse)
Shoes: £40 for front set and £20 for a trim for my youngster


When I calculate my costs over the year, taking into consideration summer is much cheaper, I am about £300 a month for full DIY, feed, hay, shavings. shoes, trims. My previous yard where I was full livery was over £400 per month for one horse and included livery, mucking out, hay and cheap feed. I had to pay for shoes/trims.

 

[Dave's Mam]

£60 / month DIY Field, stable, all the bedding I need, should I need it.
£30 for a big square bale of hay (and it's gorgeous), one has done me 3 months as the grass is still good & he's Mr Economic Exmoor.
£10 for a bag of Speedibeet, hardly used.
£20 farrier.
£150 petrol.
Being on a yard with electric, running water, lockable tack room & my friends on the yard? Really, really priceless.

 

[Mongoose11]

My five day full livery costs £350 pcm. DIY used to work out at £175-240 pcm depending on Summer/Winter and included morning turnout in the winter. These prices don't include farrier/insurance etc.