"True costs" of DIY livery...

Regandal said:
£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.
Click to expand...


Blame one too many early starts... I've put monthly figures for feed, hay, bedding in for weekly... Lack of coffee!!!!
 
Hanson said:
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...
Click to expand...

Where are you. I am in Cambs and the going rate is about £3.50 for good hay.
 
Not worked out full costs for a week but for 3 horses livery £15 a week for field and shelter, hay £15 large round bale lasts a week and straw rectangle bale £10 every other month...the good side of being a farmers daughter!! Cheap livery, hay and straw!
 
Of course it depends on where you are, and exactly what prices your yard charges, but last time I did my sums, it works out about the same financially for DIY as for the livery package I am on, which includes everything except grooming, tack cleaning and exercise.

If I could bulk buy and store bedding and forage, and be there twice a day every day, yes DIY would be cheaper. But you don't need to take too many extra services at our place for DIY to work out more expensive.

I think it comes down to whether you have time to do all the work yourself (I don't) or whether you are one of those people who likes to do everything for your horse yourself (I would love to be, but don't have time)!
 
I pay £35 a week for DIY livery, which includes unlimited forage (both in the stable and in the field) and as much bedding as you want (either straw or teabags). The only other cost that you wouldn't have on full livery is feed, as you'll obviously already be covering vets bills, farrier costs, and so on yourself.
 
JJS said:
I pay £35 a week for DIY livery, which includes unlimited forage (both in the stable and in the field) and as much bedding as you want (either straw or teabags). The only other cost that you wouldn't have on full livery is feed, as you'll obviously already be covering vets bills, farrier costs, and so on yourself.
Click to expand...

teabags?
 
Michen said:
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.
Click to expand...

You get charged to store your hay???!!!

I only pay £55 a month for a large stable and large individual turnout. No extra for hay storage or trailer storage. Hay and bedding on top.
 
See if you need to pay for lots of extra services that isn't really DIY costs to me. Re paying for hay storage I guess that depends how much the OP is storing/how much space there is for everyone else that chooses to say buy off the yard rather than source their own. We have people who do both here. It would be cheaper to source elsewhere and pay a bit extra for storage.
 
Hey,

Im £27 per week on diy livery that is for my own sectioned paddock that i poo pick etc.

£14 per round bale of hay per two weeks so i guess one bug round bale a month

£10.30 mollichaff calmer lasts 2 months
£7.90 Grass nuts lasts 2 months
£7.00 Pegasus nuts lasts 2/3 months
£55 per 6 months on equinox supplement
£75 every 8weeks on shoes

Unlimited carrots lol..

So i think he's relatively cheap considering all you other people's costs lol
 
Probably going to scare myself writing this down but we are the following:

£100 pcm DIY livery (stable, large shared field, storage, use of outdoor school inc. floodlights)
£30 for a big bale of hay (from YO own crop and shared between 3 of us with good doers lasts around a fortnight in winter, used very rarely in summer as they live out)
£15 for a big bale of straw (again from YO and shared between 2 of us lasts ages - still only half way through the one we bought back in November)
£15 for 2 bags wood pellets for under straw each month
£16 a month insurance
£40 per barefoot trim (every 8 weeks in winter, 6 in summer)
Hard feed in pretty minimal but would average it out at £10 a month as she gets 1 token feed a day of speedibeet, chaff, micronised linseed and a carrot to give her Pro Balance
Wormers as needed depending on egg counts, likewise vaccinations and teeth annually but say an average of £15 a month on "vet" things
Then any extras such as rugs, tack, grooming stuff on top
There are no services offered by the yard so that doesn't come up but I will be going away on holiday this year and will need to pay a horse sitter type person for that.

Just to add that is for an 11.2 welsh section a who is in no work at the moment - but she will be shortly!

Edited to add we are in east central Scotland
 
Im pretty sure I do it the cheapest way possible!!!

I put an ad in my local farmers shop. Notice I targeted farmers NOT horsey people.
Ended up with 8 acres of land to rent and I pay 100 quid a month(!), divided by me and my sister and we have two horses each.
I then emailed stable companies for a quote on a certain style of stables I had seen and got them for £2100 including erection, skids (to make them "mobile") , rooflights, windows and blinkin good strong high doors. My stables have a covered bit in the middle which we store hay in so we don't get wet whilst were mucking out ;)
So my sister and I spent £1050 each. Im probably saving about 300 quid a month at a livery yard so the stables paid for them selves after about 3 months!

We get haylage in round bales from the farmer in winter, 1 per week for £20
We have shavings from the local shop but don't really keep ours in much as the hedges are really high and there are dens in them which they go into.

So altogether for me:

Rent £50
Haylage £50
Bedding £20 MAX!!
Feed £25 ish

So under £150 per month in winter FOR TWO HORSES.. less in summer as they have hay not haylage and we have LOADS of grass so they don't need much.
Feed stays around the same.. its warmer so gelding eats less (native) but my mare is worked more.

Plus Teeth, shoes (£65 every 5 weeks for full set and a trim £10 every 10 weeks), back checks etc, worming.

Good deal huh!!
Have no sandschool mind but enough land to school on in summer.

You CAN do it cheap if you are clever enough ;)

Oh and we have a sport horse, WB x TB, and two welshies so it proves that with good grazing and haylage even the wimps can stay out (and still look fat!!)
Thanks to the fact we pay so little I was able to buy a little lorry (tatty it may be but it does the job!) and I can afford to have lessons at a local arena with a top eventer.

Doesn't matter about the box, its what walks out of it that counts ;)
Good luck
 
janinek1981 said:
Im pretty sure I do it the cheapest way possible!!!

I put an ad in my local farmers shop. Notice I targeted farmers NOT horsey people.
Ended up with 8 acres of land to rent and I pay 100 quid a month(!), divided by me and my sister and we have two horses each.
I then emailed stable companies for a quote on a certain style of stables I had seen and got them for £2100 including erection, skids (to make them "mobile") , rooflights, windows and blinkin good strong high doors. My stables have a covered bit in the middle which we store hay in so we don't get wet whilst were mucking out ;)
So my sister and I spent £1050 each. Im probably saving about 300 quid a month at a livery yard so the stables paid for them selves after about 3 months!

We get haylage in round bales from the farmer in winter, 1 per week for £20
We have shavings from the local shop but don't really keep ours in much as the hedges are really high and there are dens in them which they go into.

So altogether for me:

Rent £50
Haylage £50
Bedding £20 MAX!!
Feed £25 ish

So under £150 per month in winter FOR TWO HORSES.. less in summer as they have hay not haylage and we have LOADS of grass so they don't need much.
Feed stays around the same.. its warmer so gelding eats less (native) but my mare is worked more.

Plus Teeth, shoes (£65 every 5 weeks for full set and a trim £10 every 10 weeks), back checks etc, worming.

Good deal huh!!
Have no sandschool mind but enough land to school on in summer.

You CAN do it cheap if you are clever enough ;)

Oh and we have a sport horse, WB x TB, and two welshies so it proves that with good grazing and haylage even the wimps can stay out (and still look fat!!)
Thanks to the fact we pay so little I was able to buy a little lorry (tatty it may be but it does the job!) and I can afford to have lessons at a local arena with a top eventer.

Doesn't matter about the box, its what walks out of it that counts ;)
Good luck
Click to expand...




Think I can beat you ;) however yours is very clever of you!
Horse lives out all year round at a friend's farm so not paying- obviously a HUGE bonus.
Barefoot-£15 trim every 8 weeks
Relatively low insurance but not sure how much
Feed-£13 a week (pay for yard owners horse too)
Hay excess made at farm so 'free'
Pony club £70 a year
Wormers £40 a year
5 mile trip but owner happy to check/do rugs when I'm at school. On the way home from school though if light enough. Also walk/cycle sometimes
Horses owner has school an hour and a half hack away so hack there when I have time around homework.
Incredible hacking and really lovely yard owner who likes me being there to give her company so we both benefit :)
 
It really depends where and how you keep them.

I used to keep mine on a big DIY yard and the cost for one (14.2) per month was approx:

Stable & grazing -£145
Lorry - £15
Roughly 3 bales of hay per week at £5 (due to lack of grazing) - £60
Bedding - 1 bale per week at £8 per bale - £32

So works out at about £250 per month.

I have since moved to a private yard (just me) with tonnes of grazing, so now the cost is as follows:

Stables & grazing (lorry included) - £175
Hay - I paid £150 for a load of 50 bales at the end of October and am still getting through it.. I think he has about 1 bale per week if not less so - £12
Bedding - 1 bale per week at £7.50 - £28

Total - £215.

From May - October they are out 24/7 so its just the £175 per month.

Although my basic rent is more expensive, I save so much money because there is loads of grass so they are out much longer and eat hardly any hay!
 
£292 for part livery (muck out, supply own bedding, yard ad lib hay, supply own feed). Turnout and bring in included in price only weekdays. I only do this during the winter as my boy is only turned out for two hours a day and his stable would be filthy otherwise. It is a way of saving me money now I no longer get free woodshavings anymore. If I could put him onto straw I would. Normal DIY is around £240 per month and includes turnout/bring in five day a week and this is what I revert back to come the summer when he is out for more hours in the day.

At the last yard it was around £44 per week DIY, £1 day turnout/bring in, £2.50 each way at the weekends and it had better facilities.

I'd say anywhere you go its around £55 -£65 per week for assisted DIY in the Solihull/Warks area.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
My costs:

Weekly:
DIY livery £25 per week
£10 per week for hay/hayledge from yard
£5 for them to turn her out Monday to Friday (they insist on doing one end of the day)
£8.10 bale of shavings once a week (the proper Jenkinsons compressed stuff)

Monthly:
Dodson and Horrel rolled oats £11.30
Graze-On £6.50
Alfa A Original £13.20
Biotin Refil £12.30
Limestone Flour £6.10
NAF General Purpose £11.40
Insurance £24

Added all together its £244.80 per month, £61.20 per week.

Fuel doesn't factor in for me as my horse is on the way to and from work so I don't go out of my way unless I am at my Bf's, but thats me not the horse so I don't count it!

Her feet get trimmed by YO as he trained to be a farrier, he doesn't charge me. Once shoes go back on it will be £65 every 6 weeks for a full set of shoes.

Wormer is once a year panacur 5 day £15.83, another 3 times at around £15 per go.

Teeth is £40 once a year.

Not ridden and she is sound so no physio.

So say she gets shod 8 times a year, wormed 4 times a year, teeth done once, including all of her bedding and feed it works out as £3557.60 per year to keep my horse. That averages out at £296.46 per month or £68.41 per week.

For full livery (But I would have to pay for feed, bedding, shoes and wormer) it would be £4237.60 per year, £81.49 per week and £353.13.

Cheaper for DIY in my case by £680 per year, a saving of £56.6 per month or £13.07 per week.
 
twiggy2 said:
teabags?
Click to expand...

Yep. The farmer provides the surplus filter paper used to make teabags in big bales that can be used as bedding. As you can imagine, it's highly absorbent, dust free, and smells quite pleasant as well. I stick with straw myself, but a lot of liveries claim that it's the best bedding they've ever used.
 
I've got 2 on DIY livery. Our livery yard is VERY cheap, and we buy our own bedding / hay as we see fit. My horses have their own bank account(!) and each month I pay them £460 for the 2 of them.

That covers everything horsey that i spend out on. The only thing that it doesn't always cover is show entries / clinics and diesel to get to and from. Sometimes when they are feeling flush they buy me horsey clothes too. : )
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top