Would you rent more land or feed forage?

Scampi

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Have my own paddock which is quite narrow so not ideal for schooling as circles are tight in canter (if that makes sense.) Horse gets through the grass in no time at all as it's only a small paddock so i have to feed hay/haylage and at the mo he still has bucket feeds as well.

A paddock next to mine is available for rent (well has been for the last 2 years). It would give me a bigger schooling area and extra grazing/grass which may mean i may not need to feed hay/haylage/bucket feeds (i'm not sure yet - would be trial and error i guess, see how long it takes him to get through it.) It is over-priced though considering i have to supply my own fencing/water/shelter and there is no grass in it at the mo plus full of sh!t. (owner lets their horse on it until they rent it out) They want 12.50 per week for it - it really is over priced considering it's only a small paddock.

Would you pay out for the extra paddock or continue with smaller one and pay for forage as well? or a friend's idea is to offer them a price, think she said 6 pounds a week for it but surely that's a bit of an insult?
 
Well if it is any help I pay 12.50 per week for my 2 and a half acre field and then pay for field maintenance, hedges etc on top of that too. I have no water facilities...so just grass really.
 
Personally I'd rent the field but askt he woman to poo pick/ harrow it and rest it for 4 weeks before you move your horse onto it so it can grow a little
 
Well that sounds cheap to me, but I have no idea of renting land so haven't got clue really!!

How much land is it?

Could you not say, you would rent it but it has to be fenced and cleared out prior?
xx
 
They are not really horsey so i'm 99% positive they wouldn't poo pick it nor get it harrowed for me. I'd have to do it myself.
 
If its been for rent for 2 years then i would make an offer. Start at £9 a week and go up to £10. I think for £6 a week they wouldnt bother renting it.

But then you could always phone local land agents and see what land is usually rented for to give you a better idea of the value.
 
I have a 1acre field for turnout at the yard and, upon asking if there was more grazing available, I was told that I could rent a 2acre field instead (and manage it however I pleased) for an additional £15/pw :eek: I thought this was outrageous (that is 3 bales of decent hay per week) so opted to feed extra forage

Also Dad (dairy farmer in Wiltshire) was put in a "name your price" situation by some people who were interested in buying a cottage on the outskirts of the village and Dad owned the adjacent field... he rang a local land agent and asked for the going rate for equestrian land and they ended up paying £25k for 2acres!!! :eek: :eek:

OP I would find out what they want for it before going in with a price :)
 
I have the same situation. We just feed forage. Sounds very expensive to me if you have to poo pick and there is no grass on it atm.
 
To be honest I think you are right when you think it would be an insult. If this paddock has been up for rent for 2 years and she still hasn't reduced the price, then she can't exactly be desperate for the money. So I certainly wouldn't offer £6 for it. Probably wouldn't go any lower than offering £10.

However as you said - once you take into account how much you are having to pay for hay etc it probably works out at a similar amount, but you also have a larger school ontop of it.
 
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