Would you run a livery yard? Your opinions please!

[tigger01]

My daughter and I may have the chance to take over a livery yard. Local to us, although it's been rundown as a business, I think there are a lot of opportunities to do things with the business. The liveries who were there have gone now as obviously they were worried about their future. The yard is a lovely American barn with fantastic hacking on the doorstep, a very large outdoor school, possibly a horsewalker too. I am very unsure whether to proceed with this. The yard has successfully run competitions and clinics in the past which were very well supported. Thing is, in this economic climate will people still want to pay for full livery, with good service, and great hacking.

Also anyone any ideas on how to approach organisations seeking grants etc. I am going to ring the British Equestrian Fed as I think they may be a ble to advise me.

 

[Cop-Pop]

I'd run a livery yard but I'd be very careful about liveries I allowed on having been on several yards with total nutjobs on them! It sounds like a great opportunity No help with grants tho apart from asking your local business link.

 

[Keimanp]

Many years ago now my mum (and two friends) got bored of doing the livery yard migration as no matter what yard you were on in the area there was something that wasn't done for the care of the horses, in the end in May 99 she and her two friends went round knocking on farmers doors and asking if they could have some land to run a livery yard for a nominal rent. I have since left moving my horses to where I now live but the yard is still going strong.

Having it all set up ready for you to move in to run sounds attractive. I presume by take over you mean renting off the land owner? Whilst the economic climate may have an effect on the number of liveries you get, you can counteract this with being competitve.

Will it be your's and your daugters only source of income?

I would probably go for it, It appears to be a good opportunity and they don't always come around that often

 

[Bosworth]

All depends on where you are, down here in rural Devon full livery is not really required as loads of land, and people do not tend to commute such long journeys so have time to do their own horses. You also need to check out the financials, what will people be prepared to pay for full livery, what are your overheads including all the insurances you need and business rates. Also you have to take into account the current economic climate, loads of people have down sized, moved to DIY to save money, reduced the number of horses they have.

 

[Kenzo]

What were the reasons exactly why it failed as a business before?

For example was it just badly run with a lazy YO who didn't really give monkeys, or was there not enough income coming in to keep up with the up keep of the yard as well as making an wage from it.

You have to think about where you will source your hay/haylage/staw/shavings etc from if you are running the business as a full livery as well as mainting the land and buildings which will involve working on the land and building work, therefore having your own equipment, or paying somone else for their servies like a local farmer.

Insurance etc is another factor if you are running a livery yard as well as competitions.

I think anyone is willing to pay for full livery, with good service, and great hacking like you say providing your not way out of everyone's price range or fellow livery yards in your area, you could offer part livery at weekends so it encourages people who may not wish to pay top prices for full livery.

 

[ponypilotmum]

yes i would run one, and hope to within the next two years. my plan is to buy the land, so i have no outgoings on that front, just running costs, using the land as investment therefore not needing to have livery spaces filled. i'll run diy for select few, then cheap stabling livery and camping facilities for the competition ground nearby when they have two-four day events going on, and beat their overnight stabling prices. hay/ straw/ shavings will come via ag merchant nearby, and use the competition ground and facilities to keep my livery costs down (it's just a two minute hack away, no roads, and will be available for hire).

as far as i'm aware you can't get grants for this kind of thing.

several full livery yards in he area are struggling.

 

[honetpot]

No.
I know a couple of people who have owned them/run them and they are just a headache with bad manners thrown in as a side order.
When you sit and do your costing, if you include your time realisticly you will probrobly realise you would end up with more money and less worry stacking shelves in Tesco.

 

[mulledwhine]

After reading some posts on here, no never ;D

 

[Flashpaddler]

I've thought about it to the point of doing some figures. However, even for a DIY yard with minimal staff, I couldn't make it pay. Insurance, business taxes and actual or proposed environmental costs very quickly ruled it out - and that was without borrowing to get the yard. I reckon just one unseen eventuality would mean running at a loss. Much easier to put the nest egg in the Halifax and do nothing!

I'd love to run a yard but you'd need a lot of diversification (and therefore investment) so,.........for that reason, I'm out!

 

[cptrayes]

I've thought about it to the point of doing some figures. However, even for a DIY yard with minimal staff, I couldn't make it pay. Insurance, business taxes and actual or proposed environmental costs very quickly ruled it out - and that was without borrowing to get the yard. I reckon just one unseen eventuality would mean running at a loss. Much easier to put the nest egg in the Halifax and do nothing!

I'd love to run a yard but you'd need a lot of diversification (and therefore investment) so,.........for that reason, I'm out!

Ditto. I couldn't make the sums add up to pay enough to make it worth doing.

 

[Monkers]

It's an awful lot of hard work! It may well be that the business has failed if they only offered full and part livery. People just don't have the money for luxury services at the moment.

Two years ago I had 20 full and part livery customers. Now I don't have any, they are all diy. I had to get rid of all but one of the staff, and I have to say I wouldn't go back to the full livery.

I make the same profit offering a basic service than I did with the full livery! I have far less staff and feed/ hay costs etc.

I would certainly advise anyone starting up a yard to offer DIY only. Don't employ any staff and don't include hay, feed etc. If this works out well and covers your costs (rent, electric, rates etc) you could gradually start offering services and employ one/ two staff members. If there is a demand for more, you can employ more staff.
Employing staff is a headache to be honest. They cost alot of money and time, not just in wages but in employer's liability insurance, H&S training, NI contributions, the list goes on and on. Even if you employ family members, you still have comply with all the legislation.
Much better starting without staff, than investing a small fortune in people and equipment before you start, as you might find there just isn't the client base to support your business.

 

[HBrae2]

Personally no. I prefer working in a cosy office and riding after work. But I think there is a need for flexible and reliable yards. I am lucky that I love my yard and it is very flexible (I'm full livery 365 days a year but all other options are available from assisted to DIY grass). When looking to move yards there was a real absence of this - yards were DIY only (no use for me in my job) or full livery only (ok for me but not for others). I am happy to pay quite a lot for what I consider a really good service and knowing that, if I can't go one night, my horse is PROPERLY looked after. I know I can turn up at any point and there are no surprises. I think if you can provide an excellent service and people know they can trust you to care for their horse as if it was your own (and not cut corners) then there are plenty of full livery people who would love your yard compared to some of the horror stories! I don't know about the financial situation in your area but there are a lot of people who can (and do) pay full livery in most places. Good luck if you decide to go ahead : )