Yard imposing haylage surcharge - is it legal

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Scottish_Miss

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Yard owner came around yesterday saying all liveries shall incur a surcharge due to the amounts of haylage we are going through due to weather. Each horse shall be an additional £15 - now as you can imagine not very impressed as I make sure I get my horse out every day and clear my own paths to fields - most dont bother..... And am not using any more haylage than normal, as I get him out.Feel very angry as this sets a precedence that he can just add these 'surcharges' as and when he feels like it!!!



Did suggest they allocate a ration each horse - but that would involve work on the yard part and they dont really do much work!
Anyone know if this is legal - as we are getting a few days notice till bill comes out?

or anyone else had this done to them.
thanks
 
Sounds unfair....do you get the option to source your own extra haylage and supply that to your horse if necessary?
 
Is this £15 a week or a month? Is the yard owner putting haylage out in the field?

Check your contract re additional charges although at the moment I seem to be burning through hay.
 
Seems perfectly reasonable to me, given the price and availability of hayledge.

Have you explained to him that you aren't using any more than usual and therefore the surcharge shouldn't apply to you. You shouldn't have to pay the surcharge if you aren't using more than usual.
 
If more haylage is being consumed then the YO has to cover the extra cost. Previous yard included cost of straw in livery but suddenly decided to charge £3 p/w per horse. With three horses my bill suddenly went up £36 a month, despite the fact that during the summer they were out 24/7 and not using any straw. Seemed a bit unfair, but as the YO's were providing a well run yard, didn't worry too much.
Currently having to pay extra for hay in the fields due to increased prices and frozen grass. Mine are stabled for part of the day, where they eat hay I have bought privately, but thats my choice, so fair enough.
 
I've got my horses at home, and can't believe how much more it is costing me to buy hay this year - on top of that we are consuming more than "normal" as they have been inside much more due to the weather. I would estimate that I'm probably spending at least £12/week more per horse than I was last year... So yes I don't blame the YO for putting the price up.. If you look back to any thread on how much people earn from doing livery, you'd see its not much, so to have to find the extra yourself (if you're a YO) is not fair. Having said that, I would think that they should give you some decent notice (A month I would say..)
 
As the weather is out of the ordinary then yes I'd expect to have to pay more

In Jan/Feb if the weather is 'normal' then I wouldnt expect to have to pay it

They must have bought enough in to cover the average winter, if consumption rises because the weather is unusual then they have to buy more

Sadly I doubt that its easy for you to 'prove' that you arent taking any more than normal

But if I was paying a surcharge I'd make sure my horse got plenty!
 
My horses are out at night (4pm to 8am) and in during the day. Shock horror lol. Rugged up, haylage in field, all happy and no hoolying around because of being kept in. But we're having to pay extra for a large haylage bale in the field. Normally, the 8 horses are out at night on 12 acres so plenty of grass (fibre in tums even if the nutritional value not that high in winter). But they can't graze now because the whole poxy county is under 8 inches of snow. So of course it's OK for liveries to have to pay for haylage that the horses wouldn't normally be eating. And just for the record, it is legal. Contracts change all the time to reflect the changing world. Sadly, if it doesn't work for you then I guess you'd have to look round for alternative livery but beware, it's almost certainly having to happen right across the UK!
 
No shock horror at yours being out at night - we used to have a number of liveries who had OTT horses so they were rugged upto the eyeballs and chucked out at night. Nicer horses!
 
Would expect it tbh given the weather, availability of hay and haylge and the increased cost of these. The yo must pass on these costs. It is probably nigh on impossible to judge exactly what each person is useing and wasting so I guess the fairest thing is an increase in charges for everyone.
The same has happened at our yard, I was a bit gutted as it is v expensive anyway and we don't waste a speck of hay (in contrast with many of the other liveries!) but the yo needs to cover their costs so increases must be passed on. Just one of those things tbh.
 
FestiveNeighs said:
Would expect it tbh given the weather, availability of hay and haylge and the increased cost of these. The yo must pass on these costs. It is probably nigh on impossible to judge exactly what each person is useing and wasting so I guess the fairest thing is an increase in charges for everyone.
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I have to agree.
 
We are going to stop supplying the few people we the sheep are eating out of house and homes and they come first the horse people wont like it but what else cn we do? also going to look at buying carrots/parsnips/ potatoes to feed cattle to eek out forage.
 
my foals and sheep are eating an awful lot of hay at present. I hear small bale is selling for £8 and people are paying up to £120 for a heston bale of hay. Wish I had a barn full to sell.
 
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