YOs & YMs-when only one livery wants haylege...?

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ChestnutConvert

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All my liveries are on hay as standard one may want haylege instead all year round. Do you have this on your yard? One horse surely won't get through a bale and the others definately won't be given any.
If it is needed for one and not as standard them does the livery buy it in as really it isn't included?
 
I'm not a Y/O but I do feed my horse haylage. It takes him about a month to get through a big round bale and it lasts fine. Cool, dry storage is key. At the end of the day if the livery wants it but ends up with wastage, he/she pays for it...
 
Thank you i do my best to cater for people and horses needs, thay aren't on cheap feed etc to save money and all extras are agreed not just decided by me, but you can't always buy what everyone wants!
 
Not a YO either and luckily mine provided my hay even when everyone else was on haylage and I needed small bales of hay. I pay per bale though, so if your base rate includes hay and you want the livery to get their own haylage, I would expect the base rate to go down suitably. It might get difficult allowing one person to get their own hay/haylage in though and not others... others might start saying they prefer to use this hay or that hay that they can source themselves and cheaper than you sell it to them at - not saying you make a profit on it at all just saying that life will be more complicated than if you remain in control of all supplies! The liveries that use haylage on my yard use a big round dry bale about every month and they last fine.
 
In that situation, if it was just the one person who wanted it and none of the other liveries were interested, we would expect them to buy their own. However because ours are full liveries and hay is included, if they were buying haylage instead we would give them a small discount off their livery bill for not using our hay.
 
There are companies that do small bay haylage, a small bay lasts one horse 2-3 days so much more do-able. If you have the space to allow the livery to buy in just let her sort it out herself. The company I used delivered in pallets so they didn't take up much space.
 
joosie said:
In that situation, if it was just the one person who wanted it and none of the other liveries were interested, we would expect them to buy their own. However because ours are full liveries and hay is included, if they were buying haylage instead we would give them a small discount off their livery bill for not using our hay.
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This.

This is also the reason that I do not include hard feed in the Livery fee, everyone wants something different.
 
I buy my own haylage on a yard that provides hay as standard, and get a discount of £12 off my livery a week as this is what he would eat in hay if he was on it.
 
My other liveries are more than happy woth the hay that is included and to be honest even they admit that they don't hace the time or want to source things themselves hence why they are on 7 day part.
I had a livery over one winter that put her horse on haylege that she paid for but was her choice.
 
I put my horse on haylage at a yard that didn't do haylage, hay was included in part livery. I didn't get any money off. From my YOs perspective she was still providing fthe hay and storing it, up to me if I used it.

I would suggest that unless they guarantee to accept all the wastage and you are happy re the space it will take up that you get them to go for something like horsehage or locally produced alternative small bake haylage, no waste, less space taken up.

Whether you take anything off the livery is up to you, it's entirely at discretion. I would suggest if the haylage is being used for health related reasons eg dust allergy, poor doer needing building up or after sickness then I would make a full reduction but if not then maybe halfway house would be reasonable?
 
At my previous yard, hay was provided as standard. My horse had to have haylage, but I had to buy it (bought the small packs as I went along, just took one at a time as needed) and no discount. That was ok by me, as I was the odd one out lol
 
On my livery yard, what is provided is provided, and if you want anything different/extra then you pay for it yourself. My YO will often even pick things up for me if she's collecting her own, but I have to pay for it. Thankfully all of ours are on haylage!!!
 
At work one of the liveries wanted their horse to have hay ledge not hay, so we got it hayledge :S we buy the small wrapped blaes of our hay guy and give it to her when the others have hay, doesn't work out much more expensive than the hay tbh on elf the other liveries wanted both so we use our hay which is included, and she buys her own haylege
 
I'm a livery, not a YO, and if I want something different to the standard package I expect to pay for the alternative feed / bedding / forage, and I wouldn't expect any money off. I'm currently on my own preferred feed, and the YO has to find extra space to store it, make up something more complicated than the usual forage nut / chaff / beet pulp bucket ... it's my choice to feed something different, so I wouldn't expect money off.
 
I am YO to 35 horses.
I order in hay for everyone. One horse currently on haylage, owner buys in her own and I have given her storage space and £5/week (summer) off her full livery bill. New livery so haven't discussed winter but we'll work something out. Up to her to manage storage, mould, etc! I don;t make (much) profit on the hay I order in so don't mind if people want to get it some somewhere else or haylage, etc. It's all about the storage space on my yard!
 
I'm a YO, I provide haylage as standard in all my livery packages, if a client insisted on having hay, I would source and supply hay, but wouldn't charge any less. I realise that way is simpler as hay doesn't go off and you see what you buy, too, so, in your situation, I would calculate how much more it would cost to feed the horse haylage (in small or medium bales) as opposed to hay, increase the livery charge accordingly and source the haylage myself. I like to be in charge of my supplies, storage etc.
 
Mixed views then :o
As i said before i accomodate other feeds to a point, if it is too expensive to be included as a 'regular feed' as per contract then liveries buy it in them selves and i feed it. They know this before signing anything as we loosely discuss the feed that they are on.
I do have limited storage space as it is taken up with my hay and straw so would have to look into that. Will see what she wants in the end and go from there, thanks for the reply's though.
 
Probably easier if they buy their own in small bales.
Will only cost you a bit of storage but you will be keeping your livery happy.
Less hassle than buying in and selling it on to the one livery.
 
As a livery client, if I wanted to feed haylage and the YO would only supply hay, I'd expect to be able to buy in small bales and I would expect a reduction in livery of the amount I would have been paying for the YO's hay IYSWIM? I wouldn't be prepared to pay for hay I wasn't using.
 
She obviously has her reasons for wanting to feed haylage so think it would be nice for you to accommodate if you can, either by sourcing for her or reducing her bill if she sources her own.
 
Flame_ said:
As a livery client, if I wanted to feed haylage and the YO would only supply hay, I'd expect to be able to buy in small bales and I would expect a reduction in livery of the amount I would have been paying for the YO's hay IYSWIM? I wouldn't be prepared to pay for hay I wasn't using.
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(Devils Advocate) This is quite a contentious issue. If your livery yard had an arena but you never used it as all you wanted to do was hack out would you expect a reduction for not using it? You probably wouldn't because it's there for you to use & its your decision not to use. This same thought could be put to hay provided but you want haylage. If hay is in the livery package & you decide to use alternative feed to that in the package then the YO may alter your bill but they would be in their rights to charge you as normal & the haylage on top.
 
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