Costs of hay and shavings etc when owning a boarding facility?

[fordtraktor]

I agree there is not much money to be made in boarding. I board a few because I have space and it’s good for tax reasons but the actual income is negligible.

clanter, pellets are $5.95 here at the store and only occasionally come down to $5. I wish they were $4! My bedding costs are significant when I have horses in, so I also keep them out as much as possible. I am a good stall cleaner but I have a couple of horses that are TOTAL PIGS and they go through ten times the bedding the neat horses do.

[Tiffani_B]

Hay - half a bale/day per horse on average. When they are turned out for 12 hours a day, it’s less. When they’re inside all day, it’s more. So I figure 15 bales/month per horse.

Shavings - I add a bag every 3-4 days and I bed fairly deep. So that’s about 10 bags/month per horse. I also put down pellets on the wet spots. For two horses, I go through about ten 40-pound bags/month.

Other expenses - insurance, arena maintenance, replacing buckets/pitchforks/muck buckets/crossties/etc everything breaks all the time, fencing/gate repairs, trash removal, electric, bug and rodent control, labor, tractor/utility vehicle, gas… it never ends and it’s almost impossible to make any kind of profit.

[betsyk]

In addition to your research here, get in the car and drive around your area, identify the facilities that look similar to what yours would be, set up a time to talk with the owners and managers. That will be the best cost comparison, because they’ll be able to tell you “we used to buy shavings from that guy and he was cheap but unreliable, and we get grain from this place because they carry 3 brands instead of one.”

[melula]

We purchase and truck large (1,500 lb) bales by the semi, which reduces the price of a delivered load (300 miles one way) to 175- 250/ton depending on the year and cutting (I’m in an area where Bermuda is king so I bring in brome and alfalfa). After 5 years and some diligence, we have solid relationships with a handful of growers. If I really like a load, I’ll buy all the grower has provided he can store it and dole it to me by the truckload. We also sell the hay to local farms which drops our per ton price lower. Because we use large bales, we need a utility vehicle and trailer to feed and a substantial tractor/skid steer to move the bales.

We started also buying bagged shavings by the semi load from a dedicated shavings manufacturer. By-product shavings from other wood industry are too dusty for horses IMO. Storage can be an issue.

It feels like we break even, but boarding covers my horses’ care, lessons, the mortgage, and the machinery.

[gumtree]

“It feels like we break even, but boarding covers my horses’ care, lessons, the mortgage, and the machinery”

Not “picking on” the this comment nor being snarky. Just using it as an example of why it is hard for those who try/want to make boarding their “business”. Their livelihood not a side job/business.

Anyone that is in the business of boarding to make a living knows, should know exactly what their profit margins are. If their business is profitable or not. Generating enough income to pay the fixed costs and the mortgage/lease on the property isn’t making a living. The owner still has personal expenses and has to pay themselves well enough to not only cover their personal expenses but enough to left over to bank some. Not only for their future security but the business also.

If a business is only breaking even it generally means they are not charging enough for their services. This maybe fine for a hobby horse business. But that dog don’t hunt for those who are in the boarding business for their livelihood.

Hobby boarding businesses are hard to compete with. They can and do undercut the market.

[DHCarrotfeeder]

@melula

Because we use large bales, we need a utility vehicle and trailer to feed and a substantial tractor/skid steer to move the bales.

It would be nice to go with large bales, but needing a $10k skid-steer to move them would set back any savings for years.

[Equibrit]

Hay in Tennessee; http://www.productionacres.com/

[DHCarrotfeeder]

@gumtree

DO NOT think that you can “afford” a bigger property/farm by assuming you can “swing it” by offering, relying on boarding income, horse service income. More times than not it will become a ball and chain. It can and does strain a relationship. IMO 80+% of people aren’t cut out for it. Buy a property that you can close down the boarding side of things at any time and still live within your means.

This, I believe, is the essence of the subject. And I agree with his recommendation.

If more than one individual will have responsibility for goings-on in the barn, make it clear who does what. Everything.

Financially, make it clear where the money comes from to pay for what and if there is boarding income, what role that plays.

David

[subk]

I am in Middle Tn and think you’ve gotten some good advice here. I have my own horses at home and on occasion a single boarder. The one thing that hasn’t been taken into account in this discussion is pasture. I actually spend quiet a bit on maintaining high quality pasture (I have an over abundance of acreage per horse so it is particularly high) and it is a significant expense–right up there with feed, hay and shavings. It’s diesel for bush hogging, diesel and chemical expense for weed management and annual fertilizing cost–all before the labor to do those jobs.

My horses are turned out 12-16 hours each night regardless of season and quality pasture is the focus of my nutrition program. The non-TBs get a token amount of feed and a token amount of hay. Even the TBs get relatively small amounts. We have a climate here that usually supports viable pasture 10-11 months a year–a particularly cold winter or a fall drought might extend that a couple months, and in a mild winter we might never totally lose it.

Other than the “rain in the 30s” or icing the horses are out at night. We both prefer it. It is a significant money saver on shavings. The tidy guys get a bale of shavings a week and the slobs might get two bales a week. The point being here that how you chose to manage horses will have a significant impact on your expenses!

I agree with others that it’s a tough business to clear a profit in–typically its a loss leader for other services. Around here your location will be the decider on if you can make money–in a more high rent district and you could charge absolute top dollar if you were willing to provide the services. We do have quiet a few big budget boarding facilities and in the Nashville area and immediate surrounding counties the money/wealth is here to reliably support it.