Dealing w/ boarders VENT - Boarder won't stop using baby oil in her feed can lid...

[Seeker_11]

I have two vents / rants here.

1. Baby oil in feed can lid as bug control.

During times when we get a lot of rain we’ll have ants migrate into the feed stall.

Last year when we had REALLY bad rain I started a policy where all the boarders (all self and partial care boarders, who buy their own hay) thoroughly clean under their hay pallets each time they got a new load of hay, or at least monthly, so the ants (and mice) wouldn’t have places to hide, and so I could more effectively use bug spray (mostly concentrated fly spray / permethrin). I also use the boric acid around the base of the exterior of the barn to help.

I have one boarder that started taking her feed can (trash can) lid and pouring baby oil in it and then also applying the baby oil to the top rim of the can. ARRRRG!!! It is SO MESSY and annoying. Every time I grab the lid I’ve got baby oil all over my hand. More than once I’ve leaned into the can and gotten it on my clothes, and have gotten it on my face and even in my eyes by simply wiping my hair back, swatting at gnats or itching. I have to go wash my hands with soap as soon as I handle her feed can.

I told her once in writing that I didn’t think the practice was necessary and that for me what works well is taking my fly spray and spraying around the bottom 1/3rd of my feed container, including for my cat food container about once every one or two weeks.

But she kept on doing it.

WHYYYYYYYYYYY?!?!?!??!?!

I just had to send her an email to tell her to out right stop doing this and now I feel like some kind of barn Hitler. :eek:

2. I’ve got a small boarding barn that I’ve had for over 10 years. Most of these boarders have been here from 2 - 4 years. I only offer self and partial care board, where boarders have to buy their own feed/hay. In the contract they have to provide the food, and have it set up, ready to use. Which means hay stacked on their pallet and feed in their feed cans in plastic baggies ready to grab & pour. Also another condition of boarding here is that on the rare occasions I go out of town the barn becomes a co-op (I don’t hire someone we don’t know).

All but one of my boarders runs out of feed or hay at least 4-6 times a year. Which means at least once a month SOMEONE doesn’t have feed or hay when I go to feed.

I also have it in their contract that if they don’t have feed in their baggies and I have to scoop it out, or they don’t have feed or hay and it goes for more than two feedings (ie an AM and then PM) and I have to contact them to inform them, that there is a $1.00 fee per incident.

Well, holy cow, that becomes a book keeping practice that I’d rather not have for the level of income I get out here.

I just get so frustrated when they repeatedly do this.

I went out of town for three days this weekend and gave over 3 weeks notice I was going. One of my boarders didn’t have feed set up and one was out of hay on the day I left, and still hasn’t brought hay. I thought it ironic when another boarder, who runs out of feed and hay as well, emailed me to let me know that 'so and so doesn’t have any feed set up". :no:

I came home wanting to write a letter to everyone stating the expectations of the boarders and that going forward I wasn’t going to be as patient as I too have other full time responsibilities, and I don’t have the budget to hire ‘staff’.

I’m just as busy working a full time job (non horse related) and running the farm (10+ acres / 7 stalls), but I don’t run out of feed or hay (it might happen once in two years because the feed store simply doesn’t have anything).

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

And what really irks is when I see them on FACEBOOK… their horse is out of feed and they are off doing what ever other recreational activity they are out doing. ARRRRG!!!

I used to ‘loan’ boarders hay or feed if I went to their feed pallet and there was nothing because I felt bad for the horse. But I can’t help but feel like that TOTALLY fostered the idea of “Oh, it’s ok if I don’t get food there right away…” so I stopped doing it. Besides, I don’t want anyone else’s grain as ‘pay back’ because we all feed different grains.

ARG!

Ok… sorry… just had to vent. My non-horsey friends/family don’t understand.

I feel better now. :o

[AffirmedHope]

Don’t loan them hay or feed or if you feel bad for the horses (trust me I would as well!) write up a contract stating that each day you have to supply feed, you will add a $10 per day charge to the following months boarding bill.

[o0rxkxrox0o]

My thoughts:
#1: I’d let her know that if she doesn’t stop with the baby oil, she can either make up her feed herself, or pay me a cleaning fee, since it’s getting on your clothes as well.

#2: $1 isn’t a deterrent, it’s a slap on the wrist. I’d say a higher number may make them be more responsible, maybe $5-$10/day. It sounds ridiculous, but honestly, the idea is that you DON’T get that because they’re doing what they should be and making sure their horses have their needs met.

[Calamber]

Give them notice that if this happens again you are going to change to full price board including feed.

[Mango20]

I think it would be easier if you just provided the hay for everyone (with the appropriate increase in board fees). That way, you’ll never run out, and you’ll know that all the horses will at least have something to eat every day. If they run out of grain, they’ll be fine and you can just let it go until the owner gets around to noticing. I also think you need to charge them significantly more than a dollar when you have to inform them. For most, $1 is probably no big deal, so they just wait for their reminder to buy more stuff.

[amastrike]

Increase the fine and implement a 3 strikes policy. You run out of hay 3 times, you need to find a new place to board.

Tell oily boarder that you will not be feeding grain until the bin is clean.

[partlycloudy]

Self care just never works…

[see_u_at_x]

[QUOTE=partlycloudy;7718435]
Self care just never works…[/QUOTE]

Actually, self care can work really well provided everyone does their part. In my experience, though, it usually ends up failing due to psycho barn managers or barn owners who steal my hay or grain or who get pissed off because I’m capable of managing my horses better than they can. I do not think that is the case with the OP, however.

[SMF11]

Wait, if you are doing all the labor (are you?) what’s the benefit of this arrangement?

Why not just charge more and offer full board?

[Seeker_11]

I mostly just came here to vent.

The BABY OIL THING… how many of you would that drive TOTALLY NUTS???

I told my farrier the other day and he just shook his head and said “Now that would out right piss me off”. I just don’t understand the logic. Not one oily bit!!!

I can’t have a full care facility, I work full time, and buying and keeping hay is one of the horse care things I hate the most. I don’t have a lot of hay storage and last year I lost nearly $200 on hay that went bad just for my own small herd. Aside from that, boarders tend to feed different hays. Buying for my own 3 horses is time consuming and responsibility enough (ie money tied up in stored hay, getting good hay sources, etc). Esp in late winter when hay gets hard to get.

And, did I mention it is just me? I hate loading and unloading hay. I mean, I just really hate it. I’m 43 and I’m done with all that hard labor. I get paid more at my day job.

I make more money at my ‘day job’ than I would in the time it would take me to run a full board facility, and just can not get involved with hiring and managing ‘staff’. It is just me running this place (I don’t have family to help). The time and stress wouldn’t be justified for the income (I haven’t had much demand for full care, but when I’ve had them here they were the kind who wanted their horses brought in during sudden thunderstorms, for example, the kind of pickiness that is above what I can offer).

My labor involves grabbing baggies of feed and flakes of hay, feeding the critters, turning them out and bringing them in. I also have a bit less liability when I don’t have to provide the grain and hay.

I often wonder if public humiliation would keep them from doing it repeatedly. I was going to start attaching a note to their feed can, or writing it on the white board, with the date/time their horse ran out of X, so that everyone else would see it.

What kills me is there is a feed store, a good feed store, with in 3 minutes of the farm, but most of them still buy their feed from like 12 miles away. :-\ And no horse here has special dietary needs. It is ironic that they, for whatever reason, are so loyal to the other feed store or the brand they carry that they’ll get the feed from a farther distance… but yet run out of feed on such a regular basis.

sigh I. Just. Don’t. Get. It.

[IronwoodFarm]

I am not a fan of self-care for the reasons in the OP’s post, but it can work. I completely agree with raising fees considerably for folks who can’t get with the program. $1 is too little. I would have a “running out of feed or hay” fee as well as a “lack of baggie” fee.

The hay situation is a bit trickier because there are people who will feed vast quantities if they are not paying directly for it.

But yeah, it is time to write a firm but nice notice to all boarders about the new rules. Winter is not that far away and you want to get the rules well established before it becomes a total nightmare.

As for the baby oil boarder, I would give her a final warning – the oil is going or she is going. Period. Sometimes you have to be that plain spoken.

And one final comment about the new rules, whatever they may be. YOU MUST ENFORCE THEM. No exceptions, no deviation. Regardless of whining and howling, do not set up new rules and let the them slide.

[mpsbarnmanager]

This is why co-op’s simply do. not. work.

[trubandloki]

I have to agree that the $1 fee for running out of grain/hay is not enough at all. Hardly a deterrent. I would very much raise that fee.

What exactly do you do if they have no hay? Feed nothing?

[Seeker_11]

We do ok with the hay situation here. Everyone is cool with my method for doing it. I start out with the 1.5% of body weight rule in the winter (I’ll grab some flakes of what they have and get a feel for what their hay weighs). As long as they are not wasting it I’ll start adjusting it in the spring as I start noticing horses not finishing their hay, I don’t throw them as much.

They all get one pallet of space in the feed room stall. On that pallet a woman can safely / reasonably put six 50 pound bales of hay and one trash can for feed. For us, that is an average of about two weeks worth of hay over the course of the year.

And when you set up baggies, count them out. I feed my horses two different kinds of pellets, and I’ve counted out how many scoops are in each different bag. I know about how long a bag feed at a particular rate should last me.

It isn’t hard to estimate when you’ll be due for horse groceries if you just stop and think a little. And everyone out here has a smart / cell phone. I don’t get why they won’t put it on their calendar and set an alert.

All the horses here are just recreational critters, no one is in hard work. I have one fattie, but all the others are well within the range of average size / weight and between 6 - 14 years of age. It shouldn’t be difficult. Esp when I see what everyone does on FACEBOOK on an average day (people going out to eat, going to the movies, going shopping, etc etc etc).

trubandloki - If a boarder runs out of feed I don’t feed that horse anything. Much better in my opinion to not suddenly change feeds like that, so I’ll throw them more of their hay. If they run out of hay I don’t do anything, they just get their grain. I used to throw a horse hay but over the years my boarders like this have trained me that if they don’t care, why should I? By throwing their horse hay it actually made them lazier about going to get hay before they ran out. :-\

Now, I’m not saying that if someone sent me a text saying they suddenly had an emergency I’d leave them high and dry. That isn’t the case.

Again, esp when I see that they are out living a ‘social life’ on Facebook.

---

My issue with the fine (in the first place) is I’ve actually got to issue some kind of INVOICE before their board due date, and keep track of this. Which puts more stress on me than it is honestly worth. Honestly. Or, with the wrong person, opening a debate on how many feedings they had set up, etc.

I think I’d rather try for the public humiliation route.

[trubandloki]

It might be worth it to take the time to send out a text when a boarder is getting low on things. I realize this is more work for you but in the long run it will save you frustration. “Sparkle dust is getting low on grain” “Dobbin is down to one bale of hay”, etc.

[ChocoMare]

I do self-care and it works BECAUSE (no, not bragging, just stating the truth), I am anal about my horse’s care, I’m there every single day, I was brought up right and would be MORTIFIED if I had to ask the property manager for anything since IT’S NOT THEIR RESPONSIBILITY.

Alas, Seeeker 11, since you provide some services, they figure you’ll do it for them just cuz. You’re being taken advantage of. To me, self care is that: 100% my responsibility to acquire my hay, my feed and provide everything my horses need with my own two hands and feet.

Do they help me every now and then with firing up the tractor to move a round bale? Yes, occasionally. But they offer, I don’t ask. There have been many times, I grunted my way thru pushing a 350 pound round out to the pasture cuz IT’S MY RESPONSIBILITY.

Seeker darlin’… you need a new contract, with stricter penalties for violating the guidelines/rules, you need to enforce them across the board, no exceptions. Until you do, you’ll get railroaded again and again. If you’d like to see mine, I’ll gladly share.

There are many like me out there. Find them and they’ll stay!

[cyriz_s_mom]

Change your fee to $10/day. Put a dry erase board up in the feed room. Everytime someone incurs a fee, put it on the board. Make it THEIR responsibility to see if and how much they owe before the next board is due. If they don’t, then charge them a late fee for that.

Make them responsible and quit enabling their behavior.

[Calamber]

I would not have boarders who caused me this much aggravation.

[Heinz_57]

Not that it makes it excusable, but I can see why you’re having problems if the boarders only have space to store 6 small bales of hay each. My ONE horse goes through 40-50lb of hay and 10lb of grain (and no, he’s not in heavy work) a day. With that amount of storage, I’d need to get hay more than once a week! Not really easy to do for a boarder if you don’t have a truck of your own. Increasing hay storage would probably greatly reduce the number of run outs, at least as far as hay is concerned.

Or, go to a feed-your-own system, take yourself out of the equation. Most of the self-care places I’ve been in the past would feed AM, IF hay and grain were set out in front of the stall prepared the night before. You were responsible for PM feeding and if you didn’t set your AM out, sorry, no food for horsie. Some places have also had a generous policy about running out of hay - IF you run out and we have to feed your horse our hay, you buy the whole bale at $X price.

I think you’re stuck. Either you have to deal with invoicing and charging extra fees, or you have to deal with them running out of stuff all the time. Personally, I would not choose to board self care at a place that only had 2 weeks worth of storage for my hay - anybody around here that sells by the bale is charging twice the price, if not 3x when we get to the middle of winter! I buy what I need for the year, but that kind of storage is obviously not economical for a boarding facility.

[BeeHoney]

You don’t mention what your self/partial care board charge is, but I can pretty much guarantee it isn’t worth what you are getting paid to have to be sending texts/reminding people about when their feed or hay is low. All the things you discuss in your post pretty much explain why self care and part care board is generally a bad deal for the barn owner. The owners can run out of feed or hay or flake out or do weird things and you are pretty much at their mercy because you are stuck with an animal on your hands that needs to be fed and cared for anyway.

Instead of stressing out about people doing weird things or not following through with their responsibilities, you need to change your business practices to fairly compensate you for what you are having to do. Firstly, I’d tell boarder #1 clearly and pleasantly that she needs to clean her feed can and discontinue using the oil, or alternatively you will clean it and charge her a $25 cleaning fee. You absolutely do not need to tolerate your boarders making your job unreasonably and unnecessarily messy. I’d also probably be thinking about raising rates and then I’d also add a significant charge for back up care for those who run out of feed or who fail to keep up their end of the bargain. You could keep extra feed and hay on hand, and then charge a fee if you need to use that for a horse. The fee has to cover 1) double-triple the actual cost of the feed and hay (because you have to stock it for unexpected use), something for your time for having to deal with it, something for the time you spend having to do the bookkeeping of such incidents, and something for the hassle of having to do unexpected extra work.