Fair price for farm sitting - sort of?

[Gloria]

We will be out of town for four days (Thursday ~ Sunday), and I would like to have a friend to come and check on horses. The tasks include making sure that all horses have water (water troughs in two pastures), grain two horses, and muck out two stalls. The horses are in and out of the stalls so the mucking is quite minimum. We will fill the water trough before we leave so just want to make sure that they still have water, and if not, fill it up through a hose. Oh of course make sure nothing serious has happened, call us/vet if necessary. Horses will have round bale so no hay throwing. The total commute (both ways) for her is approximately 30 minutes.

How much should I offer her?

[Blume_Farm]

I pay a pet sitter $30/ trip to do exactly what you describe.

[GoForAGallop]

She has to come just once a day? Or twice?

For an hour and a half of work (drive time has to be included), I’d expect no less than $25/day as reasonable.

[Gloria]

Once a day, GoForGallop.

[SMF11]

I believe in paying really well so your farmsitter will want to come back any time you need her. Plus I do live in a very expensive area, so you have to adjust for that. I would probably pay $50/day . . . or $45. Around that; assuming she’s super responsible and you really want her available to you.

[2DogsFarm]

1h RT can be pricy depending on what gas costs in your area.
I drive 1h each way to volunteer & gas is now costing me about $10 for the RT.
Factor that in to what you will pay your friend.

Mucking stalls may be minimal, but if it includes dumping a wheelbarrow that is more work.
My 2 horses live outside too w/access to stalls.
I ask my farmsitters to just toss poop into the paddock attached to the stalls (I pick up when I get back).

Also let your vet know who is authorized to call in an emergency & be aware vet may ask you to secure payment with a credit card.
(My vet of nearly 20yrs does not, but YMMV)

I pay my farmsitter $20 for 2 daily visits that include graining/haying & refilling water buckets in stalls for my 2 and tossing poop as described above.
He works at the feedstore about 5min from my farm, so no gas $$ is included in that figure.

[littlebaypony]

I charge $10/horse/day. That includes feeding, haying, mucking, medicating, picking feet, blanketing if necessary, bringing in the mail and newspaper, checking horses for wounds or other problems. Because the people I work for always treat me very nice and their horses are well behaved I’m never opposed to doing a little extra like scrubbing buckets or grooming a horse or two.

[AlterGrad]

I pick up a lot of farm and house sitting jobs in the PNW, and have one client that has a very similar set-up to you. That client pays $50/day, and usually adds on a hefty tip for longer stays. I also stay at their farm overnight, which adds an extra 30 minutes to my commute to my day job.

As a house sitter myself, I agree with some of the above posters about higher reimbursement usually resulting in an individual who will be available more often to stay and to go above and beyond in emergency situations.

[NotAtTheBarn]

I pick up a lot of farm and house sitting jobs in the PNW, and have one client that has a very similar set-up to you. That client pays $50/day, and usually adds on a hefty tip for longer stays. I also stay at their farm overnight, which adds an extra 30 minutes to my commute to my day job.

As a house sitter myself, I agree with some of the above posters about higher reimbursement usually resulting in an individual who will be available more often to stay and to go above and beyond in emergency situations.

[jawa]

If I have the farm sitter just come to feed once a day (fed on the fence rail, all feed prepackaged) for 2 horses with minimal pitching of poop out of runins and making sure water tubs are full, it is $15 a trip. She is 5 minutes from my house and I’m on her way to work. The time spent at the barn is 15-20 mins max.

When my horse was on stall rest and I had to go out of town, so twice a day and major stall cleaning twice a day and hay throwing, cold hosing…I paid her $50 a day.

If she stays at the house AND takes care of the dogs it is $45 a day. Which I think is a major bargain since she takes them for a long hike around the property each day she is here. I always leave the house fully stocked.

She asked if she could have a guest. I said yes, but no party and NO other dogs. My female lab is a royal B!t@h about other dogs. She is ready to throw down on the initial meeting. Once she has established herself as the top dog, she is friendly. I have to be hyper aware whenever we introduce new dogs to ensure that nobody gets hurt.

An added bonus is that my farm sitter works for the equine vet I use.

I do give her a tip on top of what her rate is. It varies as to the amount. Especially dependent on what was asked of her…more tip for the injured horse treatment (she was originally only supposed to come once a day to drop feed, but he got hurt the day before the big trip) or for when she stayed at the house in July and the AC died. We were able to arrange for the local HVAC company to come out and repair, but it was a hassle for her to sleep in a HOT house.

[Blume_Farm]

Gosh, I feel like you guys are getting such bargains! I pay my neighbor, who literally walks to my farm, $20/ trip M-F evenings to feed 3-4 horses and turn them out (no walking horses, just opening gates, no mucking). Takes her about 10-15 minutes.

When I go away she continues to do the M-F evening feedings so still pay her the $20/ trip. Then I have an employee of mine stay at my house. She will do the morning feeding/ turn in/ mucking the runs and I pay her $30/ day. If I leave my dogs home too (sometimes I leave them at my boarding facility) she has to care for them as well although it is easy as I have a dog door so no walking needed i will pay her $40/ day. So it costs me between $50-60/ day when I go away.

[SuckerForHorses]

As a farm sitter, for the job you describe, and the amount of time the trip is going to take, I would charge $50 per day.

[MintHillFarm]

I pay mine $100 a day for care of 7 horses, dog and cats.
She will stay over if need be. She’s also a Vet Tech which is great.

My horses can come and go out of their stalls 24/7 makes it easier and even better as I wouldn’t want her to have to bring in or out to their paddocks. There is still a fair amount of work/mucking though and I have her do a lunchtime check as well.

I would say it takes her about 4.5 hours with AM/Noon/PM chores.

[Hulk]

If the farm sitter is great, and does a really good, pay well is my thought. Having a farm sitter you can trust, that is reliable, and able to work per diem, is a super hot commodity that should be treated like gold, and lured back by good pay. No less than $40 a day. I would be a gracious tipper as well.

[Dramapony_misty]

I did that for 4 horses 2x per day (they were turned out half of the time so stalls were only done once) for about $20/day over 10 years ago and it was only a 10 minute drive to get there for me. For a longer drive, I would shoot for $40 or more per day.

[Gloria]

Thank you for everyone’s inputs. I talked to my husband, and I think we are going to do $50/day. The commute for two of those days for her are longer than I originally anticipated so we thought we’d bump it up a little bit.

[purplnurpl]

yup. that sounds good.

I have two friends who I feed for when needed.
Both pay me $50 a visit.
It’s a 20 minute drive to and 20 min drive home. So the trips usually take me 1.5 hours.

[Red_Barn]

I love my farm sitter.

She turns three horses out in the morning, cleans stalls, tosses hay and checks water in the middle of the day, brings them in at dusk, and - because she lives about 2 minutes away - even does a late check at 10:00. She does fly spray and masks in summer, blankets in winter, and meds if needed. Best of all, the horses love her.

And all this for 60 bucks a day.

[Forktomouth]

[QUOTE=littlebaypony;8093963]
I charge $10/horse/day. That includes feeding, haying, mucking, medicating, picking feet, blanketing if necessary, bringing in the mail and newspaper, checking horses for wounds or other problems. Because the people I work for always treat me very nice and their horses are well behaved I’m never opposed to doing a little extra like scrubbing buckets or grooming a horse or two.[/QUOTE]

I get payed (significantly) more than that to take care of ONE dog. IMO, $10 horse is really, really low.

I just did a similar pet sitting job for $35 a day, although I did come out twice (second time was just dumping grain and making sure they were alive). I’d say $25 would be fair.