Stall Help Pay/Time

[alterisfine]

Hello

I am looking to reconfigure our barn help and wanted to get some feedback on how much time it takes for other barns help to get things done. Here’s what we have

we have 17 horses on the property. 10 - 12x13 stalls, 2 small standing stalls (or tie stalls) and 3- 10x8 pony stalls. We want our stall help to clean stalls, rebed, rake aisle, water (2 buckets per stall) and give 2 flakes of hay per stall. I know how long it takes me to do the job, but it seems like anyone we hire takes at least 1.5-2x the amount of time.

I want to be reasonable, but we also need to budget our salary dollars.

Can anyone give me some examples of how long it takes them or their staff to do a similar job?

Thanks!

[Ambitious_Kate]

Clean stalls in the morning after all the stalls have been occupied all night?

I know that took me until noon, say 8 to noon, when I was doing that a while back. Most of the other workers, inc. barn manager, had it done by 11 or noon. That was mucking pretty deeply bedded stalls. I have dont is quicker at my trainer’s barn where the stalls are much less bedded - we use pellets on mats about 2 bags per stall. Makes a much faster clean - pick up the bad stuff and don’t have to hunt through for it. So it depends on alot, as to how long the stalls have been occupied and what kind of bedding and how much. I guess.

[Toaster]

It takes me roughly 2-2.5 hours (3 if I’m dawdling or everyone needs a blanket change) to feed/turnout around 25 horses, muck 13 stalls (generally most do not need total re-bedding), fill water buckets/toughs, and toss hay in stalls. I get paid $40 to do this and how long it takes me to complete the tasks is up to me but a good quality job is expected. However I have my horse out at the farm so it is already worth the trip and I am vested in the care of the horses so I always do a good a job.

[Ambitious_Kate]

Frankly, what my trainer does is give a job a certain number of hours which is reasonably takes, say 4 hours for morning feed and cleaning (10 stalls) including what you are talking about, and 2.5 hours for the evening clean and feed and making up the am feed pans. Most of her barn workers are working in exchange for lessons, so she ‘gives’ 20.00 an hour, and three evenings a week equal one lesson and 2 mornings equal one lesson, forget how it works now. But the hours have been established for some time, and once you get the hang, its a fair allotment of hours, so you aren’t being cheated or anything. Sometimes you can finish early, sometimes a half hour late, depending on stuff going on.

I don’t know if that’s how other barns would do it, though, so I don’t know if that helps you.

I always liked that because in the evening, I could take my time and chat, move a little slower or take 15 mins to watch the end of another (high level) lesson, clean something a little more thoroughly, etc and not worry I was tasking my trainer money-wise for doing so.

In the morning, I could get there for an extra early start, whirl through the work at super speed if neede to get done and get onto something else during the day and get the work done in 3 hours if I needed to and still be compensated for the work done, not the time it took to do it. If that makes sense.

[judybigredpony]

My Barn Person arrive aprox 5 AM she dumps feed for 11 horses in box stalls on straw…drops hay/ straw and turns out 6-7 horses. Cleans the 11 stalls using a Gator with a hydronic dump bed to dispose no wheel narrow, fills n hangs haynets cleans dumps water buckets 2 to a stall and re fills ( long hose) power blows the aisle , turns on fans, rakes exterior and is gone by 9:30 at latest most days…she also brings horses back in when super hot n buggy…It takes me 4 hours so she is right on track.
Previous person took much longer but she did feed turn outs and fill outside water troughs a job that takes maybe 30 extra minutes…she was here 7 hours…It’s all,about a routine a plan and working efficantly. Keeping barn well set up to be user friendly helps and starting out with a clean stocked set up.

[Crazy4aOTTB]

I work off board at my barn and instead of being paid by the hour we are paid by the job/stalls. We get $10.00 to feed and $5.00 per stall (picking, waters emptied and refilled, hay put in the stall for next feeding and adding bedding if needed) So if I feed in the AM & PM and do stalls (8 stalls) its $50 a day. My previous barn paid an extra $5 (so $15.00 for feedings) in the winter when you had to deal with blankets.

[Blume_Farm]

If I were you and looking for just straight barn help I would pay by the stall for cleaning/water/ feed. This way they can go as fast or slow as they want. In the past I paid $3/ stall and that was for 10 stalls, so $30 and it took me about 2 hours to do the work. My trainer now pays $10/hour to her barn help that cleans stalls/ feeds and sweeps the aisle.

[Ambitious_Kate]

Otherwise, you could be paying for say a half day of work, like 7 to noon, with certain things which are morning jobs, like stalls (all of them), paddock watering, indoor dragging, or something and the work may or may not get done. But the afternoon work, feeding noon feed, paddock picking, outdoor ring dragging, hay moved to lower barn, feed bins filled, meal tubs made up, would have to rely on the morning work being done. I would pay for the hours worked, but have set hours, and the worker has to get all the work done in that time, or be reconsidered about the job but divide the day into those two divisions, a 5 hour monring and probably a 4 hour afternoon. Then, the evening person could, after doing his afternoon work, put feed in all the stalls, fill all buckets and make up morning feed tubs, all say by 4pm, and you could just bring horses in at the end of the night and tuck them into bed.

That way, you could count on the hours being worked for your budget, and use the work actually accomplished as a guide to performance.

[Jumper_girl221]

I used to get paid by the day, that was cleaning 20 stalls, rotating horses through the turnouts (each got 45 min - 1 hour of turnout with clothing…splint boots, bell boots and fly sheets/turnout sheets). Grooming/tacking up for the trainers, and/or hacking horses, then doing the evening stall cleaning/feeding, plus “picking” 4 horses that got to stay out overnight.

Granted this was years ago but I was paid $70 a day.

With that said…I usually got there about 7, left around 4. If clients were coming in then that could go from 6-6 or 7, but the 7-4 was more usual, with a lunch break.

This was also a Hunter/Jumper sale barn (DC Sale Horses) not a boarding facility.

[Wonders12]

I have staff target 10 minutes per staff (mucking and shavings) but I plan for 5 stalls per hour to budget in emergencies. They can start out a little slower, but by week 5 (usually working 3 days per week) I expect them to be on time. Some will average less than that once they get their routine, but I would rather they do a good job and not rush.

For water buckets, are they just topping them off, or are they dumping, scrubbing, and refilling, and if they are do they need to take them all outside or can it be done in front of the stall? This job can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours depending on the setup.

Hay, again, that depends. I would plan about 10-15 minutes for 15 stalls, but we feed 3 different types of hay, and they will need to restock the wagon once or twice. So, again, that depends on your set up.

My rough guesstimate for your barn would be 3.5 hours, with good employees finishing in about 3 hours. If they are carrying, disinfecting, and refilling 34 water buckets, add an hour.

[ElementFarm]

we pay $40/day for a local girl to come in the morning, bring in 4 horses, and feed/water; and then come back in the evening to feed again, and turn everyone out and clean stalls. She also lets our dog out for the time she’s at the barn. She doesn’t pick paddocks or scrub buckets, but does check for missing shoes, and administers meds.
DH’s job is 24 hrs on, 48 hrs off, so the girl is there every third day. She also does evening feed daily for the place next door, so she’s in our area half the time anyway. She was recommended by our neighbor, so we didn’t interview others or shop around, but I feel the rate is fair to both of us.