Need advice re costing food and bedding

[clarita]

Hello everyone
I am thinking about moving my horses to the UK for the polo season. I desperately need help for budgeting purposes.
Can anyone give me some guidance as to cost in the Sussex area as to the following:
cost per horse per month for :
shavings
hay
feed
I have been quoted a price of around 80GBP per week (320GBP per month) which seems high to me but I have nothing to compare this with and am floundering. Any help would be truly appreciated
Thanks so much
Clarita

[ladyndibs]

It's really difficult to say as you don't say how many horses, if they are stabled 24/7 or what they are fed.
It might be worth contacting a feed supplier in the area you are thinking of moving them to.

[clarita]

Thanks Ladynibs - the ponies will be on a yard with around 40 other horses. Between us, my friend and I have 8 playing ponies. They will be stabled (with turn out on average a couple of hours a day). They will be on an oat based mix. Where I currently live (outside UK) - I have the horses on full livery and breakdown of costs is difficult to establish - plus prices here for all things horse or otherwise are high so unfortunately it doesnt help as a guideline.
Hope that helps
Cheers
C

[steve]

Shavings are anything between £6 and £9 a bale. You may get a small discount for bulk buying.
Hay again anything from £4 and £8 a small bale, the S.East was very expensive for hay last year.
www.grouselandhaylage.com/ These guys produce very nice hay and haylage can highly recommend!
Feed again will depend what you want to feed, you can pay £5 for a basic chaff, to £11 for a complete feed high fibre feed. Mix's are roughly £10 a 15kg bag

[clarita]

thanks so much Steve - this is really useful : -) numpty question, I have never used shavings before, how many bales per month per horse roughly should we calculate on?
apologies for all the questions - am sinking in numbers at the mo.....: -(

[ladyndibs]

Jan 11, 2012 12:18:13 GMT 1 steve said:

Shavings are anything between £6 and £9 a bale. You may get a small discount for bulk buying.
Hay again anything from £4 and £8 a small bale, the S.East was very expensive for hay last year.
www.grouselandhaylage.com/ These guys produce very nice hay and haylage can highly recommend!
Feed again will depend what you want to feed, you can pay £5 for a basic chaff, to £11 for a complete feed high fibre feed. Mix's are roughly £10 a 15kg bag

Everything covered though atm in the SE I am able to get good quality hay, small bales £4.50, large rounds £40.

[Deleted]

I'm in Sussex (near Gatwick) Obviously it depends on the yard, but...

Hay is typically £5.50 a small bale, I've not seen it cheaper locally, £40 for a big round bale. If using big bales, a lady at my yard uses one a week for four horses, though she doesn't really have any grass left. If they're out on grass daytime (without hay) and in at night (the most comon set up) then I'd guess a £40 bale might last 8 a week at the moment but I wouldn't count of there being any grass left by the end of January.

Shavings - you can get unbranded dusty ones for £6ish. Bedmax and Hunters and the like are £7.50. Most people use 1 or 2 bales a week per horse, so £60-£120 for 8.

Feed - I'd estimate I spend about £25 a month on Talin's feed in winter but he's only in light work and is quite a good doer so I'd up that a bit if they're in hard work (or up the hay).

[Hannah]

You don't have a figure for rent/livery. Are you going to have them on full livery or do all the work yourselves? Or do you have somewhere to keep them for free?!

[clarita]

Thank you so so much everyone. This is really fab info - very helpful.
Hannah, its all change at the moment. I am looking to go from full livery to paying a seasonal (6onth) rent for the stabling with turnout and then we pay for food and bedding separately on top. This has been a great help - thank you again to everyone : -)

[steve]

Jan 11, 2012 12:30:15 GMT 1 clarita said:

thanks so much Steve - this is really useful : -) numpty question, I have never used shavings before, how many bales per month per horse roughly should we calculate on?
apologies for all the questions - am sinking in numbers at the mo.....: -(

Again, it's difficult to say it depends how clean/dirty the horses are! We started our stables last time I had shavings with about 7 bales and added 2 bales per week and they were out all day! But mine are pretty big and messy!!

An average of 1 to 2 bales per horse per week should be ample. You should look at Liverpool Wood Pellets if you have several horses that will be in for long periods as it is far more economical.