English Prairie Farms

12/15/2024

Some insight on the current horse boarding market, and why you, as an boarder, may feel you are being priced out.

While everyone keeps seeking to board their beloved horse at a top tier Facility, with 24/7 hay, extended “all day” turnout, night check, feed 3x per day, well maintained facility and a trainer on site or the ability to bring your own.

Here are some Averages.

Shavings cost. $7.00- 7.50 per bag/ day=
Or $2575-$3000 per semi bulk

Hay $7.00-8.50 per small bale (40 #)
$125-165 per large square (700 #)
$85-100 per round (800 #)

Stall cleaning $5.00 -$7.00 per stall/day
Manure removal- haul off $1200 per month for 24 horse facility

Grain $24-per 40 # bag at a feed rate of 6 # per day per horse just over 4.2 bags per month $100.80 plus tax & delivery
$115 per horse/month

Labor $15-25 per hour 40 hours/week
$600-1000 PER employee/week (x2 + for very large facilities) **some employees receive board in exchange for extra hours of work.

Stall cost bare $250-350 (lease or what owners should charge per box to cover use & maintenance of said box)

Utilities vary greatly
Water, fuel, heat/gas, electric, etc.
$800-1600/month

Fence posts $26 ea
Fence boards 16’ $29 ea
Water buckets $15 ea
Feed bins $30 ea

Some go what is not factored in:
•Equipment purchase & maintenance
•Storage buildings for hay & equipment to keep fluffy safe from fire risk
•mortgage & taxes
•Farm owner time & experience
•farm owners Significant Other doing maintenance & repairs to keep costs down
•footing maintenance & refreshing

So the facility that y’all are Seeking needs to be charging a minimum of $1215 per month to break even on hay (30 # per day- more if really being fed 24-7 free choice,) grain, shavings (one bag a day) labor (single employee,) utilities and the rent on the “box.”

These figures do not include insurance, maintenance materials, improvements (like footing, lighting upgrades, fans etc) owner experience, wound treatment prior to your arrival, blanketing, etc.

So IF you are paying less than $1200 per month for top quality care and a facility to match- You are NOT paying enough.

09/11/2024

07/04/2024

EPF in Spring Groves has stalls available!

06/16/2024

Sure, that is the best time 😂
credits: Pinterest

05/02/2024

Wanted to share… If your shavings shopping, I have been buying bulk (loose) shavings by the truck from Jayson at Rainbow Farms for 3ish years. He is amazing!

03/29/2024

Horse Boarding…let’s talk about it.

I see a lot of people looking for “cheap board” these days. They want matted stalls, indoor, outdoor, ample turnout and private tack..for around $500-$600 a month. Let me break that down for you.

Whether you rent or own, each dry stall is going to cost your farm owner/operator $150-$250 a month. ON AVERAGE. Quality hay, grain and bedding will run ON AVERAGE $300-$400 (or more) per horse. So right there your dollars are spent. This does not include maintenance, footing, staff, utilities, insurance or incidentals. At $500-$600 a month, your barn owner is breaking even or operating at a loss.

Now let’s talk about staff. Working students are becoming unicorns. GOOD ones are almost impossible to find and stall cleaners are demanding $20 an hour and then not showing up. Most trainers I know can’t find reliable help and are either burning themselves out or operating at an even bigger financial loss.

Inflation? That’s been a blast. ALL of our costs are rising…which means our small margins are smaller…or gone.

Client expectations? High. Everyone wants perfect footing, a lounge, top quality everything AND access to their barn owner at all hours. Want to know what time I hear from clients? 24/7. FB and texts…11pm….6am…and everything in between. Think there is a stipend to be on call for non-emergencies 24/7? Of course not.

Want to know what your barn owner is making? Likely less than $5 an hour. I worked 231 hours in August…I personally drew less than $800 in take home. That’s with an education, decades of experience and great show results. Many farm managers are making even less.

What does this mean for the future? I don’t know. My gut tells me that in the next 10-20 years the middle class barn owner will vanish and barns will be owned and managed by those who don’t need your money…and who will price their services accordingly. I fear that by the time my kids are grown, only the wealthy will have horses.

So…that’s my thoughts on that…

03/16/2024

PSA: Shared in several Northern Illinois Horse groups. Be alert and stay safe.

03/16/2024

EPF will have 2 12x12 stalls available the first week of April.

03/14/2024

Boys 💕