25 August 2010
Supply cost part II- Consumeables, Nails
As I stated in my last post, your base investment in shoes is just short of nine bucks on a light general use horse. I hope I got the point across that as you get into performance horses, your shoe cost can escalate dramatically.
In this post I want to start talking about consumables, meaning items we use every day, and once they are gone, they're gone. These items are rasps, hoof knives, and what this post centers on, horse nails.
One thing that I get sick of is when farriers complain about the cost of horse nails. We as a trade need to consider that less than 1 tenth of a percent of Americans shoe horses and the fact that there is more than one company willing to take the risk to manufacture such a specific item for such a a small market should be respected and not disparaged.
With that out of the way, I have a question for you. When was the last time you were driving down the road and threw a roll of dimes out of the window? Chances are the answer is "never." The reason I used the roll of dimes analogy is because, for all intents and purposes, horse nails on average cost between 7.9 and 8.5 cents each, regardless of size or manufacturer. And by the time you add in tax and/or shipping, a dime each is an easier way to predict nail cost. At some point in the near future, count the number of driven and bent or driven and pulled nails in the bottom of your shoeing box. If you can count 50 of them, that's $5.00. While it doesn't seem like much over the span of a year, it can add up, especially if you have an apprentice who is just learning to drive nails. I hate to think what I cost the Old Man when he started me out driving the bigger nails (city 8's an up.)
So in the scenario that you shoe six horses a day, five days a week, and you eight nail every foot, you're looking at an annual nail cost $4,992. That's only if you're one of the select few who has been touched by the hand of God who never bends a nail and drives perfect nail lines. Sadly, I'm not one of those guys, so I'm probably looking at between $5,000 and $5,500 a year in nails, and I generally only use six nails a foot.
One guaranteed strategy to save on your nail costs is to get proficient in your shoe shaping. The better the shoe fits, the better the nails drive. I'm learning this as I prepare for my Journeyman test. A few months back I was a little saddened by a comment Jacob Manning made in the American Farriers Journal. As many of you know, Jacob uses handmade shoes and the first time he nailed on a machine made shoe was at his Certified test, and he wondered how people used them. I have to say that I have found through my practice runs, even my handmades nail up better than the machine made shoes, so I can see his point. But that's a another story for a different day.
In this post I want to start talking about consumables, meaning items we use every day, and once they are gone, they're gone. These items are rasps, hoof knives, and what this post centers on, horse nails.
One thing that I get sick of is when farriers complain about the cost of horse nails. We as a trade need to consider that less than 1 tenth of a percent of Americans shoe horses and the fact that there is more than one company willing to take the risk to manufacture such a specific item for such a a small market should be respected and not disparaged.
With that out of the way, I have a question for you. When was the last time you were driving down the road and threw a roll of dimes out of the window? Chances are the answer is "never." The reason I used the roll of dimes analogy is because, for all intents and purposes, horse nails on average cost between 7.9 and 8.5 cents each, regardless of size or manufacturer. And by the time you add in tax and/or shipping, a dime each is an easier way to predict nail cost. At some point in the near future, count the number of driven and bent or driven and pulled nails in the bottom of your shoeing box. If you can count 50 of them, that's $5.00. While it doesn't seem like much over the span of a year, it can add up, especially if you have an apprentice who is just learning to drive nails. I hate to think what I cost the Old Man when he started me out driving the bigger nails (city 8's an up.)
So in the scenario that you shoe six horses a day, five days a week, and you eight nail every foot, you're looking at an annual nail cost $4,992. That's only if you're one of the select few who has been touched by the hand of God who never bends a nail and drives perfect nail lines. Sadly, I'm not one of those guys, so I'm probably looking at between $5,000 and $5,500 a year in nails, and I generally only use six nails a foot.
One guaranteed strategy to save on your nail costs is to get proficient in your shoe shaping. The better the shoe fits, the better the nails drive. I'm learning this as I prepare for my Journeyman test. A few months back I was a little saddened by a comment Jacob Manning made in the American Farriers Journal. As many of you know, Jacob uses handmade shoes and the first time he nailed on a machine made shoe was at his Certified test, and he wondered how people used them. I have to say that I have found through my practice runs, even my handmades nail up better than the machine made shoes, so I can see his point. But that's a another story for a different day.
Labels: costs of shoeing a horse
22 August 2010
Supply Cost- Shoes
Every once in awhile, I'll have a phone conversation with someone that is about one thing, and it then turns into a business discussion. Such was the conversation I had with Mark Gough the other day. I don't know what Mark did before he was a farrier, but he has a good business mind and we did broach the subject of how much money a farrier actually takes home.
When I am given the opportunity to do so, I like to lecture about how farriers generally have a bad concept about the amount of money they make. Most farriers get in to a mode of what I call pocket rich, which is when they look in their pocket and, "Ta-Da!", there is money there, and if there's money there, it needs to be spent. But seriously, have you figured out lately what it costs you to shoe a horse? It's worth repeating, We each need to develop a formula to distinguish exactly how much money we take home. In this post, I want to begin to address supply cost and how much we as farriers invest in supplies. This dovetails into how sometimes we forget the little things that could eventually add up to be a considerable loss.
I'll begin with shoes. Now, keep in mind I am speaking of buying shoes by the pair and not in bulk. While I know that it is sometimes more advantageous to buy supplies in bulk, the farriers who would benefit most (farriers who are just starting out and don't have a foothold in their particular market) aren't necessarily in the financial position to do so, and one needs to be aware of how buying by the piece or pair affects their bottom line.
We'll start with the low end flat steel shoes for light horses (Warmblood on down), basic shoes with no toe weights, sliders or any other specialties. These shoes can cost anywhere from $3.85 to $4.05 a pair, $8.75 to $9.25 on the high end . If you're in a state with sales tax or if you have your supplies shipped to you, that needs to be calculated in your overall cost of the shoes as well. So, in my personal experience, on the lowest end of the shoe cost spectrum, I am going to buy 4 00 rim shoes at $3.85 a pair, and with tax the total amount for the shoes alone is $8.34. The most expensive shoe I'm going to buy is a 5 front with clips at $9.25 per pair. Hind shoes for such a horse are going to be around $8.75, so the total in shoes for this horse is going to be $19.75 (sales tax here is 9.75%). So at this point, before I buy nails or count wear and tear on my rasp, hand tools etc, or even drive to the horse, I am making a nearly $20.00 investment.
Now let's look at a performance horse. I'll use a reining horse for this example. On the low end, you might only need to spend the $3.85 a pair for the 00 rim shoes. Then again, depending on need, you may require an aluminum wedge or a Natural Balance shoe. The wedge shoe can cost between $8.00 and $12.00, depending on brand and vendor, with the NBS shoe costing as much as $18.00 retail . One inch sliding plates for this horse are going to be somewhere between $7.95 and $13.00, again depending on brand and vendor. So again, shoes alone, your investment in this type of horse is going to be between (less tax of course) $16.00 and $31.00.
The point here is that shoe cost, no matter where you live, is universal. The prices I quoted were derived from an average cost of 3 online vendors and what I pay at my local supply house. Through this process, I found that the prices for shoes were more or less much the same. Now I realize the cost of living varies dramatically throughout the country, but if a farrier is charging $80.00 to shoe the reining horse or the horse that wears the clipped 5's I mentioned, there is the chance that he or she is losing money by the time all is said and done.
I will be the first to admit that I understand that there is only so much a market will bear. You're not going to be able to charge what farriers in some metropolitan and boutique markets get in the rest of America, but that's not what I am saying. My point is that we as farriers need to be fair to ourselves. After all, shoeing horses is a business.
When I am given the opportunity to do so, I like to lecture about how farriers generally have a bad concept about the amount of money they make. Most farriers get in to a mode of what I call pocket rich, which is when they look in their pocket and, "Ta-Da!", there is money there, and if there's money there, it needs to be spent. But seriously, have you figured out lately what it costs you to shoe a horse? It's worth repeating, We each need to develop a formula to distinguish exactly how much money we take home. In this post, I want to begin to address supply cost and how much we as farriers invest in supplies. This dovetails into how sometimes we forget the little things that could eventually add up to be a considerable loss.
I'll begin with shoes. Now, keep in mind I am speaking of buying shoes by the pair and not in bulk. While I know that it is sometimes more advantageous to buy supplies in bulk, the farriers who would benefit most (farriers who are just starting out and don't have a foothold in their particular market) aren't necessarily in the financial position to do so, and one needs to be aware of how buying by the piece or pair affects their bottom line.
We'll start with the low end flat steel shoes for light horses (Warmblood on down), basic shoes with no toe weights, sliders or any other specialties. These shoes can cost anywhere from $3.85 to $4.05 a pair, $8.75 to $9.25 on the high end . If you're in a state with sales tax or if you have your supplies shipped to you, that needs to be calculated in your overall cost of the shoes as well. So, in my personal experience, on the lowest end of the shoe cost spectrum, I am going to buy 4 00 rim shoes at $3.85 a pair, and with tax the total amount for the shoes alone is $8.34. The most expensive shoe I'm going to buy is a 5 front with clips at $9.25 per pair. Hind shoes for such a horse are going to be around $8.75, so the total in shoes for this horse is going to be $19.75 (sales tax here is 9.75%). So at this point, before I buy nails or count wear and tear on my rasp, hand tools etc, or even drive to the horse, I am making a nearly $20.00 investment.
Now let's look at a performance horse. I'll use a reining horse for this example. On the low end, you might only need to spend the $3.85 a pair for the 00 rim shoes. Then again, depending on need, you may require an aluminum wedge or a Natural Balance shoe. The wedge shoe can cost between $8.00 and $12.00, depending on brand and vendor, with the NBS shoe costing as much as $18.00 retail . One inch sliding plates for this horse are going to be somewhere between $7.95 and $13.00, again depending on brand and vendor. So again, shoes alone, your investment in this type of horse is going to be between (less tax of course) $16.00 and $31.00.
The point here is that shoe cost, no matter where you live, is universal. The prices I quoted were derived from an average cost of 3 online vendors and what I pay at my local supply house. Through this process, I found that the prices for shoes were more or less much the same. Now I realize the cost of living varies dramatically throughout the country, but if a farrier is charging $80.00 to shoe the reining horse or the horse that wears the clipped 5's I mentioned, there is the chance that he or she is losing money by the time all is said and done.
I will be the first to admit that I understand that there is only so much a market will bear. You're not going to be able to charge what farriers in some metropolitan and boutique markets get in the rest of America, but that's not what I am saying. My point is that we as farriers need to be fair to ourselves. After all, shoeing horses is a business.
Labels: costs of shoeing a horse
03 August 2010
Mike did the right thing
So, guess what. Brett Favre is retiring again. Makes me look back three years and rethink my position on Mike McCarthy. I'm not going to say that Mike McCarthy is a great communicator, because from what I have seen, he isn't. He seems kind of thoughtless, just my take.
Three years ago, McCarthy put a figurative gun to Brett Favre's head and made him make up his mind. He needed a decision there and then. In hindsight, as I watch Brad Childress and the Vikings twist in the wind for the second year in a row, I think he did the right thing, and I think the Packers are currently better off for it. They made the playoffs last year and going by reports out of DePere to this point, they look like they could do it again.
It's amazing how good things go when there is no drama, no questions, no doubts. That goes for our everyday lives as well. When all the components that you need to get by are in place and all the cylinders are firing, life is pretty stinking good. It's when you have questions and doubts about the future, whether immediate or distant, it jacks with the plan, and when the plan is affected, life is no good. At the moment I'm going to give Mike McCarthy credit for spotting the fact that Favre could have turned into a terminal cancer that could have done more harm than good for the future of the team.
Three years ago, McCarthy put a figurative gun to Brett Favre's head and made him make up his mind. He needed a decision there and then. In hindsight, as I watch Brad Childress and the Vikings twist in the wind for the second year in a row, I think he did the right thing, and I think the Packers are currently better off for it. They made the playoffs last year and going by reports out of DePere to this point, they look like they could do it again.
It's amazing how good things go when there is no drama, no questions, no doubts. That goes for our everyday lives as well. When all the components that you need to get by are in place and all the cylinders are firing, life is pretty stinking good. It's when you have questions and doubts about the future, whether immediate or distant, it jacks with the plan, and when the plan is affected, life is no good. At the moment I'm going to give Mike McCarthy credit for spotting the fact that Favre could have turned into a terminal cancer that could have done more harm than good for the future of the team.
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