There no limits when it comes to make money...I will melt snow balls if I can make a dollar..I damn sure would not worry with how far I travel as long as a profit is being made.. we are self employed its ply up to ones own limits of how much money to make..
Gary I think he was refering to the immigration paperwork! Also remember the $ is a about 80% of the Euro and Sterling buys you almost a $1.65. A £ buys a lot more than a $. Its interesting to see the difference where over there you have well trained qualified farriers falling over each other and round here its other way. Any idiot hack can call himself a farrier and even then round here they are few Smitty where in Eire did you say you are? I have a boat load of family in Edenderry.
They don't like them in my neck of the woods either... and that includes the cost of of a new set of kegs. I swear if they found a set of rotted shoes from 1840 that they dug up when digging a dam, they'd ask me to put them on a horse before buying a new set. Honestly, some of the shoes I'm asked to reset would be no thicker than a layer of aluminium foil. Asking travelling would be like requesting the liver of their first born male child. And these are folks with a bob or two.
I charge the same for a reset or new shoes so no problem there. I was just reading some back issues of AFJ and saw several articles about charging mileage and was just wondering how many folks are able to do it.
An american guy was working in Ireland back around 2000, good farrier used a lot of nice hand made 3/4 fullereds but ran his business like he was still in the states. Had a big truck, charged mileage and extras like he was still in the states and everyone laughed at his prices and attitude and he got no business. I constantly hear people on forums from the states saying they would walk away from jobs for this reason or that reason in Ireland there's a Que waiting to take your place and new work is hard to come by, if they're good to pay thats all that matters. (Having said that we don't have the same problem with vets here as you guys do, the vets generally leave the feet to the farrier or that has been my experience.)
i recall 3 hours he took to shoe a 14/2 pony with a straight forward set of shoes most of the horses had to sedated because he took so long Kim its to long to be shoeing a horse
I like to drive. I travel up to 150 miles. In the far area I charge the same price as I do everywhere, but that price is $20 to $60 more than anyone in that area. I charge for any extra, even if I have to yell at the horse or think about the feet too hard. I will spend the night and work the area for 2 or 3 days. When in Oregon, the fuel price drops 30 to 40 cents a gallon. My long drive takes about two and a half or three hours along good roads through some of the most beautiful scenery anywhere, along the Northern California, Southern Oregon Coast and through the Redwoods. My son worked for a big time jumper Farrier in Los Angeles, and only had a 20 mile radius. However, sometimes it took two hours to drive, and the scenery was the back end of a bus going 5 mph down the six lane freeway.
That's him! He was doing no better work than any of the Irish lads, but was charging at least double, this guy would have been working in the same area as Smitty, so........ Who would you choose??
Travel represents a lot more than just fuel cost and, in my opinion, is the most highly underestimated business expense among farriers. Mileage is less relevant than travel time. Google maps provides fairly accurate travel time. 80% of my clients are within 30 minutes of my location. My base fees include that expected travel time/expense. I add a $15 'farm call' per 15 minutes of travel time beyond a 30 minute radius from home or from one client to another. More than an hour drive time and I'll usually advise the client that it is more cost effective for both of us if they use another farrier. Cheers, Mark
Hey Mark, good to see you. One thing about this business is that one can waste time and still make a good living. I factor into my schedule time for standing around sharing fine Ales with the owner's husbands, phone calls along the road, enjoy a Giants game on the radio (3 games up in first place), spending time at a stable showing other Farriers how to do it right, and having long lunches. This is where certification and contests come in to play. Teaching you to do perfect work fast, so you can make up time after you were standing around at the last place BSing with a friend.
I know Kim your dead right go at your own pace, but your not long at it and don't get much horses to shoe, this guy had no reason to be that slow he was apparently CJF. My master used tell me get good first then get fast! However after a few of years he was roaring at me to hurry the hell up and stop over thinking it, he was right, I used have a foot level then go at it again and unlevel it then have to go at it again.....same leveling the shoe, tipping and tapping at it leveling it and unleveling it, sometimes we make work for ourselves by over complicating things.
Oh, I agree I am my own worst enemy at the moment. One bad lick on the shoe and ten more to fix it. Fussing over foot balance, trying to see foot flight ( I am not good at that ), etc.
