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What would you charge for a job like this?

I'm a pet sitting newbie and I thought all of you more experienced sitters might have some advice and/or good suggestions for me on this.

I was contacted today by a lady who is looking for a pet sitter to watch her 15 dogs, 30 sheep and 1 horse between December 1 - 10th. All she wants me to do is come once a day to feed, water and check on her animals (the dogs are in big runs so she doesn't want me to walk or potty each of them individually and the livestock are out on pastures). She's approximately a 30-minute drive from my house each way.

What would you charge for a job like this?

How much of a daily rate? Or how much for a personalized package rate?

Thanks, Y'all!

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WOW Well, this is intimidating. Has she sent an actual request with all of the animals in it? Are you sure this is a real person needing this? I only ask because it’s such a big number of animals. I would contact Rover Directly* about this & see what they think. Let me know what they say I’m curious

Also, if you are truly new at pet sitting I personally wouldn’t recommend this large of a job. Especially with farm animals mixed in. Might be too much.

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Figure out how long it will take you to feed all the animals and then add in your driving time (round trip) plus an allowance for gas. Then come up with an hourly rate. I would think the total should be in the neighborhood of $75 for 3 hours of your time.

I assume you are quite familiar with farm animals, otherwise you wouldn't even take on this job.

If you have to muck out the horse's stall, then you might want to bump it up some.

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That is quite a few animals to care for within one visit and will take a considerable amount of time probably a few hours each visit. You should discuss the feeding and care required with the client and try to access how much time it will take and then price accordingly, using your current drop in rates x 2 hours each visit would be $140, which seems high to me, but without any insight have no idea what the client is willing to pay. Best of luck this isn't any easy stay to price.

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Nothing less then $200 a day. You are liable for every single one of those animals. horses aline cost a fortune and if the horse gets a broken leg while they are away you would be responsible. You have to check every animal its not just feeding. Any job of this nature is $200- $250.

You have foxes to look for, missing sheep or dogs possible. And horse issues. I have run farms a long time. You need a contract protecting you from the owner and animal agricultural services. Horses can colic, their shoe could come off and get hoof rot and damage their leg.

What type of dogs are they. The problem with horses is they are liable to freak out. They can overheat and get very sick and die, they can't cool themselves and you need to cool them down with a hose. The list goes on. And on. Horses you want to check them at least 4 times a day.

If they only feed them a bail of hay once a day then thats abuse. They need oils and supplements mixed in with their hay in a wheelbarrow this can take at least 30minutes at least and they should be fed spaced out for their digestion.