Cordwood wanted mid Wales

[gdh]

Worth a try here.

 

We're always looking for hardwood throughout the year for firewood, ideally 4-18inch but we can take some bigger to help clear sites.

 

We'll consider everything from 20-1000 tons and can arrange haulage. We pay good rates for decent quality and straight away. 

 

For smaller sites, ie overgrown hedges or a few acres we can extract to the roadside across fields for you.

[arboriculturist]

Has your Ash trial plantation all died?

When I saw it about 3 years ago after Lara's wedding it was badly affected.

Edited September 1, 2018 by arboriculturist

[gdh]

56 minutes ago, arboriculturist said:

Has your Ash trial plantation all died?

When I saw it about 3 years ago after Lara's wedding it was badly affected.

Probably around a third of it, we're debating what to replace them with but we're holding off until we see if any are immune as it would need thinning over the next few years anyway. 

[arboriculturist]

Do you agree you will get about 1 tonne of product per acre per year?

 

I don't think you will have a great response seeking roundwood in your area sadly.

[gdh]

I'm not sure to be honest, I would say that's easily achievable with ash but I think there's a lot of stunted growth for our specific trees.

 

I wasn't expecting much since we know all the local suppliers but you never know who's out there. 

[Big J]

Read this article the other day with interest:

 

http://www.confor.org.uk/news/latest-news/super-sitka-growing-super-fast/

 

Replace the ash with Sitka? At 33 tonnes per hectare per year, the growth rate is astonishing.

[arboriculturist]

27 minutes ago, Big J said:

Read this article the other day with interest:

 

http://www.confor.org.uk/news/latest-news/super-sitka-growing-super-fast/

 

Replace the ash with Sitka? At 33 tonnes per hectare per year, the growth rate is astonishing.

The thing is, i'm not sure if your customers would appreciate 'Spruce' being delivered. There is no way I would touch Spruce, way to fast burning, produces zero ash.

100 acres of Hardwoods yielding 1 tonne acre average on a 15 - 20 year rotation may be workable - forgetting the Oak unfortunately, as has to be fast growing species. Alder, Chestnut etc. ideally get Big J to coppice at 6 - 8" dia. to avoid replanting, adding in some Birch. They all produce nice straight stems.

Maybe something to think about.

We all need to think about planting trees if we have land.

[gdh]

We're looking at fast growing hardwoods like chestnut at the moment, ideally we'll avoid softwood but it will be interesting to do the figures on kW per acre.

 

Unless we can get permission to get sheep or something back in there to keep the brash down we'll have to avoid slower growing species like oak unfortunately as I can't see them surviving and can't justify the maintenance they would need. 

[arboriculturist]

23 minutes ago, gdh said:

We're looking at fast growing hardwoods like chestnut at the moment, ideally we'll avoid softwood but it will be interesting to do the figures on kW per acre.

 

Unless we can get permission to get sheep or something back in there to keep the brash down we'll have to avoid slower growing species like oak unfortunately as I can't see them surviving and can't justify the maintenance they would need. 

Sweet Chestnut ticks all the boxes. As you say Oak without Maint. is a non starter.

Tillhill planted 150 acres close to me 20 years ago, 2 years maint. then nothing.

The brambles grown right over and full of budleja, willow etc. Not a pretty sight!

[Big J]

57 minutes ago, arboriculturist said:

The thing is, i'm not sure if your customers would appreciate 'Spruce' being delivered. There is no way I would touch Spruce, way to fast burning, produces zero ash.

100 acres of Hardwoods yielding 1 tonne acre average on a 15 - 20 year rotation may be workable - forgetting the Oak unfortunately, as has to be fast growing species. Alder, Chestnut etc. ideally get Big J to coppice at 6 - 8" dia. to avoid replanting, adding in some Birch. They all produce nice straight stems.

Maybe something to think about.

We all need to think about planting trees if we have land.

But if you consider that the bulk of the wood fuel market by volume now is softwood, it makes sense. Native hardwoods top out at yield class 10-12 (10-12 cubic metres of timber, per hectare, per year). If the figures are to be believed for this case study, the spruce is achieving a yield class of over 35. Couple that with the fact that softwoods (especially spruce) are much easier and quicker to harvest, then you have a situation where the financial return on hardwood is derisory. 

 

Example - plant a good level field of 5 hectares with this (super) sitka from Wales. Plant an identical field next to it with something hardwood and fast growing, like alder. Assuming the sitka grows to it's full potential, then after 25 years, you have around 4125 tonnes of roundwood, of which about 1/2 would be 16cm TDUB 3.1m or 3.7m log. Roadside value of £237k, assuming £45/t for the chip and £70 for the log (Scottish prices - not so familiar with South West prices). Harvesting/forwarding cost could be as low as £10/t, so gross profit at the end of the 25 year cycle of nearly £200k.

 

Then on the alder, assuming it makes it's maximum yield class of 12, you'll end up with 1500t at the end of it. It costs twice as much to harvest (£20/t) as much, or all of it needs to be hand cut. None of it can be used for sawmilling, and assume a price (today's prices) of £50 a tonne, and you've got a roadside value of £75k, and a gross profit of £45k. 

 

Obviously, these are just figures on the back of a fag packet, but they indicate why softwood is widely planted up north as a cash crop. Even a normal sitka stand at yield class 18 would be twice as profitable as hardwoods over the same rotation.