Extraction with compact tractor

[Badgerland]

Has anybody any experience with using compact tractors with a skidding plate for extracting coppice poles? I cut up to 25 year old chestnut coppice (up to 14 inch dia at butt) and am looking at getting a 18–19hp 4x4 compact to skid the poles out. Will this be man-enough to handle it? Any advice/experiences gratefully received!

[dent]

we use an articulated ferrari at college and is perfect for this same size as 20hp kubota but 35hp and ways a tonne it has no trouble pulling out anything wwith in reason even huge lumps of cord that u wouldn't expect a llandy to touch and it being an arctic means its more manouverable in the woods and less prone to tipping

[blazer]

All I can say is with more wet the poles will slide better but the tractor will also skid more and the inverse for dryer conditions. more friction - so you need to borrow and try first.

 

I can load up my Suzuki Eiger quad with a modified small trailer onto a Ifor Williams 8'x5' trailer and use them to extract a large Oak ringed up out of a wood and 3 or 4 loads fills the I W trailer and say 5 loads the whole oak tree. With only a small low pressure track winding through the wood which will soon grow over. It looks a bit small for the job but works well.

[Chris Sheppard]

What you'll probably find with a compact as small as 18-20 hp is that it won't have an awful lot of weight over the front axle so you'll find it a pig to steer with a decent snig on, especially as trying to drive a little tractor on the independents while wearing chainsaw boots is a challenge as the pedals are often tiny.

 

If you can stretch to it, you could look at somethign even just a bit bigger at 25-30hp but be able to pull a good chunk more, or even look at an old classic 2wd - we used to use a foord 3000 with 3 tonne winch on one estate and it would go most of where we needed it to, all we did was put some wider front tyres on so it didn't dig in as bad.

 

The pic below shows what can be done with a small tractor - thats 30hp and we've had bigger snigs on than that

[PeteB]

25 years ago I tushed out an artic load of big elm butts with a small International, about the same size as a Dexta and it managed. It didn't need a de-coke afterwards mind.

 

A decent chain onto the rear linkage, lift the butts up and that will give traction and steerage is provided with the foot brakes! Just another day in the woods!

[gensetsteve]

The bigger tractors are cheaper to buy and so are the parts. Also being bigger more robust.

[Charlieh]

if you where just planning to pull individual stems of that size out you would do that with an 4x4 ATV should manage 2 with an arch behind if its on levelish ground.

 

Compact tractors seem to make significantly more than older tractors as has been mentioned, especially if you look for older cases and internationals, eg Case 4wd chilton joystick loader with spike and grab | eBay UK currently the same price as a basic ATV

[brownoak]

we use this holder fitted loft skidding tongs