Softwood harvesting rates

[combined tree services]

Have you got a market for the timber ? what sort of dbh are the trees ? and what is the rough volume of timber to be felled and extracted ? , although on the face of it it sounds like a peachy job these are often the jobs that turn round to bite you in the arse , we are currently on a site felling Western Hemlock and the site is not that easy to work as allot of it is steep ground and some of the compartments need trees to be winched out 200m before converting and then a 1 mile haul back to the deck so although the timber is big and there is allot of it and because its an F.C site the roads are great and we have none of the problems associated with private woodlands and poor access it is still a site/job that even getting top prices for the timber it would be hard to make a profit , that being said we are only in cutting and extracting for a company so half of the head ache is not our problem but it always has a knock on effect

[openspaceman]

Hi,

 

We recently done some scots pine and that went for shavings to Euroforest. We got payed 11 a ton to cut. I know chip has been going for 18 at roadside and I pretty sure bars are around the 18.50 mark shavings were around 22 I think but really depends on what market they go to.

If you need any extra saws let me know I'm in ringmer near lewes and always looking for hand work and around sussex.

Hope that helped.

 

We sold scots for woodwool (Thermacoust) in 1978 at £19/tonne roadside to Forest Thinnings (Euroforest predecessor). I think cut and extract was £8 then. I think that was the peak period for softwood and continued in decline, especially after 1991.