Cost /economics of tree harvesters?!!!

[arboriculturist]

Windy site will do it. Depends on the species and size of course. Covering 6000 tonnes of round wood does not appeal to me and I am sure Dan feels the same. Wonder what the HSE would think about someone climbing around wood piles.

 

Yes, pulling off sheeting with pools of swamp water on - very unpleasant!

 

You could buy that expensive roll plastic covering attachment made for timber stacks, but at the price it comes in at that would be insane.

[cornish wood burner]

That's a fair whacking 16t forwarder tho I think. Trouble is the agents know you're on the drip and have to work so have you by the nads; lowering the cut and extract rates all the time. Bang out of order imo. Euroforest - don't own a machine or anything; cutter has to have all the debt, all the grief, all the blame I wouldn't mind rocking the boat a bit with a woodmans charter.

I sympathise with the cutters but from an end users point Euroforest are good to deal with and I can see their role in the supply chain. 7 years ago when we started using biomass for heating I set out to buy direct from several sources. However this had many problems. Slab wood was full of sawdust and rubbish including a scaffold tube. When a power station offered a higher price, agreed deals went out the window and we were left short of wood. Prices direct from cutters were higher than Euro forest. Every supplier wanted a different price so that was a recipe for bad feeling as there are no secrets in the wood world. Buying about 3k. Tonnes per annum from Euroforest we have security of supply and price. Negation of price is simple and painless ( for us anyway)

I am not sure what the answer is but when you have one large company in the supply chain it will have a lot of say in prices and work allocation.

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

I sympathise with the cutters but from an end users point Euroforest are good to deal with and I can see their role in the supply chain. 7 years ago when we started using biomass for heating I set out to buy direct from several sources. However this had many problems. Slab wood was full of sawdust and rubbish including a scaffold tube. When a power station offered a higher price, agreed deals went out the window and we were left short of wood. Prices direct from cutters were higher than Euro forest. Every supplier wanted a different price so that was a recipe for bad feeling as there are no secrets in the wood world. Buying about 3k. Tonnes per annum from Euroforest we have security of supply and price. Negation of price is simple and painless ( for us anyway)

I am not sure what the answer is but when you have one large company in the supply chain it will have a lot of say in prices and work allocation.

 

I don't disagree with a lot of that from your perspective. Cutters prices higher than euros is a shock to me; the whole model is that they make a quid or two on products from the cutter: BUT: the reason we all sell to euro is cashflow i.e. better to sell a load of wood at 25/m and get paid pronto than 30/m and be chasing the money. Plus they make it on the haulage too. I very nearly sold some log to a local sawmill - very glad I didn't as they've no money to pay anyone.

[luftwaffe]

I don't disagree with a lot of that from your perspective. Cutters prices higher than euros is a shock to me; the whole model is that they make a quid or two on products from the cutter: BUT: the reason we all sell to euro is cashflow i.e. better to sell a load of wood at 25/m and get paid pronto than 30/m and be chasing the money. Plus they make it on the haulage too. I very nearly sold some log to a local sawmill - very glad I didn't as they've no money to pay anyone.

 

Very true, but if you stop and think about it these middle men aren't getting fat out of it either. By the time they pay their insurance's, office staff, office bills, and so on its not a get rich sc

heme for them either. What I find is happening is the agents are paying the land owner more for the standing crop and paying the contractor less for cutting and extracting due to modern machinery getting more and more efficient as time goes on. So the real winner is the land owner who sells the trees.

[shavey]

That's a fair whacking 16t forwarder tho I think. Trouble is the agents know you're on the drip and have to work so have you by the nads; lowering the cut and extract rates all the time. Bang out of order imo. Euroforest - don't own a machine or anything; cutter has to have all the debt, all the grief, all the blame I wouldn't mind rocking the boat a bit with a woodmans charter.

 

 

very true mate all there interested is that nice stack at the roadside worth x amount they havent got the worriy of this stack costing you xxx amount in breakdowns :thumbup:

[cornish wood burner]

I don't disagree with a lot of that from your perspective. Cutters prices higher than euros is a shock to me; the whole model is that they make a quid or two on products from the cutter: BUT: the reason we all sell to euro is cashflow i.e. better to sell a load of wood at 25/m and get paid pronto than 30/m and be chasing the money. Plus they make it on the haulage too. I very nearly sold some log to a local sawmill - very glad I didn't as they've no money to pay anyone.

Lucky escape, when I was self employed I got caught a couple of times. Not good especially if you have supplied a ruck of parts.

Higher cutter prices might have been, just a couple thinking to make a bit over the top from a "green" buyer. Problem was it helped drive us to use Euro forest almost exclusively. As you say they might only make a pound or two on the cutter and haulage prices but it does mount up. I suppose our security of supply and price equates to your security of payment so we both benefit to a degree.

[arboriculturist]

The cutters I have dealt with get the product to you when they say they will - that is a big plus point when you are working with windows in the weather.

[Wood wasp]

Passed a brand new JD harvester in Lake District today when out on a walk, wasn't great timber around us and steep ground too... immediate thought that flashed through my mind was how's he going to make that pay? Hopefully he's getting price to reflect quality timber, on shores of windermere so might even be one of these FC/AN other quango sites where economics don't matter

[Hodge]

Probs will be F/C round there or trust. I think they contract out the harvesting.