UK Forestry in serious trouble?

[Jimmay]

This has come up a lot recently, loads of kit on eBay, trainers saying that they are doing less and less courses. Is it possible that the boom from felling all that Larch has finally come to an end with it almost all gone?

[County 764]

Loads of machines on mascus today

 

subsidised biomass is keeping the SRW prices high and buggering it for the pallet mills.

[aspenarb]

I have moved a few harvesters and forwarders with the low loader in the last few years and chatting with the operators. If you can believe what they say I think they are working to keep up the finance on the kit and barely draw a working wage. Its not a new thing.

 

Bob

Edited April 22, 2016 by aspenarb
fat fingers

[Brushcutter]

A lot of the timber left to harvest is now in bloody awkward places. Where unless your a proud owner of a Tigercat with massive climbing cleets on your tracks you aren't machine cutting it. So you're left with winching it or skylining it. Extraction methods still practiced but where it was once a mainstay it's now rather specialist. This of course then leads you to having to find someone with the skills to cut for this extraction method. Your no doubt having to then secondary extract it so it's just too expensive to harvest.

 

So we then get to the stage where we're sub £3 on mechanical harvesting standing 'easy' timber. Then this sits at roadside drying out because for some reason we sell by weight rather than through the head.

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

I have moved a few harvesters and forwarders with the low loader in the last few years and chatting with the operators. If you can believe what they say I think they are working to keep up the finance on the kit and barely draw a working wage. Its not a new thing.

 

Bob

 

It's completely true. Working for the bank and nothing else. Misery. Plenty with a million quids worth on the never never; how they sleep at night?!

[Brushcutter]

It's completely true. Working for the bank and nothing else. Misery. Plenty with a million quids worth on the never never; how they sleep at night?!

 

Exhausted from worry most likely.

[Richard 1234]

It's completely true. Working for the bank and nothing else. Misery. Plenty with a million quids worth on the never never; how they sleep at night?!

 

 

I don't know how they sleep at all!

I've just borrowed £10K for my business and I've not even spent it yet but it's got me concerned!

I've never bought stuff for work on credit before for work so it's all new to me!!

[Timber Man]

I think there are a lot of factors at play, the softwood market has always been influenced by currency levels. A lot of mills have been carrying large stocks for the past two to three years, in years gone by stocks levels tended to decrease on the back of a hard winter,on top of that a lot of standing timber has been coming to market on the back of a strengthened demand for home grown over the past 5 years. This no doubt led to an increase in machinery levels and harvesting capacity.

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

Exhausted from worry most likely.

 

Been there. My real sympathy with all those packing up.

[Treemover]

This is both sides of the water. Was talking to a contractor that said his kit was paid for but sitting in his yard, no work for crews. 1st time in 30 years and he feels the machines will be parked for half a yr minimum now.

 

All it will take is a pest to come in from abroad on a log; and that might curb imports.

 

I had a stand being thinned a few weeks back, and seeing lovely straight small diameter stakewood going for pulp as there is no stake market is depressing.

 

I remember in 1996 before I went to Newton rigg; working in forests and for a timber mill; and everyone in forestry was making money.

 

Looking at our own 70 acres, all I can do is use as much of our own timber to reduce buying in; and sell adding value to it. Presently thats firewood!