Brushcutter

30K for a T series Valtra then 50 for a 15 tonne Moheda 4wd trailer with M70 crane. Or if you want some thing really good look around for a T or N series Valtra with the roof windows so you can see the top of the boom. Then get it JAkE plate put on a font mounted pump. Then get a Kronos Crane that suits your needs attach them all together. Have a Kronos 4wd trailer for it. Would be a fantastic set up all benifits of tractor mounted crane that would have enough power and oil flow to run a small harvesting head say a keto 150 or a small warahtar. Only issue is that you have if you have a winch on it you can't use it as a forwarder, however if you do a lot of winching you can use the crane to move the last lot of winched up stuff out the way to be processed. Downside is that i expect this set up would be closer to 100k. Saying that. Valtra N141 - Forwarders, Price: £61,769, Year of manufacture: 2007 - Mascus UK I think it says winch included but the trailer chipper etc are extra.

I didn't know they were clocked. About 16-20 hours on a machine a day in that part of the world is quite common. However they are serviced quite frequently.

Never seen one in the flesh but they are popular in Germany and parts of mainland europe. They're made by a company in Germany that converts JD tractors into skidders. I believe the winches in the front runs on the hydraulics and goes to a butt plate through a little channel on the belly plate. Normally fitted with a short powerful crane for grapple skidding and stacking your stuff. Some even have a clam bunk on the butt plate. Very well built but very expensive. I think hey do a a forwarder crane version. That one there is a cheap one! Similiar money Ponsse WISENT 8W - Forwarders, Price: £54,123, Year of manufacture: 2003 - Mascus UK For second hand forest machines you can't beat Finland/Sweden as their changed frequently and well looked after. Don't know about import costs though.

Ah i see. Don't know anyone up. Had a look on the FCA listings in softwood harvesting

520,000 tonnes with one harvester and forwarder. That got be like 6 years work. Also with that amount of work, buy one, well two.

Plumpton are doing them with RDPE funding. You can do beginner and intermediate LANTRA operate a grapple loader. Obviously you'd then need to do a NPTC FMO. Are you looking to do purpose built or agri based?

According to plate on mine its 2800 at 2m and 700kg at 6m. Have a 7m one so i;m guessing 500kg at full reach. Obviously the plate weight is without grab or rotor. I know what you mean about having reach over lift. Got some big Chestnut to do this winter. Can only get one in the grapple at a time and its not a good grip either. I've never really run out of reach with a 7m crane although I'd love an 8m one. Either way if your doing softwoods and firewood thinning I'd rather a fast Scandinavian crane. If your doing arb or big estate timber then its botex hands down.

That in the states?

I suppose there are a lot of Timberjack clones out there. Maybe the Logsets are different. I know the ProSILVAs which are basically timberjacks with facelift and upgrades. No fancy computers in them just put the software on your laptop and plug it in! Nice cabs too. AFAIK they don't have a UK dealer but their tracked harvester and forwarder are ace. Went to their bog harvesting demo day. Be the first to have one of these. Think it's a 14tonne machine.

Thats the botex market large hardwood and secondary extraction. Out of interest whats the lift on a M500 1.8T close in? I'm sure i remember that they did a remote control box for their cranes too. Which means you can do it from a tiny tractor cab. Also have a stags head block option which are nice.

I always thought Logset where just grey timber jacks?

Big ones with a big crane are very expensive. Trailers are well built and have a good drive system if you get a driven one. I think you can get a parallel crane for the forwarder trailer as well. Some people love them, personally not for me on a forwarder. You don't have the lifting power of a botex but they're quick. Trailers better built than a botex too. Osbornes are good to deal with too.

If i had to spend my money i'd get a Ponsse. Mainly because the cab is huge, i mean you can fit 3 people in there! I also like the set up of everything on the computer much easier to customise your crane than the JD software. As for going up to a 12 ish tonne machine depends on what you do. If you do more clear fell i'd go bigger. If you get a 12 tonne machine you can put 10tonnes in it and you'll never wreck your bogies. However if you put 12 tonne in your 810D you will wreck your bogies. And take it from me their a pain to drag onto the low loader. They're worse to get off and a nightmare to rebuild. Ponnse Elk/Caribou would be your 10 tonne machine. Bunk crane with 9m on it think i loved the one i drove. The merc engine is really nice and it's very easy to work on. Wisnet is the next one up. Identical to the elk except bigger. JD 810. Cab mounted crane which means you've got the active crane follow/slewing to keep it attached to the bunk. Means on harsh terrain without the crane on the bunk you can't put it out to one side to balance it. So the bunk can go quite easily. Quite easy to overload and damage the bogies. Cab is very small. 1010 is the bigger one less prone to overloading. Does take a long time to fill up for some reason. Valmet 820 - It's a classic, go on forever although parts are getting hard to get. Only valmet i've driven but its a classic but i'd have it over a deere. Rottne Old skool simplicity. Never had any seat time in one but i've herd good things if you like a few less bells and whistles. Get an 8 wheel one rather than a 6 and put 2 sets of tracks on it rather than chains and tracks. Unless your doing long extractions there probably isn't much in carrying a few extra tonnes. I'm using a 10 tonne botex my stuff and untill this winters 5 mile extration route it's always been fine. Then 4.5 miles of that is road so proper forwarder would be no good.

What sort of pine? It's not really much good for outside stuff as it rots quickly. Saying that you could sell it for material for planters on ebay.

Interesting.

Give them a call. They've been advertising for some arb lectures recently.

That could be the most horrible thing I've ever read. Think I'll remember that for 20+ years now.

Bicton would be the closets surely. Merrist Wood is the Rolls Royce of arb colleges though. Do they not have accommodation at the college? I wouldn't fancy a 3ish hour drive without traffic each way.

Pictures tell a thousand words. I've herd again and again be careful around hydraulics. It wasn't until i saw a picture of someone who had hydraulic injection and had had their arm pealed to remove the oil that it really went in. I don't have any pictures i'm afraid. Just a cautious tale to say if you think you should fell something to make life safer. Don't be talked out of it, or you'll end up with a dodgy neck

That's a long old drive.

Ah yes so it is. Hence my 9.5tonne winch on order for a 95hp tractor.

There is a 6000 on ebay ifs a case of wanting extra pull rather than needing it.

026 026pro. Never liked them always had problems with them. Air filter problems and poor AV.

I don't know about the ins and out of importing them from Ireland but there are some very low hours good condition Valmets out there.

I think 5k for forest guarding is about right.