muldonach

I would suggest that he puts it out to tender cheers mac

If you need a land rover there is nothing better:thumbup: If you don't need one you certainly don't want one! Cheers mac now on third landy and unlikely to change anytime soon!

Make out an invoice for a good but not excessive normal rate, detail all your time & costs etc. Double it - either a straight multiplier (double time or call out charge plus time and a half etc etc.) Call round and see your client and deliver invoice by hand, if it is an insurance claim the insurance company will have a fair idea of emergency call out rates. It sounds like your action has probably limited the damage to your clients house so it is unlikely that the insurance will quibble, if they do they will probably appoint an independent assessor who will be conversant with working rates. I am not advocating that you overcharge the insurance but you should certainly charge them a fair market rate with an easy conscience and double rates for an unplanned sunday call out does not seem to me to be unreasonable. If they are unhappy with the rate they will query it - they will certainly not increase it. Make sure your client understands that the invoice is prepared on the basis that the insurance will pay, you may well find that they will wish to discuss the deductible with you. In the event that the insurance refuse or contest your invoice you can always discount it to your client. Cheers mac

No it isn't but you will most certainly know that you have a fair load behind you and it is sore on the land-rover. We have changed the rear cross member in all the land-rovers we have had as they start to pull out after prolonged heavy towing. It is perfectly feasible but not something you want to be doing all day every day Cheers mac

What price do you value a leg at? You can buy the cheap ones as long as your girl is good with a needle and does not mind mending them because the stitching will fall apart in short order, or you can spend more money and get a pair that will not actually fall apart the first time you wear them. Stretch Airs get my vote - never touched with a needle yet (2 yrs old) Cheers mac

Any other ideas - I was speaking to a Husq dealer today as I handed in a seized 346 for diagnosis. I have priced a 560 from them but mentioned this thread and I am assured that the problem is due to a faulty autotune system! Looks like there is more than one theory around. Cheers mac

You guys must have better eyesight than I have - I have really struggled to read the articles they have printed on the DPM backgrounds and lost patience with that one in particular. Cheers mac

He certainly would be delighted, the plant you are talking about is juncus (soft rush) it can be baled for bedding but before taking it on you may want to check the price of putting double wheels on your tractor, have a good chain and a second tractor readily available and make sure that you have a good low ground pressure trailer available. They do not normally grow in good firm well drained ground. You may also consider taking a look at the stone outcrops in your photo and considering the effect of hitting one with a running mower. The answer to your question is yes it can be cut and baled like hay - it makes decent bedding - biomass - no reason why it should not work in a straw bale boiler - but straw bales are normally easier to get! Cheers mac

The FC do exactly that except that the purchaser has to arrange haulage - ask the enquirer if they are experienced in chainsaw operations and quote them a price. Get the money up front - the FC do!

talk to your local agricultural dealers - Wilsons are not the cheapest place in the world to buy tractors

Nobody ever went bust by taking a profit - if you have a market to sell fresh timber into that will give a positive cash return then sell enough to keep your cashflow up to whatever level you desire or are comfortable with and season the remainder for future sales Cheers mac

Sorry but this makes no sense whatever to me, if you know the price per ton you will offer then offer it on a roadside basis. The seller should be able to figure out an approximate tonnage for hiimself It appears however that what the seller is looking for is a lumpsum price - If you offer a lumpsum price on an assumed tonnage lying in a wood you need your head examined - unless you have a means of putting it at roadside it is worth exactly zero. A more experienced eye would probably say "I'll get back to you" and forget all about it. If you want to estimate the volume lying then pick a chain of 20-30 logs, measure the mid diameter of every log in the chain and get an average volume per piece. Then count all the pieces - if there is just an artic load lying it is not too big a job. The knock 50 quid off your offer for being dicked about Cheers mac

I am assumming you do not intend to take it over a weighbridge or handle it with a crane fitted with a load-cell? ((L1+L2)/2)x H x 2.9 where L1 = length of bottom of stack L2 = length of top of stack H = height of stack (assumes level stack, if there is much variation then measure the height at fixed intervals, add them together and divide by the number of measurements taken) You then need a stowage factor which I think is available from the FC mensuration tables - do not have a copy available at moment but will be about 0.6/ 0.65 at a guess - if the timber is straight- that will give you an estimate of the volume of actual timber in the stack. You then need a density for the timeber to get the tonnage - google green timber density and you will get a figure. It is not an exact science, in particular bendy timber or poor stacking will result in an overestimate of weight. Cheers mac

No gain without pain - splitting dry beech is in my opinion a cruel and unusual punishment if you do it by hand and sore on the machinery otherwise. Cheers mac

Ok fair enough but should it not read ditch, bank and hedge with the purpose of the ditch and bank being to stop the deer getting a decent footing and/or run-up to clear the hedge? Roe in my experience will readily go through or under a smaller gap than you would believe possible, and trying to establish a new hedge on a new bank will first of all need - a fence to protect the tasty young plants - not just from deer either - both sheep and cattle are fond of hawthorn. Cheers mac

It is your ground and whoever has processed the licence has had no mandate to speak for you. You are basically a free agent to vary the licence and the FC should have no problem with this as long as your proposals comply with UK Forestry Standards. Get a hold of your local FC office and find the person who processed the licence. explain the situation and if you want to vary the licence they will probably just need your proposals in writing together with a map to show what you want to plant where. Cheers mac

Another thing to clarify is whether or not any grant assistance is being paid or is available for this operation. It certainly is in Scotland as long as you are happy to jump through the hoops. If someone has processed a felling licence on your ground without bothering to tell you it is not inconceivable that they have forgotten to tell you about other things. Cheers mac

First thing to do is get a sight of the felling licence to make sure your little plot is included, this licence will also have a definitive date by which planting must be completed. There should be no hassle in getting this document and if there is your local FC office should be able to help, the FC will have issued the licence and it is on the public record. Next get a hold of some of the major harvesters and get an outturn price form them - on the face of it £20 per tonne is not a bad price but if he takes the sawlogs and leaves everything else it takes the shine off a bit. At least phone some of the other harvesters or local mills and see what they will offer. You have several practical problems to consider:- a 6 acre plot surrounded by other trees is unlikely to be windfirm once those trees are removed - you can expect a windblow in short order How does he propose to differentiate between your timber and the other owners when it comes to forwarding and final despatch. Again on this you are likely to be left with part loads unless you come to an agreement whereby you accept the weigh scale on the wagon. If his initial offer is £20 per tonne there will be a little slack there - try and talk it up a little but don't expect too much - unless you have or can rapidly identify a viable alternative you are between a rock and a hard place. When it cones to replanting I am not sure what paperwork you are talking about - the species mix and planting density will be in the felling licence conditions along with the timescale. Try to cut a deal to get your ground preparation and drainage done by the same contractors who will be working around you for the other owner(s). Buy some plants and plant them or again get it done by the other guys contractors, there is no paperwork involved other than written agreements for ground prep and planting. For a 6 acre plot surrounded by a clearfell site I think I would be buying the other owner a pint and asking ifI could back to back on his contracts. I.e. get your woodland subjected to the same treatments at the same time and on the same conditions as his. You could think about getting an agent but for 600t of timber it will hardly be worthwhile - cut the best deal you can, get everything in writing, signed by both parties, with independent witnesses and then keep a good but friendly eye on things Cheers mac

Correct

I would like to see a photo of what you have done, I cannot envisage any banking or ditch forming much of an obstacle to deer but am more than happy to be educated. Cheers mac

No arguments with the first sentence - for the rest of it perhaps you would explain with the benefit of your experience in exactly what way the "premium" brands differ from the others? It is my understanding that all of the oil companies have arrangements to supply each other with fuel in those locations where they do not have a refinery or storage. As the main refineries are at the following locations - Scotland (Grangemouth) - BP South West England (Fawley) - Esso South East England (Coryton) - BP Wales (Pembroke) - Texaco Wales (Milford Haven) - Elf/Murco North West England (Stanlow) - Shell Humberside (Killinghome) - Conoco North East England (Cleveland) - Petroplus (some of the operators may have changed since that list was published in 2005) if you are in one of these areas, you can be fairly certain that whatever petrol or diesel that you buy (branded or supermarket), it will have come from the closest refinery. I certainly do not believe that Esso branded petrol in Scotland has been hauled from Fawley for example. It is worth pointing out that all fuel is produced and sold to established standards. There may well be minor differences in after-production additives injected into a specific tanker load but for sure the fuel will be at the octane rating advertised. Cheers mac

You might want to ask your dealer just how many refineries there are in the UK and where he thinks supermarket petrol comes from? cheers mac

It really comes down to how big an area you are talking about planting - if it is just an acre or two then you will probably really struggle to get the trees established without fencing (£ 10/meter should not be far away), if it is a bigger area then fencing it gets expensive, worth bearing in mind that it is really difficult to fence deer out long term, the small species will squeeze through gaps that a lamb would shy away from and the bigger ones can jump a fair height as well. It also depends to an extent on both tree and deer species. Alder for example is not a favoured browse, willow very much is as is norway spruce so you could consider planting sacrificial clumps, especially if you are interested in active control, similarly if you do not want to spend the money to fence then you must make provision to be able to see and shoot deer There is an alternative to deer fencing which you can consider, advocated by a few of the old forestry school who have thought things through for themselves but about 180 degrees away from conventional practice as presently taught. Plant the trees in rows as normal, tube and stake if possible using appropriate tubes for the deer species present. Conventional maintenance would now be to spray with glyphosate to leave a clear circle around the base of the plant about a meter in dia. Don't do that. Use a small tractor and mower to mow between the rows, leave the trees to fight their own way up. By doing this you make natural roadways between the rows with browse / grazing of various ages and heights easily accessible on either side, the trees are initially out of sight and difficult to reach, by the time that changes they are well established. If you weed around the tree either manually or chemically you create exactly the opposite effect and isolate the trees in readily accessible areas. Never heard of badgers as being a problem in tree establishment, apart from making holes under or through fences which bambi then adopts. As for the green knickered brigade - coppice is totally sustainable and properly maintained and carried out makes a wildlife heaven - a variety of differing age habitats on a more or less constant cycle, plenty of variety in light levels and regular top ups of lop and top to keep lots of lovely bugs growing for birds, as well as varying degrees of "bottom" for ground nesting birds and butterflies. A small varied woodland is a (very) worthwhile addition to any farm. You may have a bit of a struggle to get it away but once established it will be fine. As far as firewood production goes my vote is for alder/ash/sycamore all grow well, coppice easily and make good firewood, put a few rowans and elders along the edges as well. Cheers mac

I have no special knowledge of the insurance industry but the general rule is "once uninsured always uninsured" As an example a ship which leaves harbour overloaded and has a fire is not insured. A car with too low a grade of tyre on is not insured irrespective of speed involved in an accident (or so I am led to believe). Not too sure about being uninsured for having the wrong type of boots on if you shut your hand in the door though! Cheers mac

If you have good access to good timber is it not just as easy and profitable to sell the big quality stuff as sawlogs and firewood the small roundwood? I am assumming that your milling and kilning is primarily hardwoods? I can get £25/ tonne standing for good sawlogs it is the smaller roundwood that lacks profitability and needs value added. I would be tempted to take out enough for a trial, sell the sawlogs to cover costs and firewood the small roundwood. Seasoned wood at £50 a cube is good value but it might take a while to establish a customer base - especially if there is plenty of seasoned hardwoods available. Cheers mac