cousin jack

David Roycroft & Karen Kilshaw of Logs on Draught, at Jacksons Bank

One I did this year, it was a barsteward, 15-18ft high, entangled with branches 4 trees along, I say trees because some of them where. Anyway, I made something of it,

awesome what a guy, i missed a talk with him years ago in a village down the road, i was gutted. His neice stayed with us years ago, a friend of a friend from Nz long lost friend ha ha. I love how he holds onto the side of the ladder not the rungs, does anyone know why? i think i do:biggrin:

Why did he hold onto the sides of the ladder, not the rungs?

I have great admiration for the man, I would have been cacking it 40ft off the floor.

I've always thought of modern day horse logging as gimmicky, something for the greenies to rave about. This opinion was probably reinforced when EDF had some extraction done with horses for an advertising stunt, then next day pulled the horses off and had big tractors in to get the job done quickly. But saying all this, its good to see the horses working properly alongside more conventional modern kit, keep up the good work:thumbup1:

Thanks for the support Andy, it is fair to say that some of the horse loggers out there are playing at it, and that, unfortunately tarnishes us all with the same brush. We cannot compete with modern forestry extraction, that much is patently obvious, but neither should we, we are a niche market, better suited for some areas than others, and we can work alongside modern techniques. The other thing is some people are charging silly money to do a days work without any garantee of production, horse loggers should be able to work to a tonnage rate, or a fair day rate if timber is poor or in poorly managed woodland. A lot of people are put off for life by someone quoting £300 a day by someone who dos'nt want to do a hard, long contract in forestry, again those people are ruining it for those of us who are prepared to work hard.

Wow wow wow I love that valmet you sound like you have a great place to work.

 

You allways in the woods or do you do tree surgery to?

No tree surgery for me, one thing is all those knots confuse me, and if I can't fell something in three cuts I'm bolloxed, fortunately I have a friend who is an arb.

Thanks for posting that, nice to see! You managed to find the spot again then!

Not sure if that is the one, but we were on the bank above the pond this week and loads of them there, really nice to see.

Kat1e's early spotted orchid in flower,

I realise this is taking the thread slightly off course, but want to show how horses can work with modern forestry. The wood we are working in is high profile, public access at all times, when thinning operations started Tilhill were getting complaints from the public daily, since bringing in horses, not one complaint, and the operation is now ongoing, we are skidding to rideside, secondary extraction with a Valmet, operated by Big Dave of Chase Timber.

This is Bruno and David Roycroft of Logs on Draught, who I'm working with at the moment.

If I was hung like that, so would I !

Nice looking animal btw, not that I know anything about 'osses.

He's just relaxed there, you should see it when he's really showing off !

The Lenihan family, the best and most professional horse loggers in the UK, IMO

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/members/cousin-jack-albums-horse-logging-picture1831-horselogging-march-2009-035.jpg

wealth is not measured in pounds my friend, and as for the die poor, thats you and me both!

 

happy as a pig in muck though!

My father always says, " if you've got your health, you've got it all" and he's right, without a doubt.

Great pics Josh, looks like the sort of place i would like.

flippin andsome beast, what a life you have cousin jack.

Yep, I do have a great life, but I bet I'll die poor

This is Apollo, my new addition, he is a 4yr old Ardennes stallion, hopefully he's going to put his unka majunka, (that bit of apparatus that he's showing off) to good use and provide me with the next generation of logging horses We've been getting him started quietly, he will get a bit bigger yet, I think he's going to be quite a lad when he stops growing, he seems to relish pulling, so looking forward to be able to work a pair in the near future.

Unfortunately thats the problem with this country. The bloke should be given all the praise in th world. Good shooting Tex

Don't get me wrong, I agree with you on that score, If you live by the sword, be prepared to die by it. But I wonder how his wife and daughter feel now that they've become a soft target for any extremist out there, thats the bit I was getting at.

Awesome pics!

I saw some horse looging in Leavenworth, WA recently! are there any days when you'd welcome visitors to watch and learn a little about the use of horses?

No problems, just pm or email anytime

Seems like we might be there even longer, Tillhill are instructing the feller to take more softwood and non native broadleaves out, so ongoing for the time being.

Great shooting, but I'm not too sure I would want my name and the area in which I live plastered all over the national press.

thats a great Idea, the horse loggers section, i would love it, like the fungi section has its own heading.

 

I want a pair of shires! bigguns!

You want "prop forwards" for logging, thick set, low centre of gravity, shires are like " second row forwards", too long in the leg and top heavy, and they eat more than a smaller horse. You would be amazed at what a pair of Shetland ponies would pull.

Nice pictures..

 

CJ, Do you have a rough idea of how much you're extracting on the average day, and over what sort of distance? And are there any deadlines on the felling to do with bird nesting and other wildlife?

There are two horses working here, on average, 80/100 tons a week. Extraction distance anything from 30yds to 150yds. Felling stops at the end of this week I believe, so then just us to clear up.

Dig a big hole stick in a piece of steel rsg with a hole burnt in it backfill with concrete. Reverse trailer over it and chain axles to the steel and lock. Its a pain crawling under the trailer but makes it difficult to cut.

Just remember to unlock befor you hitch up and drive off.

As above, this will slow them down big style

Yo Ian, like your avatar, here's ours

Nice pics Plippy, I'm just glad I don't have all that brass to polish

Just to clear up something I said about the feller, (someone thought I might have been having a dig at him), not so! What I meant was, he is cracking on at a rate of knots, and we have to extract everything he fells, so that's why we will be there for a while yet. He's a top bloke, name of Pete from Stoke way.

i have for a long time wanted to do this! great post Kat1e, great photos and I am very very green with envy, what a great way to earn a living, and what a great way to work the forest from an ecology point of view.

 

Big up the horse loggers, may you long reign supreme over those horrible great machines.

Yo! Thanks Hamadryad