Big J

The problem: The answer:

Excellent 😊 Welcome to the forum and well done on your eradication work. The greys are the main reason I strongly resist putting any native broadleaves in on any of my planting sites.

By the look of her, £20 is clearly a lot more than she needs to be spending 😄

Hello all, In an effort to help a friend and work colleague sell some saplings, I thought I'd put the shout out here to see if anyone wanted any? It's been a really tough year for getting new planting projects underway due to delays with the RPA process for grant applications. Basically, Covid has royally put a spanner in the works on woodland creation. We've still got about 30 hectares of new euc. woodland going in, but it should have been much more. Consequently, my supplier has a surplus of euc. saplings, and I know that there has been a bit of interest here. I'm not sure how we'd sort delivery at this stage, but I wanted to gauge interest. The saplings will be £0.62 each ex works, plus VAT (for orders of 1000 or more) and the details are as follows: ECC20104 Eucalyptus coccifera 1400 EDP20107 E.dalrympleana 600 EDD20108 Eucalyptus delegatensis 200 EDT20110 Eucalyptus denticulata 12000 EDT20111 Eucalyptus glaucescens 25000 EBC20116 Eucalyptus globulus subsp.bicostata 2000 EJH20118 Eucalyptus johnstonii 500 ENT20119 Eucalyptus nitens 80000 EUN20127 Eucalyptus urnigera 7500 127800 There are two main constraints to planting eucalypts widely in UK:- Low temperature, -most importantly duration of cold temperatures (over two weeks) and out of season radiation frosts -generally not common within oceanic/low altitudinal sites Adequate soil moisture, water is the carbon building block for wood/cellulose -higher more water efficient and productive than other trees For planting Eucalypts, it is important for:- Care taken to avoid frost hollows and waterlogged sites Silvicultural expertise -matching origin species and provenance to site latitude, altitude and broad climatic character, using ESC Basic silviculture needs to be adhered to pre-plant site preparation species/provenance selection appropriate spacing post plant weeding Pre-plant preparation techniques clear ground for planting by spray/mechanical means mound to give a clear planting area ripping ground to minimise compaction ideally a bio mulch mat at the base of each tree wide treeguard and stake/cane to assist establishment and discourage rabbit browsing Species Details Eucalyptus dalrympleana (Mountain white gum) Cold tolerant to -14 degrees C Well-drained upland sites to 900m asl Excellent apical dominance characteristics Potentially one of the best suited species to UK conditions Tolerant of saline and salt spray conditions Quality timber, to 50m height Growth 30m3/ha/yr Eucalyptus nitens (Shining gum) Cold tolerant to around -10 degrees Req well drained sites, large juvenile leaves Req tree guards to maintain stability over initial establishment period To 60m height in natural environment Tolerant of saline and salt spray conditions Best production short rotation cold tolerant species Growth 40m3/ha/yr E.coccifera (Snow peppermint, Tasmanian snow gum) Cold tolerant, frost hardy to -18 degrees C Naturally grows in Tasmania on mountains and plateaux (to 1300m asl) Grows on well drained, rocky dolerite soils Cope with conditions of frost, snow and wind Tolerant of saline and salt spray conditions Juvenile leaves round and glaucous, suitable for foliage Successful establishment in Scotland Straight vigorous tree Up to 40m in height Plant on exposed site Eucalyptus gunnii (Cider gum) Cold tolerant, very frost hardy to -18 degrees C Naturally grows in poorly drained, basalt type soils Copes with conditions of frost, snow, wind and heavy mist Successful establishment in UK Up to 25m in height Plant in most exposed site Tolerant of saline and salt spray conditions Juvenile leaves round and glaucous, suitable for foliage Coppices well up to the age of 15, Eucalyptus urnigera(Urn gum) Cold tolerant, very frost hardy to -18o degrees C Naturally grows in Tasmania on mountains and plateaux (to 1000m asl) Grows on well drained, rocky dolerite soils Cope with conditions of frost, snow and wind Successful establishment in Scotland Juvenile leaves round and glaucous, suitable for foliage Up to 40m in height Plant in most exposed site Growth 24m3/ha/yr The guarding needs for the trees varies from site to site. Rabbits are the main issue. Anyway, would anyone like to get some euc. biomass plots going? The growth rate is really amazing, especially with the nitens. You do need to be all the way south or west for that species though.

It is a really good machine - the crane is superb, particularly. I'm back in the Komatsu at the moment on a very, very boggy site in Somerset. The Vimek wouldn't have a hope in here. It's a clearfell too, so no point really. I did have to fully offload myself first thing this morning to get out of a new soft spot, as I'd sunk about 110cm down at the back end (to about 10cm past the band tracks). Anyway, as regards your question about impact on thinnings, I would argue that generally, smaller machines are better. Yes, they make more passes, but they also travel far further away from the stems of the retained trees, reducing root compaction. My experience of working on a few bogs over the past two years is that it's absolute weight, rather than pounds per square inch that is the key factor. The Komatsu fully loaded is 28 tonnes. The Vimek is 9 tonnes. Ok, the Vimek has to make three passes when the Komatsu makes 1, but equate it to road haulage and the 4th power rule. This relates to axle weight, and how a doubling of axle weight is reckoned to cause 16 times the damage to the road surface. From my empirical observations, this is very much the case. We did a boggy site 18 months ago, and I took about 200t across a causeway (built up stone track) over a stream with a pipe going under the track. Over 100 runs with the Logbullet and the track was still fine for driving a van along. One single pass with the harvester (Komatus 931, about 18t) and the causeway was severely damaged and the pipe carrying the small stream crushed. In addition to the much reduced ground impact, you're also able to take substantially narrower racks with the smaller machines, which improves wind firmness. In conclusion, machines like the Vimek are slower and less productive, but I much prefer using them and the woodland is much better off in the end.

We've got about 8 edge trees on a clearfell block that we're presently doing that need to be stripped of branches to allow the harvester to pull them back in. Needing a couple of speedy climbers to zip up them with a flip line stripping them of branches as they go. The trees are western hemlock and about 100ft tall. Please get in contact if you can help. It can be done evenings to work around any existing commitments. I appreciate it's short notice.

Alas, no. I don't ever have to transport chip, so almost all of my work mileage is in a Citroen Berlingo. Beyond that, I tow heavy things with a V10 Touareg.

A sad announcement: It is with great sadness that I have to mention the loss of a few local businesses as a result of COVID-19. A local bra manufacturer has gone bust, a submarine company has gone under, a manufacturer of food blenders has gone into liquidation, a dog kennel has had to call in the retrievers and a company supplying paper for origami enthusiasts has folded. A local strip club has gone tits up, Interflora is pruning its business and Dyno-rod has gone down the drain. The saddest one though is the ice cream van man found dead covered in nuts and raspberry sauce. He couldn't take it any more and topped himself.

I'm sorry that you found yourself in that situation. It must have been awful, even if it was a clear choice that needed to be made. With my dog, she never forgets anything and responds badly even with relatively mild aggression. We've very good friends an hour from us, who have a labrador who is (as they put it), just a bit of an arsehole with other dogs. Katie is one of two dogs he gets on with, but he always has one aggressive bark at her every time we see them. After that, he's fine and they largely ignore each other. When we visited them on Easter Sunday, I had to physically lift Katie out the boot because she didn't want to get out on account of their lab. She was totally fine throughout, but she's fearful of aggressive dogs, and rightly so. And he's really not that bad - he just doesn't know how to play and is aggressive instead (though not physically). What's difficult for them now is that my friend can't walk the dog and her daughter (who is 2yrs 3 month) at the same time. She needs both hands to restrain the dog but obviously can't let go of her daughter. So it causes them a lot of stress. They've really tried correcting his behaviour and he's great with kids and bigger people too. He's just a liability with other dogs. I couldn't live like that, if I'm honest. The world has way too many dogs and people shouldn't feel that by rescuing a dog they are doing anyone a favour. From a utilitarian standpoint, the greatest kindness is to euthanise almost any unwanted dog as they'll eat many, many more animals during the remainder of their life. But having a dog (or indeed any pet) is almost always a completely selfish, and completely natural decision. I just can't understand why some people burden themselves intentionally with damaged pets.

To answer both your questions, yes to both, probably. Your terrier is a risk to other dogs and is likely to cause the kind of situation that your second dog finds itself in. Excessively aggressive dogs aren't necessarily in that condition through any fault of their own, but they nevertheless find themselves in that situation and serve to continue the problem by psychologically scarring other dogs. I just don't see the point in having a dog that is a liability. Whether that's because it's got crap recall or because it's aggressive. It's not a particularly large leap for a dog to start attacking people (children in particular) if they routinely attack dogs. There shouldn't be any kind of misplaced sense of altruism when it comes to rehoming damaged dogs. In all likelihood, they make the lives of the owners more difficult going forward and they will possibly cause emotional distress (or physical injuries) to other dogs/animals/people. Why take the risk? You're stuck with a dog for potentially 15 years or more, and that's a long time if it's a nutbar. My enjoyment of having a dog is watching her have a full and complete life. Knowing that I can take her anywhere, into any situation (except for perhaps going to a cat sanctuary - she's rather scared of cats 😄 ) without having to worry about her. It's fascinating watching her develop her own relationships with people too. I worked a busy National Trust site in February and she got to know a local dog walker (and the 15 odd dogs she walked regularly) and that she had dog treats. Me, sat in the cab of my forwarder, watching her fleece a soppy lady for treats whilst cuddling up to her was lovely because I trust her completely to be able to do that independently of me. The dog walker was only too happy too. The idea of having to restrain a dog on a lead for 100% of the time we're out is awful to me. I just don't see the point. It's a chore, not a pleasure.

I'm not generally concerned about people with dogs off the lead. It's the ones that are on leads that worry me more. Last summer a lady walked up from the town to grab some aquarium plants from me with her dog (we're 500m outside the town on a country lane - you see loads of dog walkers). She was keeping her distance explained that her dog (staffie) was really bad with other dogs. It was on a harness and muzzled, but it somehow got off. It went through my three year old, knocking her over to get to my dog, which it pinned to the floor. It would have mauled her had it not had a muzzle on. I grabbed it by the harness and lifted it off my dog and the lady made many apologies and left. In my view, there is no possible justification for an animal like that to not be euthanised. It's a serious risk to the public, should it manage to escape it's owner. I honestly have no idea why anyone would want to take a dog like that on, but I have an acquaintance who always takes on rescue boxers with serious behavioural issues. We're far too soft in the UK sometimes. If a dog can't function adequately as a dog, it serves no purpose. People scream bloody murder that it's unfair because it's not the dog's fault it's like that, but they forget that their nutbar pooch will negatively, and permanently affect the behaviour of previously well balanced dogs. Put the high risk dogs down, train the owners and break the cycle.

It's a fair point, but neutering does make the goal easier to attain. It's more of an issue for unneutered male dogs I feel, but then I would only have a female dog anyway.

God, that must have been awful. And hilarious 😄 For me it all comes down to quality of life for the dog and for the owner. Anything you can do to improve this is worth doing. I'd say at least 80% of dogs I come across in day to day life look like a lot of work to live with. Crappy recall, don't do what they're told, have to be on leads, barky, humpy etc. If you can mitigate any of those irks, everyone is in for an easier life. That's where neutering comes in - you can't expect a sex crazed mutt to have good recall if it's hot on the scent of another dog/sofa/leg.

We spayed our collie bitch when she was about 18 months old. She only came to us aged 15 months. She's been wonderful, with no health issues relating to it and we've had her very nearly 10 years now. She's fit as a flea and alarmingly intelligent. I would strongly recommend getting your lab neutered. There is nothing worse than a big male dog that tries to hump everything. You're creating a rod for your own (or more specifically, your wife's) back if you don't. You raise ethical concerns relating to the operation, but I'd argue that it's generally unethical to have an unneutered male dog in Britain, unless you're intending to breed from it. It's behaviour will be harder to manage, meaning it'll be less able to be fully included in your life. I can take my dog absolutely anywhere. She follows me and the forwarder round all day, she meets loads of other people and other dogs whilst doing that. I can walk her (to heel, without a lead) through a flock of sheep, through a busy town centre, take her on a canoe, swim across a lake with her or put her in a car for an 8 hour journey. I am lucky with her being so biddable, but part of that freedom is down to her being neutered. Do everything you can to maximise your pet's quality of life, and for me, that includes neutering.

God I hope that this is a joke 😲

Absolutely! It was bought a while back, but it's in date and everything. Not that I know how you'd tell if it had gone off. 🤪

My wife has a jar of this extra old rubbish, saved for her brother in Sweden (whenever were actually allowed to go over there). What's it worth to you?! 😝

Finally, a silver lining to this whole pandemic mullarky 😄

I know 😄 I had a 5 tonner on site the other day putting ramps in for me, and he tanned a good 50 litres on a 10 hour day. The Vimek is drinking the fuel on this site too, as it's almost half a mile from the bottom of the block to the loading bay, with a 70m climb. Normally, 30 litres sees you a full day on the machine.

Some updates to the machine. The reversing camera is a great addition and having the grab tank is brilliant. No more pouring Jerry cans. It's 220 litres and that lasts 50-60 hours of machine operation. Were finishing up a medium sized conifer first thinning at the moment. Some incredibly fast grown trees in there. The largest spruce we felled at 21 years old was just about 2 tonnes.

A few work photos with Katie from the last month. She does about 8 hours of walking with the machine per day. She'll be 11 in 6 weeks and still as fit as a flea.