Big J

Interesting! I had a meeting with the landowner this evening, and as well as marking plots, measuring trees and such like, we also discussed planting. Most likely to go with a fully planted approach, but on 3x3m spacing (usually plantation is 2x2m). This will allow natural regeneration to infill between the tubes to an extent, and also keep the costs down a bit. Thanks for all the input folks

That is true, but the ground impact would have been higher. Using the combination of the little forwarder and tractor means that the tractor is generally sticking to the tracks and the forwarder mops up inbetween. I was one of four forestry companies that was invited to tender (all the others much bigger than myself, with harvesters in their armoury) and I was by far the cheapest. I'm very happy with what I'm earning, the cutters are on very good rates and the land owner is seeing an excellent return.

It's only been two machines running side by side for about 25% of the time. Mostly just the tractor. The first day was a write off as he got to speed on the machine. Beyond that, he's only done a total of 4 days, one of which I was in, and one of which I was cutting. Cutting costs are about £8-9/t. I have very good cutters that I pay very well. Sawlog is going out for the most part at £69/t roadside, chip £42 and naturally, the deal that I have with the landowner is confidential. Little hiccup today as one of the tyres popped off the forwarding trailer whilst turning. That'll be about £50 to pop it back on, but that's the only unexpected cost so far. We'll be done and extracted by Wednesday next week, and it'll have been 800t in 2.5 weeks. Another 80 tonne away today.

It isn't. Tractor driver on £12/hr (the rate he suggested) so he's only costing me roughly£1.80 per tonne, plus my time

Sorry Matty, didn't see your post earlier. So it's a 9t trailer, but I think with 3.7s, it's not going much past 6t. When the logs are all stacked rideside by the forwarder (which I'm operating), the tractor can complete a run (average 500m to extraction point) in 30-40m. That means, including stoppages for fueling and breaks, you're on about 10t/hr. We tend to work 10hrs, and the chap on the tractor isn't quite up to speed yet so we've been doing up to 15 runs a day. Some runs have been 3m chip and 2.5m bar, so best day is around 75t so far. The forwarder is incredibly fast for putting logs to the ride side. Just doing 1/2 loads (0.75 - 1t), you're zipping back and forth, never more than 50m and not having to pay much attention to slope and I can weave between the trees. As I said, we had 100t of 3.7s leave site today, and 24t of chip. Still about 160-170t of 3.7s left, 15t of chip, 15t of 2.5s, 10t of 4.9s and 50t of 5.5s. That's after 8 days of production and that's also with the tractor driver doing his first day last Monday (up to day 4 now). So around 380t in 8 days, but as I said, training the chap on the tractor. * edit: and I only got 4 loads out today as I had to stay out the landing bay as lorries were in and I didn't have the tractor driver in today either.

Must be some size! That DF log was getting towards the limit for the tractor. We're 250m ASL and it seems fairly dense for DF. Had 4 loads of 3.7s go out today, and it barely dented the stack.

The largest tree felled on site so far. 36. 8m of usable product off this one. The first length (4.9m) was a pig to lift with the tractor as it was nearly 60cm at the top end.

Another from today. 125t went out on wagons today and it barely dented the 3.7m stack!

I'm finding the little forwarder is working really well in conjunction with the tractor. It's less efficient on a long drag due to it's limited capacity, but it's incredibly quick within a stand, weaving between trees. Little forwarder and big tractor makes for a good combination, and 80 tonnes a day is quite doable (like in the stand in the photo above).

Absolutely stunning site. Great trees, nice ground, the slope to the right isn't too bad and the timber is easy to sell. We're doing it for a very competitive rate and both the landowner and myself should do very well out of it.

Snot a digger, its a Log Bullet cheeky And you're off! Doesn't look like a desperately easy site to get started with! This was my view today:

That is definitely a concern, as brambles are an issue in the locality. We are hoping that the ground is sufficiently acidic to perhaps suppress the invasive, non-tree species on the slope. Additionally, there are a few hardwoods scattered through the stand (some cherry and birch) and we're going to leave them standing despite the likelihood that they will blow. Even a year or two standing would mean a huge drop of seeds, saving us quite a lot of planting.

Another replanting question. We've got a western red cedar clearfell to do in the summer, with around 4.5 acres to come down. About the same area again is also to be thinned. The object of the clearfell is to return the woodland to native hardwoods, and the reason for clearfelling this compartment and only thinning the others is that it is of generally poorer quality. The block is on a fairly steep slope, faces east and is free draining acid loam over rock. We would like to replant, or at least encourage regeneration. The slope is just about gentle enough for an excavator (with skilled operator) to be able to move around freely. I was wondering if there was a way to cultivate the land with a mulcher or such like in order to encourage birch and cherry regeneration, possibly including some form of seed planting? We (myself and the landowner) aren't desperately keen to replant with trees, stakes and tubes because of the cost, the disposal issues at the end, and the visual impact of the tubes on the hillside. I'm aware that cultivated ground will probably spring up with birch anyway, but I'm just looking at a way of speeding up the process.

Well if you get yourself set up with a skyline, get yourself down here and I'll have work for you.

There is certainly an environmental angle to skylining as no ground impact. I don't much like winching anyway, and skylining just seems like a lot of hassle!

It's a joy to work in. Nice big trees and my two main cutters are doing upwards of 25t each a day. The trees are anywhere from 1/2 cube up to about 4 cube, 100-120ft tall.

I just don't want to get into skylining if I can.

The way that one of my cutters put it was "the tractor is doing all the hauling, but the forwarder is taking all of the strain off the cutters as it's moving all the brash, the chipwood and making life easier for the tractor too"

Having a lot of fun on a Douglas Fir clearfell/thinning near Honiton. Finally out of the horribly muddy valley near Tiverton, and on dry, rocky ground. Also, no brutally steep slopes or winching. Spent much of the week on the tractor myself, but yesterday had a young lad on his second day on the tractor and me on the forwarder. The distance to the extraction point isn't that far (400-800m) but the combination of me on the forwarder putting the logs ride side, and the tractor hauling them to the landing bay was superb. It quadrupled Ed's extraction rate and was even 50% more than I was able to do with the tractor. The forwarder is so much quicker nipping between the trees on the thinning, and you can just chuck it around on the slopes with wild abandon, whereas the tractor with the roof mount won't tolerate any kind of side slope. Anyway, we'll have felled and extracted 300t this week. If anyone has a need for oversized DF (minimum 30cm top diameter, but could work to minimum 40cm top), I could do a load or two next week, maximum length 5.5m.

I'm only 150 odd hours into my forestry tractor ownership, but I don't find the valves too bad. You can feel that you've done a shift, and even jumping between the electrohydraulics on the forwarder and tractor isn't too much a lurch. I'd go for electric joysticks on the next one though, as I can't justify the cost for conversion.

Boring and largely worthless. Creamy white, minimal figure and tough to sell. It will shift eventually, but it take ages and you'll not make much on it. Best to pass and save your efforts for something more marketable.

You are right. I sold my Bullerjan to a friend near Aviemore and his mum can't stand it! ?

A lucas mill would be a good option for it. Build the mill over the log and mill in situ.

Might be worth you speaking to Bill Watson at Angus Biofuels in Forfar. He has my old Logmaster LM2 sawmill, which is a Texan machine, built like a brick shithouse and with strong, simple hydraulics, including a log loader. Can't be too far from you and it'll give you plenty of ideas on how to pimp your sawmill.