Well I have done about 5 days of cleaning edges of fields for this landowner. His 200 acres is going to be logged this year and I now have permission/access to it. He has this dandy 70 hp 4 wd tractor with a logging winch. Today he was showing me how to use it. It's pretty slick.
Yeah, are you getting the tops, hauling out dead wood now, or what's the deal? Whatever it is, it sounds like a score! That part of the state is known as 'God's Country,' and you can see why. My brother has some land in that area...wouldn't surprise me at all if he built a house on it and retired out there.
That's good, the tractor will let you grab a whole top and drag it to whee you want to cut. That will be nice and you will have more firewood then you will ever need there.
Well I have gotten pretty spoiled. I had a couple places I cut and scooped up volunteer trees. I got to know some loggers by bribing them with apples out of my orchard. Through them I got the names of the landowner on places they are working and got access. So I now cut in the following order: Cut offs and short culls from the landing. They load my trailer with the log forwarder. It takes 3-4 min. to get a load. Once loaded I cut on the trailer to contain the sawdust, then roll off next to where it will be split and immediately stacked. The trailer: Not a great pic, but the forwarder truck w/grapple is in the background. Second step is cutting up the cull logs left on the landing. This kind of $ucks because I have to pick the rounds up or roll into the trailer. The tractor and winch will be used a couple years from now as it the last resort for working on the tops. The tops are great, but the above is just so easy.
At 20 yrs ahead I might look into making some $ on the wood you can get your hands on. You have some nice networking relationships now, it's great to keep at it until your 40 yrs ahead
That comment I made about 20 years ahead was in jest. I sell almost all of it. Last year I sold so much, I almost ran out myself.:firepit:
There is more right now, old pics. I figure there are 20 cords right now, all cut/split since last Sept.
