In loving memory of Kenis D. Keathley 6/4/81 - 3/27/22 Loving father, husband, brother, friend and firewood hoarder Rest in peace, Dexterday

Timber harvest advice

Discussion in 'The Wood Market' started by DaveGunter, Oct 17, 2019.

  1. DaveGunter

    DaveGunter

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2013
    Messages:
    3,859
    Likes Received:
    22,679
    Location:
    Far Away Ranch, Meadowbrook Forest
    Here are some before and after videos, the first three are pre harvest, the last video is post harvest of the same trail. The goal was a select harvest and to have the forest still feel like a forest afterward, overall I'm pleased and hoping the grinder/mulcher guy I'm hiring for post harvest clean up can take care of the majority of the brush.





     
  2. DaveGunter

    DaveGunter

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2013
    Messages:
    3,859
    Likes Received:
    22,679
    Location:
    Far Away Ranch, Meadowbrook Forest
    Couple of detailed weekly reports. I also get a report documenting each truckload and a copy of the weigh slip for each truckload.

    20201006_080445.jpg
     

    Attached Files:

    eatonpcat, mat60 and Flamestead like this.
  3. Dumf

    Dumf Banned

    Joined:
    Jan 26, 2016
    Messages:
    916
    Likes Received:
    2,867
    Location:
    Maine
    Nice accounting records Dave. Thx.
    Interesting to know what mills those loads are headed for since so many pulp mills in Maine have closed.
     
    SilentHatch likes this.
  4. DaveGunter

    DaveGunter

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2013
    Messages:
    3,859
    Likes Received:
    22,679
    Location:
    Far Away Ranch, Meadowbrook Forest
    Various places based on the market...Sappi, Stratton lumber, Pleasant River, the P&C yard in East Newport most of which is bound for Quebec.
     
    mat60, Flamestead and SilentHatch like this.
  5. Flamestead

    Flamestead

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 2013
    Messages:
    2,067
    Likes Received:
    10,261
    Location:
    Windsor County, VT
    DaveGunter , how is your stand holding up to its first winter? I’m guessing a few trees down here or there, but hoping it is mostly incidental.
     
  6. DaveGunter

    DaveGunter

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2013
    Messages:
    3,859
    Likes Received:
    22,679
    Location:
    Far Away Ranch, Meadowbrook Forest
    Yes just a few here and there, nothing huge, some stems that broke and some that tipped over with the root ball. We have had some pretty intense wind storms, some with unusual wind direction, so I am pretty pleased.

    I am having difficulty getting a mulching contractor here to knock down the debris. I'm on the third contractor now, hopefully he comes through.

    My neighbor to the South just started a harvest on their 200 acres this week. Different contractor using tracked machines. They are cutting it pretty hard and tearing things up quite a bit...hard to watch.

    Did your harvest ever happen?
     
    Chazsbetterhalf, mat60 and Flamestead like this.
  7. Flamestead

    Flamestead

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 2013
    Messages:
    2,067
    Likes Received:
    10,261
    Location:
    Windsor County, VT
    That’s great news on how it is holding up. I think it takes a few years to really wind-harden, but a really good start.

    No, our harvest is not moving forward very fast. I’m a bit perplexed, given the Mrs works for the company. I can’t tell if they feel like the expectations are unrealistic, or what. It is a borderline pre-commercial cut, and we need to invest in infrastructure like the landing and some road base through a pasture. It also is effectively two different harvests due to terrain. I’m about ready to ask someone else for a bid to light a fire under these guys. It does not help that our family life in the past two years has been one disaster after another (the latest, but not least, one of my sisters just got a AML (leukemia) diagnosis and we thought for a week that we’d seen the last of her). Did you read about the Maine Christmas tree farmer who was killed in his dooryard a year ago? He was a next door neighbor/mentor growing up, and had helped me move some things around on my parents farm a week or two before he was killed. That’s just for starters.
     
    DaveGunter, Chazsbetterhalf and mat60 like this.
  8. DaveGunter

    DaveGunter

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2013
    Messages:
    3,859
    Likes Received:
    22,679
    Location:
    Far Away Ranch, Meadowbrook Forest
    Yikes! That's rough, I hope things can start going your way...crazy year. Contractors dragging their feet can be difficult, I felt like I was prodding them at times too, it's hard to know when to jump ship.
     
    Flamestead and Chazsbetterhalf like this.
  9. Gasifier

    Gasifier

    Joined:
    Oct 3, 2013
    Messages:
    19,939
    Likes Received:
    98,893
    Location:
    St. Lawrence River Valley, NY
    Ugh. Sorry for the troubles our friend. Here is to a better year/future.
     
    Flamestead and Chazsbetterhalf like this.
  10. Flamestead

    Flamestead

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 2013
    Messages:
    2,067
    Likes Received:
    10,261
    Location:
    Windsor County, VT
  11. Gasifier

    Gasifier

    Joined:
    Oct 3, 2013
    Messages:
    19,939
    Likes Received:
    98,893
    Location:
    St. Lawrence River Valley, NY
    This is cool. Thanks for posting it. Kinda what I’m doing with my property after our logging harvest. I have a LOT of blowdowns to clean up over the coming years. A result of thinning Ash, White Pine, and some Spruce out and then, some of the ones left not being able to withstand the windstorms we have had. But that’s okay. Blowdowns are firewood to heat the house. I am thinking of forestscaping but just alongside my trails and through the areas where the drainage ditches run. Then the rest can pretty much do what it wants. Cool job he has! Wish I had more time to work in my woods. At a take your time pace that is! :BrianK: I find it so much more enjoyable if I’m not in a rush to get things done.
     
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2021
    DaveGunter and Flamestead like this.
  12. Flamestead

    Flamestead

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 2013
    Messages:
    2,067
    Likes Received:
    10,261
    Location:
    Windsor County, VT
    I’m doing little things, like trying to grow a stand of White Birch without losing them all to ice storms. I planted a few Larch last summer in places I’ll be able to enjoy their Fall foliage.
    I was struck by the landscape at Shelburne Farm (not the formal gardens, but the flow of trail, fields, and views). Turns out it was intentionally designed, by Olmsted. I’ve also admired the woods at Marsh-Billings National Park, as well as their road and trail system. I dream of having the time to do more.
     
  13. Gasifier

    Gasifier

    Joined:
    Oct 3, 2013
    Messages:
    19,939
    Likes Received:
    98,893
    Location:
    St. Lawrence River Valley, NY
    It will be another 8-10 years before I retire. I hope to have the majority of mine done by then. The hope is to be able to walk the trails a lot and mow grass with a nice used, low hour Cab Kubota tractor and rotary cutter and an out front Kubota mower. Something like this.....
    upload_2021-2-25_21-7-31.png

    Here’s one for sale now!
    2010 Kubota F3680 Lawn Mower. All Attachments Included!! Just Serviced!! Cab!! | eBay
     
    savemoney and Flamestead like this.
  14. DaveGunter

    DaveGunter

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2013
    Messages:
    3,859
    Likes Received:
    22,679
    Location:
    Far Away Ranch, Meadowbrook Forest
    I don't know the guy, I'll see if I can look him up. I think for bulk clean up of brush after a harvest, like I'm currently interested in a forestey mulching rig is going to be more efficient. His operation seems very hand work intensive.

    My goal is to have a loop woods road that a tractor can navigate, and then a bunch of interconnecting foot trails. Those mini skidders look very cool. They guy we hired to clear for the build had something like that although not as nice and a walking axle chipper. 168442-dd2cdaa2f810a5f4a3b65712f4a8b535.jpg
    168443-85b29cc69b8daefd789e53212ff1c335.jpg
     
  15. Flamestead

    Flamestead

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 2013
    Messages:
    2,067
    Likes Received:
    10,261
    Location:
    Windsor County, VT
    A Bombardier- I could have fun with one of those, grooming ski trails! I thought it was interesting the guy in the article was using a Forecat. I had researched them quite a few years ago, as they are one of the few things of use that come up when searching for “small skidder”.

    Were you able to get someone lined up to do “mulching” of the harvest residue?
     
  16. DaveGunter

    DaveGunter

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2013
    Messages:
    3,859
    Likes Received:
    22,679
    Location:
    Far Away Ranch, Meadowbrook Forest
    I have two different mulching contractors who say they want the job...even have a contract with one of them, neither one of them were able to get it done...now the roads are posted so it's not happening until at least the end of May.
     
  17. Flamestead

    Flamestead

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 2013
    Messages:
    2,067
    Likes Received:
    10,261
    Location:
    Windsor County, VT
    Roads posted so early is a bit rough. Here we can call the town road foreman and get permission to go early mornings on a posted road with a hard freeze. But that can be a hassle to convince a third party to play that game, especially since they might get their equipment stranded in a warmup. Visibility will be great in early May, but at some point I lose sight of a lot due to ferns.
     
    savemoney and Canadian border VT like this.
  18. stuckinthemuck

    stuckinthemuck

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2013
    Messages:
    3,089
    Likes Received:
    14,315
    Location:
    Wandering around in the NH woods.
    DaveGunter likes this.
  19. DaveGunter

    DaveGunter

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2013
    Messages:
    3,859
    Likes Received:
    22,679
    Location:
    Far Away Ranch, Meadowbrook Forest
    Silvopasturing small livestock in the area around our house is a goal, very similar to what it looks like Woodsman has got going on, hence the mulching job as the area has never been pasture and is currently way to rough. Those skidsteer mulchers could probably get the job done but I'm not sure they could handle the terrain and the size of the job makes a dedicated mulcher better suited. Some of these machine are upwards of 300 hp.

     
    MikeInMa likes this.
  20. stuckinthemuck

    stuckinthemuck

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2013
    Messages:
    3,089
    Likes Received:
    14,315
    Location:
    Wandering around in the NH woods.
    Yeah. I’m not sure how big of an area you are talking about doing. The skid steer option is just that. An option. Might save you money on equipment but you could pay more in labor. The dedicated machine might be able to access locations that the skid steer can not. Depends on what’s available in your area. A heavier machine might not be able to get in tighter spaces or could damage the roots of existing trees. Lots of variables to figure out. Either way, I think the mulched option is better than chipping as it will mix the wood fiber in with the soil to help recycle the nutrients back into the soil while allowing your grasses to grow. Added soil carbon will make your pasture more drought resistant.