No problem. I had Katie take a photo of the pile so I can post a picture of what a load of studwood looks like. The advantage is, the price is by weight, not by scale. The problem with scale is; yes they pay a person $280 per 1000 board feet, but then they deduct 25% for crook on a log, 25% on another for rot, 10% for shake, etc...so that a person does not really get the money they first think when they roll into a log yard. And just because a log meets specs does not mean they will take it. The spec sheet might say 5", but I would be surprised if they actually allowed logs that small, more like 8 inches. The same for length. They might claim they will take 8 foot softwood, but few will actually take them. see what I mean? If the person is trucking their own wood, it is not a big deal, they can say "well I'll just back haul that log and cut it up for firewood or whatever", but if a commercial truck driver is hauling the wood, they are not going to mess around with trucking those defective logs back to the landowner/logger. They get paid to truck the wood, what do they care what it scales up, they already got their money? So they leave them. I mean if a scaler is too harsh then they get a bad reputation and the trucks won't haul wood there obviously, but generally speaking the odds are stacked against the logger and landowner. The trucker generally makes out the best in logging because their cut, for the amount of time invested, and for the amount they have in equipment, is proportionally the best. The landowner gets really shafted because they have the most time and property taxes invested since it has taken at LEAST 35 years for that wood to grow into pulp, and even longer into logs. BUT...the system has been this way for years and is not going to change anytime soon.
Oh for sure. I accidentally got into land clearing for other people after retiring. I don't do a whole lot of it, but have a few people waiting, and think I picked up another land clearing job just last night. I am just a one-person sort of operation so my costs are low, whereas real land clearing contractors here just charge so much they lose a lot of potential jobs. Their rate is typically $3000 per acre which does not sound bad, but if they did my 70 acres, that would cost me $210,000!! That just cannot be justified. The return on invest is just wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too long. Raising sheep pays better then letting forest grow, but it does not pay that well! So I just do it myself, and occasionally for other people. It is mind-numbing, and I take a pounding in the cab rooting out stumps, but I set a goal...say a line across the chopping and see if I can reach that point in X amount of time, like by lunch or the end of the day. Typically it is 2-3 acres per day. How I do it all depends on the job. It depends how far the stumps are to the edge of the field. Can you burn, bury or do you have to push the stumps into a ravine? How many rocks are there? How big are the rocks? How many rock walls? The cost of land clearing typically is around $202 per acre from forest to grass, but can be cheaper if it ends up being a corn field (tilled), or more expensive if there is low grade wood on the land. I did one last year on the side of a mountain and it was almost $600 per acre. It is always daunting; any chopping looks so horrific after it is done, but any blonde bombshell looks less than desirable in the morning; land clearing is the lipstick of landownership and turns horrid into beauty. I'll dig around on my computer and see if I can find some before and after photos of some land clearing jobs. Note: This was a forest in 2011.
I am actually writing a book about land clearing...or should say; devoting a chapter to it. I went to look for a book a few years ago on taking a farm from beginner farm status to the next level, and could not find one. Many books exist on beginner farm stuff, but none on taking actually it to the next level and going full-time. I realized I can write, and a lot of this stuff I have done: clear forest into fields, built barns cheaply, moved buildings so they were better situated for farming, obtaining grants, getting farm loans, etc...so I started a book, and am about half finished with it. The land clearing I am doing now seems spontaneous, but it was actually part of my farm plan written in 2008. I am not upset with myself for taking this long to carry this part out, it is what it is, but it is NOT spontaneous, and will look good in the end. I complete what I set out to do, it just takes me a bit to finish because I do everything by myself. There is only so much one guy can do after all. But I am a doer...
We had some cutting done near us a few years back. The man doing it used a team of horses to pull his wood out. That didn't mess up the land near as much as the mechanical stuff.
LodgedTree, sign me up for a book if they still have print by then. Everything seems to be on computer now. Lol
When you say its about $202/acre from forest to grass, do you mean after getting paid by a logger to clear cut, then turning around and using that money to stump/level you end up putting in about $200/acre on top of your earnings from the wood? If so thats very reasonable! If I could have say 5-6 acres clear cut, then use that money + $1000 (or even $2000) or so to have it stumped and leveled I'd be very happy. Will loggers typically pay to come cut 5-6 acres? Or is that small a parcel not worth their time? Please do post some before and after pictures! And yes it is horrific to see clear cut land! Anytime I drive by a lot thats been cut and I see a machine moving stuff around it looks so terrible, I cant picture it ever being a nice field. Maybe I just need to see some more before/after jobs to see the potential in the land. I wish you were closer to New Hampshire!
Sort of, I log my own land so I get a little more in money (about 2/3 more) so there is a difference there, but for 5-6 acres there is no reason you could not log it off yourself. If the trees are fairly mature, at (7) trees per cord, and with the average acre yielding 30 cords, you are only talking about cutting 1250 trees or so. Get them to a spot where a truck can come and pick them up, cutting out the logs and whatnot, and you'll be in really good shape to start clearing out the stumps. At that point, just rent an excavator or bulldozer with the money you got for the wood that was cut (and don't forget to calculate for heavy consumption of fuel), and start getting those stumps out. For only 5-6 acres, you won't have a long ways to go to push the stumps into a pile to burn, or to the edge of the field. After that; drag a log across the cleared field to smooth up the soil, toss down some seed, then drag the field again to cover the seed. The hardest part is picking up the rocks! By renting the bigger equipment for the stumps, really all you need is a farm tractor to do the logging (or similar method to get the wood out tree length).
I am closer than you probably think: Katie and I have another house in Lisbon, New Hampshire, but it is not our primary residence. As is, we were married in North Haverill, New Hampshire. Oh I might be a Mainer, but I am smart enough to marry a New Hampshirite (the 3rd time around anyway).
