[Carl Russell]

Furthermore, to the original point of the thread, I worked for 25 years without any tractor on my farm, or woods operation. It is not easy, and not every lot can be worked in like that, but if you plan to work mostly on your own place, you can put I in the time to set up a system where you can move and land logs without the tractor.
That being said, I will echo Brads comments. Since I bought an old crawler 3 years ago, I have found that my production has increased by 1/3 or 1/2 just because I am not handling wood on the landing anymore.

We still need to be able to afford the machinery to do the work. For me I have always been able to find ways to work the logs without the power equipment, but scoring a cheap ($3000) bulldozer has made having the equipment financially in line with the rest of my operation.

[Carl Russell]

I don’t seem to be able to post pictures here anymore, but I built gin pole crane in the middle of my home for lifting and placing logs. I built it like a ships mast with 360* rotation. The boom was lifted with a 4:1 block and tackle on a windlest capstan. I also hung a large evener from the end of th boom with two more attachments so that the logs could be leveled when lifting and moving them. I have built smaller models by placing a pole in the root crotch at the base of a tree, and attaching the top of the pole to the bole of the tree. Hanging a come along from the pole, I lifted and swung logs over my sawmill to lower into place for sawing.

It can be done. Have fun, Carl

[Carl Russell]

What Donn, can’t you read a Vermont accent? 😉

[Carl Russell]

Noice……

[Carl Russell]

This clearly is not one of those topics that one should make claims over. I would love to tell about how much use I have gotten out of wooden poles, but I would not want that to be definitive.

I have used ash for bobsleds, 2×8 tapered down. I have used ironwood, and I haveeven used soft maple. I did have a steel pole that was bent, and I never tried to straighten it.

One of the important things to remember about poles is to cross bolt at every point of pressure to prevent splitting. Also I think that the flexibility of ash is undermined by its clear split-ability. I have an ironwood pole on my Barden Cart that came on it in 1993. It has been in the barn for 97% of its life.

I have an ash pole on my bobsled that is about 7 years old, painted.

I guess aluminum would be good if I knew I could repair or rebuild it myself. Maintaining poles is just part of the business. I know that every year when I go to hook up my plow, or mower, things that I don’t have indoor space for, that I jump on the pole. If it is weak, I cut another stick and replace it.

I’m interested to see what you come up with.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

With limited space, time, and money, the challenge of transitioning from an aging team of working horses can be formidable. Does one wait until the horses are tired and failing, and need infirmary, requiring then to be relegated to pasture pets, or put down? Do you buy healthy trained replacements at high and questionable prices? Keep mares, or buy colts to train? There are so many possibilities.

When I started working my current team, I set my mind on making the transition when they got to be 12-15 years old. Not because I don’t enjoy a well worked team, but because I believe that horses in that age-range that have a wide and accomplished work experience are highly valued by folks just starting out. Horses such as this are accustomed to work, working with humans, and still have enough vigor to be useful in a start-up enterprise.

As I worked through their 12th and 13th year it became clear that I had not developed a good plan for transition. I have been working for the last ten years almost exclusively on my own property, where most of the work I do is not necessarily generating a lot of cash. As I gear up to increase my commercial activities again, this team, while handy, strong, and healthy, are on the down-slope, so I need to find a functional strategy for integrating a more juvenile team into the works.

Searching the marketplace, I have found many good horses, but prices are high, and truthfully status tends to be questionable. Also, over the years I have found that I possess reasonably good skill at working with horses with little, none, or degenerative training. It is very hard for me to actually contemplate spending market prices on good horses when I know that I can build the horses I want. Buying colts is a great way, and I have done that, but realistically I do not have the room, nor time to have colts around for 3-4 years prior to transition.

So my solution has been to try to find a team of horses in need of a good home. Preferably a team in the 4-6 YO range that present real challenges to most purchasers due to lack of handling, or mishandling. I recognize that most horses in that age range still have enough youth and resiliencies that most folks have not given up on them yet, so I have been willing to contemplate 6-10. A month ago I started putting out feelers and validating this search by giving it my voice.

A team of 7&8 YO Belgian geldings has presented themselves. They were originally rescued by Blue Star Equiculture (https://www.facebook.com/equiculture) of Palmer, MA., in December. They have been staying at a good home in Vermont since then, but now need to move on. So they will be coming to work with me.

This is a challenging time of year to bring in new animals to our farm, so we have made arrangements to board them at another farm nearby. Those farmers are new neighbors, moving to Vermont from Washington, to start a horse-powered diversified farm. This is not a team for novices, but while they are there this spring, they will help the new owners learn how large horses will fit into their infrastructure, and act as ambassadors to the world of keeping heavy horses.

They will be close enough that I will begin playing with them very soon, and by the time we have grass in our pastures, I expect to have them home. We also hope that the introductory period will be instructive for the boarders as well, so that within the year, when they get their own team, they will have a jumpstart on the process.

Thanks to a great network of folks with great interest and feedback, and doing great work, this transition has grown to be more than me finding another team of horses. Thanks to Pamela​ and Paul Rickenbach-Moshimer at Blue Star Equiculture​, for the incredible work they do, Josh Kingsley​ for giving these horses the love, attention, and food they deserved, and Andrew Plotsky​ and Rita for being open to what the universe tosses out.

I’ll keep you posted as things progress, Carl

• This reply was modified 10 years, 3 months ago by Carl Russell.

[Carl Russell]

Look out Jay, the disease has just set in. When in twenty years you wonder where all your spare time and cash has gone, you can remember this day….

I pushed open some trails in our bush on Wednesday. I plan on using them to cut firewood through the rest of this winter, but also wanted to have the option of hanging a few hundred buckets. We could not upgrade our evaporator last fall, so I am thinking about selling sap to our neighbor in exchange for some syrup. We will boil some too on the little arch.

Snow was soft and sticky and piled in front of the crawler. First time all winter that the snow was not corny and mealy. It all froze by yesterday, and now the banks along the trails are restrictive. In fact the horses were challenged to work easily within those constraints. When I broke out to make a new loop, the snow was deep, but in some ways easier to travel in. I also noticed that the snow is almost a foot deeper at 1300’feet in the sugar bush than it is in the woods at 1000 feet where I have been working in the plantations near the house.

Lots of excitement around here because temps are forecast above freezing next week. Things still seem a little solid for me to get to bunched up over. I am resolved to not spend a lot of money or time I don’t have on sugaring, so that it remains an optional enterprise for us. I may never make much money at it, but I hope to make it a rewarding and effective aspect of our land use.

Good luck, Carl

[Carl Russell]

So, I just closed out a small sale that I supervised this winter. I was working with an individual who uses a small skidder/crawler operation, but that is only because he is a motorhead. If he knew anything about horses, or had any interest in animals, he would be an excellent Horselogger.

I marked the stand, and administered the sale exactly as I would have for a horse logger. It was a northern hardwood lot that had reasonable past management, but never quite enough improvement, so the stand had some good logs, but a lot of low grade.

I paid the logger $200/MBf for cutting and skidding 40Mbf of saw timber. With the quality of this timber that turned out to be a little over 1/2 after trucking and forester supervision and administration, which I agree is generally low. However we gave him the Fuelwood at no charge. He harvested nearly 150 cords of wood, which some foresters insist is worth $10/cd, but even when I collect for wood I generally say $5. I’ll get into that in a moment, but for now let’s say an extra $1500/40Mbf=$37.50/MBf making his actual logging cost more like $237.50/Mbf. He did not truck the wood away, and will process it on the landing, basically adding some more value for him to capture. Now we are getting up nearer 2/3.

The reason I gave him the wood, was so that he would have incentive to cut and utilize as much of the low grade as possible. If I had made a higher arrangement on saw timber, and charged him for Fuelwood, the income for the landowner would have been the same, and he would have been struggling to make ends meet on every cord of wood he harvested. In the end, the proof is in the woodlot.

The extra income he was able to secure for himself allowed him to operate with the craftsmanship that I presented to the landowners as our goal. They now have good multipurpose trails, aesthetically pleasing post logging impact, and over the next 30 years the residual stand of uneven-aged hardwood saplings, poles, and small saw timber will produce astounding value.

The end result of the economics of this job is that he landowners will have a few thousand dollars of income, but the next several harvests will be much more profitable. If we had tried to make this job more currently competitive, driving up stumpage, and marking more valuable trees and less low grade, then subsequent harvests would have the same low value mix. Wih the strategy we used, the LO will gain far more into the future, and continued improvement will be much more affordable, and cost effective.

I am not saying that you will find too many foresters, or even loggers, who will think this model is appropriate, as most are caught in financial constraints that require they recommend more immediate financial gains, or lose the job to competitors, but we are out here. In my mind the primary product is the residual stand. There is no doubt that folks have financial demands, but prudent forest improvement will always return far more gain in the long run, and if we all cut our woods like that, then eventually every timber sale could be both profitable and improving.

There is a significant cultural habit for squeezing loggers between high stumpage prices and the sawlog marketplace. I know many loggers who wince at the idea of getting paid good money for logging if it means that they will be paying lower stumpage than their counterparts. It’s like someone is giving them something, and there is a pride thing, like Red Oak, or White Pine, or Sugar Maple, is worth so much, and if I don’t pay that, I’ll never live it down at the saw shop.

There is no doubt that these guys do the best job they can, but that is just it, they do the best job they can given the financial constraints they choose to operate under. As a consultant I see so many compromises that have nothing to do with the character or skill of the operator, but can easily be attributed to economics. I strive to educate and encourage landowners and loggers to face into those compromises, and to find ways around the economic barriers to arriving at a high quality residual of aesthetics, ecology, and improved timber resource.

I just share this with you, to try to encourage you as a woodland owner to strive for more than a healthy log check. The cost of good advice may seem unnecessary, but with an eye to the future, it can turn out to be more valuable. Just looking for advice on a site like this is a good indication that you understand that.

These photos are post harvest. You may be able to see some good small sawlogs, nice poles, and some good saplings in the residual. There is also a fairly high stocking, which has aesthetic and ecological value. He cut exactly to my marking, and was able to retrieve everything without smashing down the residual. Photos are hard to use to reflect the actual, but good logging can be exciting to be a party to.

Good luck, Carl

• This reply was modified 10 years, 3 months ago by Carl Russell.

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[Carl Russell]

One of the points I was trying to make is that head carriage can also be affected by the location where one holds the lines. When the lines are held between the horses, the long reins need to be longer than if you are holding the lines above the backs. Whether in drop lines, or in the hame ring, where the coupling is located affects the effectiveness of the line adjustment. I strive to always hold my lines between the animals, thus having a baseline. If line placement is inconsistent, then no amount of accurate line adjustment will be effective.

As Donn explains, changing drop ring lengths is another quick way to change the effect of line adjustment. Similarly, one can change line location, down between horses places tension on the outsides, up on the back releases that tension, and puts more toward the insides. I often play around with this type of adjustment before I actually adjust the lines, just to see how the horse responds. If I get the same response, or no change in head carriage toward something more desirable, then I know I am just dealing with an attitude (or maybe something physical) issue.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Good thread Donn. Just to clarify, one cannot shorten the cross checks, stub line, or brace rein. They remain the same length. It is the long rein that is lengthened or shortened by moving the short rein forward or back. Regardless, what you describe is correct, the inside line should extend beyond the outer line when laid on the ground, to accommodate for the distance between heads. I only mention this, as stating that the inner rein can be lengthened or shortened may indicate to the novice that the log rein goes to the inside.

Another factor that I consider is what I am doing with them, or what I have them hitched to. When I am ground driving to skid logs, my lines tend to be over the backs on one side or anther, so I tend to shorten the long lines. This can make them carry their heads a little out, but it also keeps their butts in. It also allows a bit more flexibility on the inner lines.

When I drive the Barden cart, I hold my lines down between the animals, thus bringing the coupling interior, requiring that the long lines are longer to traverse the back. I have another cart that has a very high seat that I use for baling hay, and logging sometimes. Because I sit above the horses’ backs, the coupling tends to float up and I need to shorten the long lines. On the mower I can keep lines interior, so they are adjusted similar to the Barden cart. On the walking plow I adjust similar to ground skidding.

I have days when I play with lines. Horses holding heads out, in, back. Attitude can play a significant role. I like to have consistent contact, so if I have a horse that is playing with the setting, I compensate. Sometimes I will change setting 3-4 times during a day, and invariably return to the setting I had in the morning. They are not computers, and need to be responded to with the same variation that each of them can bring to the enterprise.

That’s what the holes in the lines and buckles are for.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Yes the painted ones in pic #3…. I squeezed it back into shape, but not until I have gone back to the older style…. I’m keeping them as back-ups.

On another note, I have bought many pieces from Meader’s over the last few years that are inferior. Meader’s has been great, and stood by me, replacing, or compensated me the purchase price, but it doesn’t change the fact that it is hard to find well-made hardware.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

The second and third hook sets both came from Meaders.

The shiny ones are soft steel and I stretched one out….. That’s why they are not on the harness.

The first ones are salvaged from old harnesses. I have quite a few of them, and they can still be found here and there. They are a bit worm, but they still have a lot of life left in them.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

A few photos of hooks and neck yokes

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[Carl Russell]

Joel, you are correct about the line of draft; Evener set at the same height as the hitch.

Whether the evener is above or below the pole is immaterial, as far as I know.

The point about the lower hitch being easier is that when the evener is low, the angle at the D-ring is sharper than when the hitch is high. When the arms of the triangle created by the rear trace, and forward side strap are nearly flat (high hitch point), there is less movement for tensioning the hitch, because you are basically trying to stretch leather. When the evener is low, the triangle can be extended, thus allowing the tensioning to be a function of the swing in the arms of that triangle.

When hitching in with the D-ring, one should be able to see the neck yoke, and front of the pole, rise up when forward pressure is put on the outer side of the single tree. That is because in essence you are stretching the hypotenuse, and widening the angle at the D-ring.

If the neck yoke and evener are already near or at the D-ring height, the angle is close to 180, so there is no movement left in the hitch, making it difficult to hitch tight enough to utilize the D-ring. When the angle is sharper, say 120, then it takes very little effort to extend the hitch so that pole weight can be carried at the D-ring.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

Donn, primarily the pole is high because the hitch point for logs is high. There is a straight line of draft from the hooks on the back to the evener on the front. I suppose one could put the pole under the evener, but that would not make the hitch any lower for the d-ring harness.

Carl

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