[Rick Alger]

Had a good opportunity yesterday to see a couple forwarders in action thanks to John Plowden. He has a small job going with Jim O. and a bunch of other good folks over by Unity, Me. They had a Hardy 1700 pulled by a 40 hp tractor, and a Dion on tracks (similar to a Bombardier). Both machines worked very well, but I came away deciding to try to refine my tree-length skidding system before I get into a large investment in a forwarder.

My horses, forecart and tractor are all on the light side. I can see no way to safely/efficiently pull a loaded forwarder (without braking and power assist) in my area of the White Mountains with either my horses or my 30 hp tractor. I know there are smaller forwarders, but the 40 hp tractor struggled with the kind of load I was hoping to pull with the horses.

I’m going to experiment using a Logrite arch as a tag axle for tree-length stems. I will have a way to let the wood drop to the ground when descending steep hills. I hope to skid about half a cord per turn right from the stump to the landing.

[Rick Alger]

Thanks for revealing your secret.

I’ve thought long and hard about a forwarder. How much do you think it would increase production for a one-man operation?

[Rick Alger]

Hello Dobbin Forestry, and welcome to the forum,

Most of the work I have been getting lately is commercial thinning on environmentally sensitive sites. I take mostly co-dominant fir and leave dominant red spruce. The wood is marked by a forester. It is usually a 30% removal, and the average stand diameter is around 9 “.

I work alone because of insurance issues, and over a season average 5 – 10 cords a week ( including time spent making trails, managing the yard and losing days due to weather.) Depending on conditions , I ground skid with a single and/or use a cart or a scoot with a pair. Average log size is 25-30 bf (International). Log to pulp ratio runs about 50/50. I haven’t found any way to get government or industry support payments.

It sounds like we are doing pretty much the same kind of work ( I have to yank down a tree or two also) but your per-man production is much better – more like what I get in a clear cut.

What’s your secret? Are Canadians that much tougher than Americans! LOL Have you got a stroke delimber?

[Rick Alger]

Don’t know about Scotland, but in Ireland I believe a lot of gardens were dug by hand.

[Rick Alger]

Good interview Cousin Jack.

[Rick Alger]

Amen.

The woods are being converted to trophy parcels that will never be cut again in similar fashion to farmland.

[Rick Alger]

If you have to make tight turns, a directional snatch block will help. You can pull the butt much deeper into a corner. Labonville sells them. Both self-releasing and standard. I have had good luck with this method, but it can only do so much.

[Rick Alger]

Hi George,

Welcome to the forum. I like your website and the business plan behind it. We have done something similar here at our place in NH for a number of years – boarding, sleigh rides, a few lessons, and field work with our horses.

I have also logged with my horses for many years. I generally do commercial cuts, but it is getting much tougher to make ends meet.

Taylor and Carl have offered some good advice. All I’ll add is that if I were starting out today I would try to get a Forester’s license. The license gives you the opportunity to write and manage Stewardship Plans for private woodland owners. This gives you access to the long-term forestry work that is best suited for horses, and it should pay appropriately.

Best of luck.

Rick

[Rick Alger]

Hey Taylor,

Most of the work I get requires utilizing wood down to 4 inches, so I bunch a lot of 8 foot softwood pulp and haul it out on a scoot. I also bunch four foot hardwood limbwood and scoot it out.

If I wasn’t working in wood marked for only 30 % removal, I would bunch everything and scoot it out. In thinnings, I find it is usually too time consuming to make hot yards for logs in amongst the save trees.

When I get to do full scale harvests, or have room to stockpile, I bunch logs as well as short wood. Helps in managing the landing, and you can head out with a decent load every time whether you’re using a scoot or a forecart.

[Rick Alger]

tsigmon,

I don’t have any exact figures, but I have used both ash and lime, and my guess is wood ash is slightly lighter than lime – depending on moisture content.

No clue on how many green tons to make a ton of ash, but I’m sure it’s a lot.

[Rick Alger]

I’ve never seen one that large.

For the smaller ones I have seen on my horses, I generally cut a hole in the pad to correspond to the swelling. Then I can keep going.

[Rick Alger]

How did the hoof boots work out for you?

[Rick Alger]

Hey Taylor,

If you figure five working days for 38 weeks you get 190 working days.

I agree that most people don’t understand how hard it is. They like to think logging is laid back and mellow. I believe horselogging videos contribute to this misunderstanding. The videos picture the ideal. They don’t generally feature a hard-pressed logger chasing enough pulp to fill a tractor trailer.

But anyway, there are plenty of folks on this board who Know how hard you work.
Keep the faith.

Rick

[Rick Alger]

Hey Mitch,

Wasn’t that law amended to let us old guys stretch the truth by 50%?

Actually the average around here for one man with a single horse over the season was a cord and a half a day in spruce/fir. (A team is overkill in 12″ wood.)

In marked wood, I can’t do much better than that today.

For final harvests with a pair, I’d agree with the three cord/1500 feet average.

Another thing that cuts into productivity is the shortness of the days in January and February. Even when it isn’t thirty below, there is hardly enough daylight to get a day’s work done.

[Rick Alger]

I don’t know anything about Bruce Matthews, but I do know that shoeing stocks are another possible solution.

[Author]

Posts