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Horse Logging

Started by highway, December 17, 2015, 08:25:46 AM

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highway

Good morning all,

Here is a short video of how we gather firewood on our farm with horses. While we do own a tractor, we try to do as much with our horses as possible.

To see the video, just click the u tube link below. I hope you enjoy it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vE8b2xxHAI

Ed
2006 Woodmizer LT 40 Hydraulic, Kubota M4900 4WD, Kawasaki Mule, Team of Belgian Drafts for real horse power
www.fletcher-farm.com

Dakota

I really enjoyed that.  Thanks for sharing.
Dave Rinker

sandsawmill14

those poor horse out in the cold and snow with no hats or scarfs   ;)   just kidding we still have 3 teams and i love to work horses in the woods but since i quit logging they dont get worked much. sometimes we will work 3 abreast to the disc in the spring but mostly we just feed them :-\ but we have had drafts or mules ( usually both) all of my life and expect to for the rest of it  :D  i enjoyed the video not many people still know how to work stock and even less still do
hudson 228, lucky knuckleboom,stihl 038 064 441 magnum

Farmerjw

Very nice bobsled, great horse, excellent video.  My old team I could do that with, my new team is still to green to go to the woods with the chainsaw.  Nothing like riding back behind a horse or team after running a chainsaw.  The quiet is so QUIET!   Thanks for sharing.
Premier Bovine Scatologist

Grizzly

Quote from: Farmerjw on December 17, 2015, 01:22:35 PM
The quiet is so QUIET!

That is exactly what I like about this kind of lifestyle. The only other horse work I've been close to is horse pulls or the 4 & 6 horse hitch competitions. I'm not a teamster but it sure seems like some fellows/ladies have a relationship with their horses and some just don't. All they have is the technical operations figured out while others just work together with their stock. But the quiet............
2011 - Logmaster LM-2 / Chinese wheel loader
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dustyhat

I watched some of your other videos to . very nice ,really liked the one about removing the old bridge.

spyder68

Very well trained horse. How old? I have ridding horses.

thecfarm

Thanks for the video. Yes,I enjoyed it.
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Magicman

I had to watch that a couple of times.   smiley_thumbsup

Ozzie knows what to do and obviously enjoys doing it.  Great teamwork.   :)
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

r.man

What impresses me about logging horses, from stories that my brother and father told, was that with a regular run a good horse could be unaccompanied. My brother talked about hauling out logs at my fathers farm where after one run through one person stayed at each end of the trail and the horse traveled back and forth, stopping to get hitched or unhitched from the logs.
Life is too short or my list is too long, not sure which. Dec 2014

beenthere

Was around a 2-man, 2-mule logging operation in New Mexico (Gila Nat'l Forest years ago) where the faller was up the mountain slope cutting, limbing and hooking up one mule at a time, the mule would go down the mountain to the other man at the landing. The mule would stop with the log ends almost perfectly in line. Get unhooked, and would go back up for another log ½ - a mile distance. Both mules doing this all day long. The men would exchange duties, probably for a rest as the bottom duties were easier.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

highway

Sending the horses back and forth is still used today but not practical for my purpose. I feel more comfortable directing them with effective communication through the lines reducing potential problems when they might otherwise be unsupervised.

In this video, we use two horses to pull larger ash and poplar logs. These were cut to release smaller sugar maple in our sugar bush.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BcPVrXq-ow
2006 Woodmizer LT 40 Hydraulic, Kubota M4900 4WD, Kawasaki Mule, Team of Belgian Drafts for real horse power
www.fletcher-farm.com

beenthere

Enjoyed the horses logging.  Thanks for posting.

Also, enjoyed a video following yours about 4 grand children and a Belgian draft horse in Belgium.. Girls were having a good time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX2AX8NA4rU
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

John Mc

Quote from: highway on December 21, 2015, 09:44:08 AM
In this video, we use two horses to pull larger ash and poplar logs.

Nice video. They certainly don't seem to be having any difficulty with that log.
If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.   - Abraham Maslow

enigmaT120

Now I have the song "Heavy Horses" by Jethro Tull in my head.  That's OK, it's a good song.

Ed Miller
Falls City, Or

spyder68

There is a place in horse heaven for that good old horse.

mart

Great videos. My grandfather had a pair of Belgians when he first had his farm. He used to tell of cutting firewood in the winter and he could send the horses to the house with a load of logs and my grandmother would unhook the logs and send the horses back to the woods. Grandpa said those two would do that all day hauling logs and he never had to worry about them. That was before my time. I always felt like I really missed out on something special by not being around the draft horses.
I was young and dumb once. I got over being young a long time ago.

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stumper

I liked the first video, so often I see horses worked as a team which diminishes the low impact.  Nice size horse as well, again too often I see horses as too tall and too large to work in the woods. 

Carson-saws

Very VERY cool!...nothing like having fun...enjoying the outdoors and getting work done all at the same time.  Thanks for sharing.
Let the Forest be salvation long before it needs to be

WV Sawmiller

   Nice video. I tend to try to drag longer logs to a landing near my house before cutting them into firewood but I guess the snow and sled add a new dimension to the job.

   I had a guy bring in a team of mules and pull some big saw logs out of a steep draw above my pasture last month and posted pictures from it. I encourage everyone to go watch such an operation if you get a chance to do so. It is a lot harder work than most people think but it is amazing to watch really well trained animals do this kind of work.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

highway

This is how I skid saw logs to the landing and then set the mill up to make lumber. I really enjoy working with the animals.


Ed


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrNwttZS0C0



2006 Woodmizer LT 40 Hydraulic, Kubota M4900 4WD, Kawasaki Mule, Team of Belgian Drafts for real horse power
www.fletcher-farm.com

highway

Also a video of the Norwood HD 36 Hydraulic we use on the farm


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbGSDQPbh98
2006 Woodmizer LT 40 Hydraulic, Kubota M4900 4WD, Kawasaki Mule, Team of Belgian Drafts for real horse power
www.fletcher-farm.com

Magicman

I never tire of watching those horses work.   :)

That was also a very good video showing the Norwood in action.   smiley_thumbsup
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

sandsawmill14

highway you already have that much snow  ??? :o :o  just kidding  :D   i enjoy watching your videos and that looks like a well mannered team  :) most teams around here get "hot" after they are worked in the woods a while and can be a real pain and a little dangerous especially when hooking  yours dont appear to be that way at all smiley_thumbsup
hudson 228, lucky knuckleboom,stihl 038 064 441 magnum

ppine

Nice videos.  The old ways are the best ways.  Horses always start even when the weather is below zero.  That is one of the reasons people still use them for logging and feeding in winter.

It is worth mentioning that horse logging creates little disturbance in the woods with slopes under around 30 %.  Skid trails can be much narrower than for a Cat.  There is much less soil compaction.  This is especially true in winter with frozen ground and snow cover.

There are horse loggers in the West that specialize in contracts with home owners and small land owners that value aesthetics.  They are willing to pay the higher cost for the lower impact to the forest floor and the surface soil in particular.
Forester

rjwoelk

Very nice. I use to go into our valley and get firewood, the quietness, and the echoing was somehow soothing.  I used my daughters gelding for dragging out the logs. 850 lb arabian dally around the saddle horn and was he game to go.
Lt15 palax wood processor,3020 JD 7120 CIH 36x72 hay shed for workshop coop tractor with a duetz for power plant

dustintheblood

Now seeing Tucker and Oz makes me miss Maggie and Amos.  That mom & son were a great team around here.  Same Belgians as you have.  Maggie was particularly good as a single hitch in those hard to reach places. 

Sold them a number of years ago when I got married and suddenly became an overnight dad to three boys.  The horses were my kids for many years, but as time went on they were just not worked as much when my focus became raising boys.   A fellow nearby got em and uses them for field work and a little bit in the woods - a good home. :'(
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Dakota

I watched all the videos again.  I love seeing good horses work.  Thanks again for sharing.
Dave Rinker

ppine

Mules in particular can learn their jobs and make a turn without anyone driving them. If something bad happens they will stop and wait instead of running in panic.  Logging with horses is a lot of work, but one of the great ways to make a living. I wish had done more of it.
Forester

maple flats

The first video, great by the way, reminded me of when my brother and I used to log for firewood using horses. Our routine once we had a route established was that I dropped the trees, and we used 1 horse to pull the logs out by itself. My brother stayed in the field to unhook the horse and turn it back around. He would walk back and I'd have the next log bucked. I turned the horse around, backed it up and hitched the log on. The main issue was that I couldn't rattle the chain as I connected it to the horse, that was his signal to go. If the chain made noise he headed out and I had to wait for my brother to send him back in. Fortunately that rarely happened. Our log road ran between about 500' and 1500' in length, on essentially level wet ground. In the field my brother had his tractor and he piled the logs as high as he could with that. Then when the snow started to melt and the woods got too wet, we cut the wood from the landing and split it. In our busiest years we brought out between about 50 and 80 full cord, most we burned but some we sold (My brother, Father and I each had an outdoor wood fired furnace at that time. Now only my brother has one, he no longer has horses and he uses a tracked skid steer with a Fransgard 4000 3pt log winch when needed. I still burn wood, about 1 cord at home and 3-4 cord in my evaporator.
Logging with horses was a great way to get the logs out. The way I spoke of only worked for 2 of the horses he had over the years and only with one horse in the team. He had 4 or 5 different teams, but only 1 team at a time.
When the horse returned, If I was still bucking or limbing, the horse stopped maybe 50-75' away and waited. When I'd shut off the saw and sort of call him, He'd then walk the final way in.
Each time we started a new route, my brother came in and we'd drop the first tree, buck it into 10-12' on heavier logs  (maybe 14" up to 2' butt end) and about 16' on lighter logs (under x14" roughly), then My brother, after I hooked up the horse, would hop on and ride the horse riding on top of the harness. After 2 or 3 trips the horse was good to come back in by itself. None of our tractors ever could do that!
logging small time for years but just learning how,  2012 36 HP Mahindra tractor, 3point log arch, 8000# class excavator, lifts 2500# and sets logs on mill precisely where needed, Woodland Mills HM130Max , maple syrup a hobby that consumes my time. looking to learn blacksmithing.

brewdog

MUST BE ,more horse people on here still use mine for wood and haying

sandsawmill14

we have a neighbor that still logs part time with horses he has some nice black percherons and belgians  but he always works them as a team  ???  he was dragging 16-18" dia sticks 8' long out to the road on day and was stopped letting the horses blow when we were passing by on the road so we stopped to talk a min and my brother ask him why he didnt work them single in the small stuff he was dragging then he wouldnt have to stop  ??? he said he had never thought about that  but he still drags every stick with the team  :) looks like a waste of horse power to me ;D :D but to each his own :)  we always worked a team in the woods one take one log then the next turn would be the other neither horse got hot or winded and when the timber got big enough to need both horse they were there to hook to it or if it was really long turns we would use the team on stuff small as 20" but that was rare :) i am down to only one old mare now as her mate died at about 28 yrs old a couple years back and i dont know if i wil get another team or not i may swap over and get a smaller pair of mules this time (800-1000lb) cant decide  im not very old but its already getting harder to harness a pair of 17 hand 1600 lb pair of horses and at my age one more good young pair will finish me up far as actually working so i just dont know what im gonna do yet ??? :)
hudson 228, lucky knuckleboom,stihl 038 064 441 magnum

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