DIY log harvest

[livemusic]

Back to thinking of taking out a bunch of trees from my woodlot. It's all mixed hardwood, 39 acres and 2000' away is another 10 acres. Thinning, releasing trees, opening parts of it up. This isn't to worry much about profit but if revenue could occur, that's good! This is for recreation, hiking, wildlife.

Taking sweetgum, alone, I have a ton of them, ranging from tiny to huge trees. They're no good for firewood, so, getting rid of a bunch so oaks and other hardwoods could grow would be a good thing. The huge ones might be more than I could handle but smaller ones, say I used my Honda 500 ATV or my John Deere Gator and one of those ATV logger trailers. If I could get stems out of the woods and pile them up, would a logger come get them and sell them? And pay me, lol. If so, what diameter must they be and what length could they be such that he would pick them up? How long does a cut stem last before it would be rejected? I dunno how short they would need to be to get them out with an ATV and little trailer, but they could not be very long, probably 8 to 15 feet?

Of course, stems could also be skidded but I don't want big equipment to tear up my trails. Shopping for a tractor, so, this might be an option. Also could buy a winch for a tractor. Lastly, any idea how much sweetgum could pay? Some other hardwoods, even oak, could be had. But I don't cut those unless I have to.

Watched a video on a Woodland Hills Multilander logging trailer. Pretty cool trailer. If I had one, it sure would be nice if you had an electric winch instead of manual. I do have a winch on my ATV.

I worry that even small loggers won't deal with this but I have no idea. I do know a very successful local logger who I might could talk into it, he's a very nice guy. Although, he has morphed into a logger with the big, fancy, expensive equipment. But he is approachable and a generous type man.

[thecfarm]

I have logged on my land. But it's hard to work a 40 hour job and work in the woods too. The family will suffer!! I worked with my Father. He was retired. We would cut a bunch of trees down and he would buck and limb them out when I was working. I had a 4 days on and 4 days off job. So gave me 4 days to work in the woods. Hard to cut a little wood. All sawmills want the wood as quick as they can get it, pulp too. They don't want it sitting around for a month. We had a 40hp tractor and a 3 pt winch to get the logs out. Not a fast machine, but quicker than what you have now.  

[WDH]

If I could get stems out of the woods and pile them up, would a logger come get them and sell them? And pay me, lol.

Typically in the South, this has almost no probability of happening. 

[mills]

Gum prices here held their own through last year, but every area has their own markets. Get with your local mill to see what they want, what they pay, and the dimensions the logs need to be cut. One of the mills here has a truck with a self loader. I send a lot of business their way. It's a good arrangement for farmers and landowners that I know has the equipment to get their own wood out. 

[livemusic]

Gum prices here held their own through last year, but every area has their own markets. Get with your local mill to see what they want, what they pay, and the dimensions the logs need to be cut. One of the mills here has a truck with a self loader. I send a lot of business their way. It's a good arrangement for farmers and landowners that I know has the equipment to get their own wood out.

You say a mill has a truck with a self loader. How does that factor in? Can landowners borrow or rent the truck to get stems they have stacked on their land?

[livemusic]

If I could get stems out of the woods and pile them up, would a logger come get them and sell them? And pay me, lol.

Typically in the South, this has almost no probability of happening.

Thanks for replying. Why do you think this is so?
Couple of months ago, a large tract ten miles from me (I think it was 700 acres) was clearcut and it seemed for months, trucks passed my house hauling the wood out. One truck was much smaller and kind of beat up. I wish I would have chased that guy and flagged him down and got his number. Point being, maybe somebody like that might be a little hungrier? Then again, he might only own a truck and not a loader. Used to be a lot of small loggers around here, not so anymore.
Another scenario... a pine tract next to me is going to need to be thinned soon. Wonder if the logger at that time would pick up a load of sweetgum stems from me. I could also cut some pines.
Sorry for logging ignorance, expertise is appreciated!
I need to get in touch with the "nice guy" local logger. He's very successful and a very generous man. He has given my brother a big stack of cedar boards he cut for free. Was worth quite a bit of money. He also gave my brother a big dump trailer of compost for his garden that he scooped up from a huge pile of stems that completely rotted over about 20 years!

[tacks Y]

I have a 1 acre lot I cleared, piled up the logs and talked to a local forester. He put them up for bid and I made out well. Better than my brother in making firewood. 4K better. The local mills can see what is there and know there costs up front.  

[mills]

You say a mill has a truck with a self loader. How does that factor in? Can landowners borrow or rent the truck to get stems they have stacked on their land?

Yes sir. They do the hauling, and I'm thinking they can get around 2,000 bft per load. Landowner has to get the logs pulled up beside a driveway that the truck can access. Last I know they were charging .07 per bft to haul. 

[WDH]

There are no self loading trucks in the Deep South that I have ever seen.  The big mills here use 80 to 300 tractor trailer loads a day.  It is a high volume business.  I worked a lot in North Louisiana.  Most all the loggers have a million $ invested in equipment.  They are not likely to be interested in a load or two of sweetgum wood, and there is a low probability that they would move a loader to load one or two truckloads.  Just not economical, even if you gave them the wood.  But, maybe you can find someone. 

[Hans1]

Just my own wondering what is the value of a truck load of sweet gum average around 3000 feet or what is considered normal load. It may be helpful in deciding if it is worth the effort. Skidding with a 4wheeler or small tractor it will take a while to get a truck load. 

[Southside]

To a commodity mill, in the $250 to $325 / MBF range depending on if they can make a switch tie from them, so before trucking maybe $1K.  

[Pine Ridge]

I have no idea about the market for sweet gum. Here in southwest missouri i cut and skid oak, hickory, ash and walnut. I skid and pile them where a 10 wheeler with a loader can come and get them, if its hard level ground they will also pull a pup trailer. The two main sawmills here have trucks that will come and haul the logs to their mill, they charge 3 cents per board foot to haul them. The walnut buyer i sell to sends a truck and doesn't charge a haul bill. If there is a market for the timber your cutting you should be able to find a buyer and someone to haul them for you.

[WDH]

A load of sweetgum tie logs is worth from $525 to $650 to the landowner as stumpage.  A load of pulpwood is worth about $300 to the landowner.  Does not include felling, skidding, loading or trucking. 

[Hans1]

The past posts should be some good info to live music. Doing the math on that the cutting,skidding and trucking is of equal or more value than the wood itself. For a contractor or individual to make any money at that would take a huge amount of volume. The majority of cutting I do is very different  low volume high value. It can be worth me to move a skidder for 10-20 trees. 

[Jcald327]

The mill I use pays 45 cents on any log over 16 inches that will make ties, but knocks between 5 and 10 cents off for logs after the butt, regardless of how clear (still trying to figure out their system lol).  I caught one of the 3 bunk log trucks while they were unloading him, they charge 5 cents a bf to haul, as long as you dont have driver sitting there for hours as you load 1 log at a time.  Another mill local to me charges 125 to come out with their knuckle boom truck and load I think a 2000bf load.  Morale of the story here, call around and ask, the mills are pretty transparent as to how they price stuff, and how they want it, and they will be able to tell you who (if not them) you can call to come grab them. 
The only discussion I've seen regarding a company coming in to clear your trees was a craigslist add where the customer received 40 percent of the payout for their logs.