The Forestry Forum

Need help from experienced loggers, please.  I operate a small mobile sawmill service & logging company in East Texas.  My question is how many tons per day should I expect to cut.  I currently cut a the stump with chainsaws & skip with a 1989 TJ skidder.  I have one full time sawhand.  I have a small log loader & can hual 15 tons per load with my current setup.  I log small tracts of decent SYP timber.  Most places I haul to are within 30 miles of where I cut & are easy to get to.  

Thanks

Wish I could help here,  but I work in a thick swampland with an old tractor and no help,  so I cannot advise you.  Also,  I go by cordage,  not tonnage,  but I believe there is a cord/weight calculator at the main board of this site.  My cutting is so dependent upon ground conditions and skid-trail cutting,  that I couldn't give you an estimate of what I even do.  I guess a REAL good day for me is about 1000 bd.ft.  I run a mobile dimension mill.

Where ya from, TxLogger, I might know ya.  Any way, the other small portable mills in my area are lucky to get 16 ton daily production, 12 ton a push.  You can increase that with the higher end mills with full hydaulics.