Got a new job.

Maineloggerkid · September 13, 2008, 01:29:09 PM

Actaully, while you do have to make a fulltime commitment, I have been told that it is only like $5 per day to use a horse( minus the equipment expenses). I have a freind that does it and he can cut 3 loads per week with a team of horses and one other guy.

Corley5 · September 14, 2008, 10:09:51 AM

It's gonna cost more than 5 dollars a day for just the hay to feed a team that's working hard and unlike a skidder they require feed whether they're running or not

Fuel costs to transport the animals to the job everday will be higher than just driving the pickup and the operator is going to be walking behind the beasts instead of riding a machine. I'll take a skidder any day over a horse ;D

zackman1801 · September 14, 2008, 10:13:04 AM

you also just have to remember you cant hook on as much. plus you need more room on a landing because with horses you cant push all of your logs up into a big stack. i know a guy who does horse logging and hes gotten good at it, but i still think that a skidder or dozer could pull more wood in a shorter time. you just have to remember that costs are all in perspective, a skidder might cost more but its going to get more wood moved.

Maineloggerkid · September 14, 2008, 10:35:24 AM

While a skidder can move more, a horse makes a really nice looking cut with no ruts, roads, or bulled over brush. While slower, a lot of people in this area want that type of a cut right now.

The estimate of $5 per day was hay for one horse. Either way you cut it, your still looking better than the feul for a moderate size skidder right now. I was using almost $40 per day in my 540B.

I'm not saying that I'm going out and getting a horse- just that it is a niche that seems to be regaining some popularity and that someday I might dabble in it.

bull · September 14, 2008, 10:45:09 AM

Your ,logging in Maine,What is the largest tree your skidding, a Medium sized farm tractor will get you going and is a lot cheaper than keeping a horse.... Don't forget a day off is a day off when you shut off a tractor... With a horse there are no day's off !!!! If your afraid of makng ruts you shouldn't be there any how..... winch it or leave it alone !!! The ocassional rut can be graded with the loader on the farm tractor......

Rick Alger · September 14, 2008, 11:40:55 AM

Keep an open mind about horses. Things are picking up for horseloggers. I've had more calls this year than I have in the last ten years. I work alone, sometimes with a team, sometimes skidding single.

I work in Coos County in NH. It's similar terrain to Northwest Maine.

I bid stumpage at no more than $100 per mbf, and I'll do cut-and-skid for no less than $135. I try to get the pulp for next to nothing. Once in a while I get paid by the day. All my jobs are for landowners that want a clean job

My production is around one 540 hitch a day. I ship an average of one tri-axel load a week. The money is not great, but it is improving.

If you want to check it out, let me know, I'm working in Pittsburg right now. I'll be working in Wentworth Location this winter.

Mooseherder · September 14, 2008, 11:45:15 AM

Rick, I would love to see video of your operation. Got any friends with a digital camera?

Rick Alger · September 14, 2008, 12:09:10 PM

Sprucebunny posted pics of my winter job two years ago. They are archived here somewhere. I don't have a digital camera or a videocamera. If somebody else comes along with a camera, I'll try to post the pics. Trouble is I'm usually well off the beaten path

Maineloggerkid · September 14, 2008, 01:59:43 PM

Bull- Right now I am using a medium sized farm tractor with a winch and a 150' mainline. I don't tend to leave ruts. The problem is that around here a lot of the terrain is impassible for my tractor, and I am looking at skidders right now.

timberfaller390 · September 14, 2008, 02:53:13 PM

you gonna go with another 540?

Maineloggerkid · September 14, 2008, 03:11:59 PM

If I can find a good one. I am gonna look around and find a skidder thats in good shape. If I find a good Timberjack, then that will work. I have always run Deere, but I envy the twitches that my buddy's timberjack 240B will haul.

timberfaller390 · September 15, 2008, 08:57:46 AM

I believe you told me once " Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors skidder" ;D

Maineloggerkid · September 15, 2008, 09:37:01 AM

My words come back to bite me :

Let me rephrase- I would like to be able to haul twitches of that caliber, as it would enable me to get more production.

timberfaller390 · September 15, 2008, 11:42:34 AM

At least you can kinda clasify a TJ as a Deere

Maineloggerkid · September 15, 2008, 01:19:57 PM

I suppose..... that works for me

Ironwood · September 15, 2008, 07:17:25 PM

TJ's are generally lower to the ground eh?

Ironwood

Maineloggerkid · September 15, 2008, 07:34:05 PM

ya- but from what i've seen, that makes 'em real stable. ;) At least thats what it looked like, but then again, I've only run Deeres.

Corley5 · September 15, 2008, 10:01:10 PM

I've heard from more than one logger in this country that 440 JDs are the easiest skidder to turn over and old Franklins are the hardest. I've never ran a JD or a Franklin but the TJs I've operated were very stable. I ran an old C4 Tree Farmer a bit and it seemed tippier than it really was.

Maineloggerkid · September 16, 2008, 05:16:47 AM

John deeres do get tipppy at times. I had mine on 2 wheels a lot. Probably not good to admit , but I kinda got used to it and didn't even worry about it after a while. You can kinda feel wether its just up a little or if it is really gonna go over.

Ironwood · September 27, 2008, 09:17:52 PM

Man, I have had a JD 440 in a pretty interesting situation a few times here on my property. Then a friend who has a different 440 also bought a Franklin w/ a Detroit, man was that thing STABLE. I watched him one day while working it pretty good and he could have never done that work w/ his 440 (he even said so, several times)

FYI Ironwood

SwampDonkey · September 28, 2008, 06:31:07 AM

We used an old used and abused Tree Farmer here. Dad got it third hand from mom's cousins. None of our woods was on a hillside. Nice flat ground. ;D Dad had a horse earlier,but you couldn't go to deep into the woods to yard. As you guessed it, he wasn't much for making roads in the woods, so needed a skidder to get back there. Then, there still were areas we never even went near. Couldn't use a horse to haul big hardwood any distance. A big maple was around 25 inches, the odd one up to 40, but rare. I know the adjacent lot was the same growth and they cut it out for field and got close to 40 cord per acre of hard maple mostly. Ash and yellow birch mixed in. I seen all the logs in the marketing board wood yard. About the best soil you could ask for for growing anything. Now it's growing spuds.