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looks like your going to have fun!! just remember always "SAFTY FIRST" !! nice tractor, the right size for a one man job...
Looks like a great way to spend a day ...mostly firewood from the thinning ? Nice tractor also .. what model /size is it ?
That looks like it should be bunch of fun for you! Trees don't look too big to be a real pain skidding out.
It's mostly eight to twelve inch trees, it is the first thinning on this property. The tractor is a 354 bulldog equipped with a Fransguard winch. It works good as a thinning machine but I'm looking to up grade to a small older skidder like a c4 or something along that size.
I always like to play it safe but the wife is the one taking the pics of me and she keeps an I on me. I will post more pics when the snow stops coming down and I can get to the job. The forester estimated that there will be between 50 and 75 cord to be harvested on this one ten acre section that I'm working. ;D
Put the wife on the tractor, that's a waste of your time driving that back and forth. You fall and hook, plan each turn, let her bounce back & forth.
My wife ran skidder 15 yrs, she loved that ole detroit, we make 4 to 6 turns a hour depended how far we your pulling.
A husband and wife team can make money. I've worked 2 skidders a feller buncher , 3 men working, i worked like a dog with this operation, after i made the payments, fuel and wages, i had to turn a lot of wood to make a $$
The only time i made money was with the wife and we had fun doing it. [ a few little arguments ]
The most we pulled in one day was 52 cords of tree length yellow poplar, 4 loads.
She topped a lot of her drags, sawed up on landing, fell timber and sharped her own saw, your d__ right i tot her well [ 99 lbs socken wet]
That's what we have decided to do on this job, I fell the timber, limb it up and buck to length. She hooks and skids to the landing and runs a saw when needed. We make a good team and have fun doing it. We have averaged about 5 to 6 cord a day but I think we can do better once she gets better with the tractor. But I think she would love if I got a small Tree farmer with a Detroit so she can let it sing! She likes the way the Detroit's sound. ;D
That's good, work on methods, i always had 3 or4 landings with 100" wood, this way we could pull 4,5 cords before sawing up.
Will do lumberjack48. I just found another Tree farmer skidder on craigslist (western mass) its a c5d for 7,500. But got to harvest some wood to buy a new toy. :D
That Tree farmer on craigslist belongs to Timberline Tree & Logging in East Granby Ct.
Cool pics. Nice setup. I dont think I would let my wife in the woods. I would be afraid of her getting hurt.
Bill M do you know the machine? My father in law lives in Grandby ct.
Nice little tractor. My Girlfriend won't touch my Skidder, Processor, dozer or skid steer.. They scare her.. Hell she won't even drive my truck cause it too big. But she like watching me run them
Nice job logman81. My wife works with me also and can run most everything I can. She's a little intimidated by the D-6 but she was with the other equipment too when she first started out. I used to work alone but decided that we could do twice the work if she helped. Started her on the small stuff and had her work slowly building up confidence. Only bad thing is the big excavator has been taken over and I never get to run it anymore. :D
Hey Logman...
How are you marketing your pulp/firewood? I have a customer with 100 acres that looks similar to the lot you are thinning. With the nearest pulp mill being 80 miles away and unreliable log truck drivers that may or may not buy firewood at the header...I'm not sure how to make a profit. Landowner has given green light to thin if it doesn't cost him out of pocket. Thanks in advance.
Drews The land owner and I have a contract where he pays buy the cord to cut and skid to the landing. He keeps the wood and markets the logs however he wants. I also allowed to take the smaller diameter 3'' and under for my self to feed my out door furnace. The pulp market is very poor right now, A tri axle load around here is about $300 to $450 picked up at the landing. You may want to find a local firewood producer and see if they would be interested.
logman81, no I do know the machine. I saw it advertised last summer.
Ok thanks bill m I wasn't sure if you knew it or not. I think he is asking to much for it any way $8,500?
Another nice day on the thinning job! :)
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that pile is starting to get big 8)
Yup it is but have a long ways to go but I'm have fun doing it. Just wish I had a way to haul it back to my wood yard.
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glad im not the only one that does that. ive had a wood yard piled so full i had to back onto one pile to get the bucket under the hitch i wanted to push up. then i was climbin until all four tires were on the pile and dumping wood over the back. when the mill opened up to wood again i had a big pay check, but money got tight for a couple weeks while it was all piling up.
you have that grapple thing to keep the wood from coming back at you i didnt, just some leaf spring 'forks' on the bucket. i couldnt roll the bucket all the way back or the log would roll down the loader arms and crush me. definately needed a canopy on the tractor.
Got to pile it as high as I can not much space, I have about 100 to 150 cord to harvest so it's going to take every inch of landing space. ;D The grapple definitely comes in handy for piling the wood and sorting it out plus keeps it clean.
Going back to the job tomorrow, didn't go today because of the ice storm, :( It's probably going to be a little slick but got to harvest the wood. I'm sticking the wife on the tractor to skid the logs while I fell and buck for skidding. I'll try and get some pics of the wife skidding. ;D