Log prices

[woodman52]

I am in western NY. My neighbor has about 30K ft. of hemlock she would like to sell on the stump. I told her I would try to find out what she should get for it. I am going to take a look at it as soon as our schedules allow. She has had a couple of loggers asking about it and I would like to give her an idea. Assuming it is good size and reasonable quality - what would be fair?

I have all hardwood so I don't keep track of softwoods. With things changing so fast what is the hardwood market looking like? I have been cutting and sawing for personal use so have not looked into the latest pricing. The latest numbers from the NY DEC (winter 21) seem low to me. If you have some info I would like to hear it and also where to find the latest info.

[mudfarmer]

A public way of seeing what people will -actually- pay on the stump in NY is checking bids for DEC jobs in your region. They give an "overall" designation of hdwd/sftwd, their expected minimum bid and eventually the three highest bids (I'd there even were any!!) If you open the PDF it will give volume estimate, species distribution and details on the land parcel. I will try to edit this post from computer later, on phone now. Keep in mind these are folks that assumingly meet all requirements (NYLT, insurance, etc) to harvest timber on state land and this may impact bids.

[bulldozerjoe]

I am in western NY. My neighbor has about 30K ft. of hemlock she would like to sell on the stump. I told her I would try to find out what she should get for it. I am going to take a look at it as soon as our schedules allow. She has had a couple of loggers asking about it and I would like to give her an idea. Assuming it is good size and reasonable quality - what would be fair?

I have all hardwood so I don't keep track of softwoods. With things changing so fast what is the hardwood market looking like? I have been cutting and sawing for personal use so have not looked into the latest pricing. The latest numbers from the NY DEC (winter 21) seem low to me. If you have some info I would like to hear it and also where to find the latest info.

Where in western ny

[Kodiakmac]

Local fellow is paying $650 CAD per MBF ($515 USD) for white cedar logs. That's up from $550 CAD ($435 USD) in January 2021 and $500 CAD ($395 USD) in 2019.

[mudfarmer]

Well here is the NYSDEC Timber Sale site. Timber Sales on State Forests - NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation I didn't see any recent jobs (quick look) in region 8/9 that would give you helpful info but maybe in the future. Interesting to look at regions so far away from me though, one of those Cattaraugus jobs had a single 12"DBH Cucumber(magnolia) in the sale

[AndyVT]

I am in western NY. My neighbor has about 30K ft. of hemlock she would like to sell on the stump. I told her I would try to find out what she should get for it. I am going to take a look at it as soon as our schedules allow. She has had a couple of loggers asking about it and I would like to give her an idea. Assuming it is good size and reasonable quality - what would be fair?

I have all hardwood so I don't keep track of softwoods. With things changing so fast what is the hardwood market looking like? I have been cutting and sawing for personal use so have not looked into the latest pricing. The latest numbers from the NY DEC (winter 21) seem low to me. If you have some info I would like to hear it and also where to find the latest info.

I am cutting and selling my hemlock direct to a local sawmill and they are paying up to $330/1000 delivered.
Local concentration yard is paying $240/1000 delivered.
I am guessing stumpage would  be $100 -$150/1000. 

[bannerd]

We currently are getting .12 per bf here.  I'm not sure what the mills are getting, assume it's higher but that is a tough job breaking it down.

[mike_belben]

12 cents a foot on the stump, the landing, at the mill?  For what type of logs? 

[bannerd]

At the stump, delivery isn't that much but charging .45 cents per mile. At a landing it's a bit higher and not afraid to sell to walk ons.

Most bids here are .20-.35 cents at the stump but those are state contracts where you need to be certified to even touch a tree.  They register your chainsaw into a database as well as you tree felling cert.  What happen to the days where you didn't need all that crap, most guys don't touch bids but money could be good.. tough choice.

All of my Huskies are tag less, first thing to fall off in the woods because those pop rivets don't hold.

This is for softwood, Hard wood is for firewood mostly but there is a 50 mile limit. 

[mike_belben]

You are felling it for 12cents a foot?  Or theyre felling you are hauling?  


The price just sounds really low for anything but a landowner selling poor stumpage to me.  I could be wrong. 

[Peter Drouin]

.40 a bf for w pine  .28 a bf for hemlock  del here to my mill. That's up some. Truckers get .06 to .08 a bf to hall. Off what I pay. 
Getting a truck with a pup today w pine.
Have a hard time getting hemlock.

[bannerd]

You are felling it for 12cents a foot?  Or theyre felling you are hauling?  


The price just sounds really low for anything but a landowner selling poor stumpage to me.  I could be wrong.

Felling and hauling for .12c  Maybe I need to rethink this, but I thought that was fair.  I use the doyle scale so yesterday I had 11 EWP that were all 36" at the tip almost 11ft, came out to be 1103bf per log.  Minus $160 for diesel, $58 for gas and $34 for lube (cable lubes).
This is mostly for local land owners and I mostly work alone.  If I had a hand I would double that for sure.

[mike_belben]

Ahh.. i was thinking you owned the timber.  So that is your harvest and haul fee as a contract logger.  

[stavebuyer]

You are felling it for 12cents a foot?  Or theyre felling you are hauling?  


The price just sounds really low for anything but a landowner selling poor stumpage to me.  I could be wrong.

Felling and hauling for .12c  Maybe I need to rethink this, but I thought that was fair.  I use the doyle scale so yesterday I had 11 EWP that were all 36" at the tip almost 11ft, came out to be 1103bf per log.  Minus $160 for diesel, $58 for gas and $34 for lube (cable lubes).
This is mostly for local land owners and I mostly work alone.  If I had a hand I would double that for sure.

Something about your numbers is not adding up?
Mills generally buy on even lengths(8.10,12,etc plus 4"-6" extra for trim).
A log 10'Lx36"diam=640bd ft so if you had eleven logs like that you would have 11x640=7,040bd ft
which would net you $844.80
All 36" logs would be highly unusual. I was paying $.12 per foot to cut,skid, and load in the late 1990s and that didn't include the hauling.

[mike_belben]

I think hes got 45 cents a mile haul bill ontop, which puts you back to probably the 1970s for rates.  


I dont mean to make this sound harsh but you may want to do a little market research to be certain you arent shooting your own foot off bannerd

[ehp]

Up here where things cost abit more $120/1000 to cut and skid  buck up and pile so log truck can pick it up your for sure not making much money . Things just cost to much . I'm cutting abit of white pine right now with my hardwood and pine is paying a average of $650/1000  on landing . They pay the trucking 

[stavebuyer]

Still some upward price on Maple lumber but the Hardwood Market Report shows the first signs of peaking and or easing this week for the first time in over a year. Pretty steep ride up to the crest. Hang on for the drop.

[mike_belben]

thanks for the headsup SB 

[mike_belben]

i just called the tie mill, dollars per thousand:
$600 WO switchtie 
$550 RO switchtie
$550 WO tie
$500 RO tie
$400 SM/hickory/black gum tie
$850 #1 WO sawlog

[ehp]

Just by watching what is going on with lumber prices I'm sure thinking there is going to be alot of newer logging equipment for sale in not to much time .  Only thing here is the mills are out of logs so that will help in the short term . The one mill had to go back to 1 shift cause cannot get enough timber

[nativewolf]

Just by watching what is going on with lumber prices I'm sure thinking there is going to be alot of newer logging equipment for sale in not to much time .  Only thing here is the mills are out of logs so that will help in the short term . The one mill had to go back to 1 shift cause cannot get enough timber

That's what our buyers are saying- no logs.

[Wudman]

Trucking is the issue in the Southern Piedmont of Virginia.  We can get the wood to the deck (when employees show up), but can't get it to the mill.  We have trucks parked due to lack of drivers, and a handful of trucks parked waiting on parts.   :-\

Wud

[ehp]

We got lots of trucks here but loggers are getting harder to find as we are all getting older here. I'm guessing but I would think in my area the average age is 50 plus as hardly zero younger guys under 30 are doing it . Just means we got to work longer hours per week to try and get enough out .  

[nativewolf]

Log price news is :

• NRO veneer up to $1800 for smaller 14-20", black oak not allowed.
• BO veneer about $1700 for rift is as high as I've seen it (export market)
• Small WO veneer 14"-19", 3 sided, is averaging $3400 according to 2 buyers.  
• YP peelers are $100/ton (8" min top-24" max dimension) and no more than 10 cut off branches/9' section, mill location sucks and it drops to $80 something at concentration yards closer to me.
• Pulp is going crazy, $85 a ton in gulf coast of Alabama and $90 delivered to some mills in WV.  Again location sucks and you have to do serious volume to get that pricing- 2500 tons/week and negotiate.  For us small guys the concentration yards would pay us $44/ton but much less shipping.  Huge delta increase for producers able to negotiate higher pricing due to volume.  Sending it to that mill would be 1/trip/truck sort of deal
• Cherry veneer has done ok from what little we've seen
• Walnut is still smoking.  Large table top market is still hot so if you have family/friends/clients with that large old walnut field tree that is 60" and has had deer stands this is the time to lay it down and sell.  $8-14 metal ok.  We're selling 2 loads of that stuff this winter.  

No trucks...:(

[ehp]

The one hardwood mill here is down to a couple days in yard . It's the lowest any one has ever seen .  I have had other mills here looking and throwing around crazy numbers and 1 even came back twice more yesterday but I'm staying where I feel good and they are paying I feel me very well . I'm not burning any bridges when the crop hits the fan which it is going to