couple pics... post what your currently cutting

[barbender]

I'm ashamed of what we're doing in this stand of northern hardwoods. We're cutting all the oak, both Red and Bur, that is over 16", "making room for the little ones to grow" all I see is a bunch of junky hard maple and basswood left. It should've just been clearcut and grow another nice hardwood stand. Oh well, I just stack it up😊 The processor operator can't wait to get out of here, the hardwood sure beats the harvester head up.

[nativewolf]

@barbender is that a Scorpion King?  If so I bet he's not liking life.

[barbender]

Yes, ScorpionKing with an H7 head. He's an owner operator, and yes he is hating it. Actually, most of this stuff isn't that bad, as far as hardwood goes. Most of these oak go up to 30-40' and then just turn into a limby top that not much can be done with, maybe get a few sticks of firewood out of them.

[ehp]

She has started raining about 2 hours ago, its suppose to rain non stop till 2 pm on Tuesday so its more like flooded instead of just wet. I moved to the new place and landing is up on a hill and on very good road so I should be able to work some 

[Firewoodjoe]

I've said it a few times now but I'm so glad to be on sand! All the mills here need wood. Once this job is done I'm supposed to go to some hill country. Any advice for a track harvester on hills? 😆 

[Skeans1]

@Firewoodjoe 
Yeah ditch the double bar flat ground grousers and make sure you're going up and down the hill no side hilling. How steep are we talking?

[Firewoodjoe]

It won't be that bad I don't think. Our hills are generally short but nothing a 4 wheel machine will climb without having trouble so I'll prolly shoot the wood down to the valleys and process's there for the forwarder. Problem will be, is it's a thinning. 

[Firewoodjoe]

I don't know the first thing about topos except close lines are steeper. I couldn't get it to show me anymore elevations then that.

[Skeans1]

Start at the top cutting your way down laying everything into the center of the row behind you with the butts facing down hill then skid them down. If it's not that bad I'd process on the hill we use to do it all the time when running short logs the long stuff we used the harvester as just a buncher. With your guys super short lengths that shouldn't be an issue, if you do have issues try to quarter them up the hill so you're processing down hill.

[Skeans1]

I don't know the first thing about topos except close lines are steeper. I couldn't get it to show me anymore elevations then that.

That's 10 maybe 15 degrees I'd have to guess that's pretty flat.

[Firewoodjoe]

In winter it's steep enough for me lolI will no more when I walk it. 

[Skeans1]

@Firewoodjoe 
Summer or winter we would do around 30 with summer getting close to the 40 to 45 degree mark you just adjust your cutting style. That said one thing to think about is how the loader on the forwarder swings when building your piles on steeper ground. When I'm doing this I'll try to quarter them so the butt is facing up hill or a true 90 that way it's less chances of something getting barked up when doing long stuff, short stuff it's always 90 degrees sometimes slightly to the downhill side where the operator is reaching over the cab.

[Southside]

Skeans - if you happen to drive by some of those wheat fields in Dufur get a photo to show the flat part of the country how things are out that way.

[Skeans1]

@Southside 
They'd be in for a big surprise that's for sure it's beautiful area as well.

 If I had to guess this is pretty close to Dufur maybe closer to The Dalles.

[mike_belben]

Thats all planted?


Thatd be forest and houses back here.  Some parts of Appalachia has stuff about as steep but not ever bare.  Without forests the clay would just wash out in mudslides

[Skeans1]

Thats all planted?


Thatd be forest and houses back here.  Some parts of Appalachia has stuff about as steep but not ever bare.  Without forests the clay would just wash out in mudslides

That's all wheat fields and that's the nicer fields, the steepest wheat fields are in Washington state if memory serves they're 45 degrees.

[mike_belben]

How do they not erode terribly and what the heck iron are they planting with?  Up/down or sidehilled?

[Southside]

You should see it up close.  I mean the last row is literally up along the edge of the cliff.  Zero inches for error.  

[mike_belben]

Im gonna go out on a limb here and say whatever that last bushel brings aint worth the ride if it goes wrong.

[beenthere]

Palouse Wheat Harvest - YouTube

[quilbilly]

Im gonna go out on a limb here and say whatever that last bushel brings aint worth the ride if it goes wrong.

From what I've heard the palouse area is the richest topsoil on earth, or close to it. Supposedly it's over a hundred feet deep in some places. We go hunting in that area and ya it can get steep, you're on a rolling hill and all of a sudden it drops off. They use some tracked machines in some areas to plant. The bushels per acre make it worthwhile. The average areas are 70-80 per acre and good ones another ten to twenty. Even marginal land will produce enough to plant. Lots of muleys and pheasants. Big thing is the weather is really consistent for winter wheat. Rarely is a harvest ever ruined. 

[olcowhand]

@Firewoodjoe Happy Birthday!

[Firewoodjoe]

@Firewoodjoe Happy Birthday!

Thanks. Yeah that's pretty neat stuff. Those are looong hills. We don't have much of that. We have steep 100 feet then it changes and goes steep 100 feet the other way. 

[Firewoodjoe]

😆😆 definitely has more lines anyways!

[ehp]

Happy birthday FJ, I would of thought you were older than what my computer screen says , Your Young .  WE have a place here called Holland Marsh and you buy land there by the square foot and its very costly per foot but grows crazy crops yield