Need top find a good logger for small 100 standing tree sale

[yorlik]

Thought I had it all figured out.  Master Tree Farmer here, consulting forester marks 80 standing >14" DBH Ash that just died on our small 30 acre tree farm, I mark another 20 on our 80 acres across the street.  We supposedly had the ideal local logger lined up to bid the job.  Then he decides he is too busy so declines the job. 

No one on Ohio Forestry master logger list say they log in SW Ohio.  So it appears on the surface I am down to small un-certified, potentially uninsured, workers comp-less, local little guys.  Two guys with a truck, trailer, and a bobcat that leave deep ruts and mess in woods.

Having watched and felt for Tom_A with his close by fiasco (https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,78893.0.html) I am concerned over finding someone who will not destroy our woods.

I am sending emails off to small non certified Ohio & Indiana loggers I can find who may work around SW Ohio but no hits yet. 

Any ideas for how I can find some decent loggers?

[Autocar]

We have a member in our Northwest Chapter that lives near Dayton Ohio I will send you a P.M.

[repmma]

As long as they are college educated in forestry, have every cert under the sun and have the best shiny, newest equipment available then they are obviously the best qualified....  those 50 year old guys who resist the best data from bureaucratic geniuses, and insist on running old equipment definitely the ones to shy away from...   ;)

[chep]

I hope you not expecting stumpage to be paid to you? I would  hand you a bill at the end of that job. We can't send dead ash to the mill. So it's a few truckloads of firewood. Good luck with your project. I would say if you want it done to high standards expect to pay...

[RayMO]

I suspect any "good logger" will be to busy to fool with such a job . With the markets being very good around my area most reliable and responsible loggers are backed up with good timber jobs. Thinking a good honest wood cutter is what you are needing .

[Maine logger88]

How does one leave deep ruts with a bobcat? I agree it probably will be hard to find someone to cut a small amount of wood like that scattered over 110 acres. Is it anything you could do yourself?

[CCC4]

Thats gonna be a tough one! If you have a scrag market up there, that would be your best bet for sales of the product. But even still...there isn't enough money to attract a crew. 80 to 100 trees...yeh thats like a day in a half work equaling a load and a half of scrag on a pole trailer...not hardly any money on your part or the cutter. Good luck!

I think RayMo has the best idea there.

What is a Master Tree farmer?

[beenthere]

yorlik
What do you plan to do with the logs from the trees after they are cut?

What do you expect the two sites to look like after the trees are removed?

[CCC4]

How does one leave deep ruts with a bobcat?

I know right! What does a skid steer have for ground clearance?...like 10" max? Who did this Maine Logger88?

[currantvt]

If it was mine I would leave them standing for the woodpeckers, taking them out will do more harm than good unless you are going to mill them into something useful - the trees not the woodpeckers that is.

[Southside]

Well first if you had 100 healthy ash trees just die on your lot spread over 110 acres then you have another issue to deal with, Emerald Ash Borer comes to mind.  Which means there very well may be restrictions on where you can send that wood to, even in the form of firewood.  So you may very well be looking at a whole lot of wood that can't legally leave your land.

If that is the case your best bet is to either just leave them standing or do it yourself for your own firewood, unless you are prepared to pay a feller to drop and buck them on the ground so they decompose more rapidly.  That would create some wildlife habitat for small critters, and leave some for the woodpeckers. 

OF course this is coming from one of those "un-certified, one man crew, logger" types so take it for what its worth. 

[thecfarm]

I always tell people to check thier last 3-4 jobs. Talk to the land owners too. Don't just get anyone. If they say they will be there in a week,find someone else. Unless they are cutting a lot right next to you. A good logger is busy for at least 6 months.

[coxy]

here it goes one outfit makes a mess and we all pay for it the best part was there was a CERTIFIDE FORESTER involved :-\ in the other mess    so where do you go from here  ;D shucks what am I talking about im just a local little guy with hundreds of ac of wood to cut why because im a little guy 1 skidder 1 dozer 1 truck and a bobcat that cant skid logs because it gets stuck on a hen turd

[SliverPicker]

Not with a 10 foot pole.

No matter what kind of a job is done on these 100 trees it will not be a good enough.

[timberlinetree]

As long as they are college educated in forestry, have every cert under the sun and have the best shiny, newest equipment available then they are obviously the best qualified....  those 50 year old guys who resist the best data from bureaucratic geniuses, and insist on running old equipment definitely the ones to shy away from...   ;)  what is a bureaucratic geniuses? Was looking out the window at school and missed that one. And can't compute. Think I messed up the quote thing. Sorry.

[coxy]

HOW MUCH IS 100 DEAD ASH TREES WORTH  ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???

[craigc]

Bureaucratic Geniuses is an oxymoron.

[g_man]

I am wondering what your consulting forester is telling you the bid range should be ?  Certainly he would have discussed the value of the job for you and for the logger before he went out and marked trees for bid. Wouldn't he ??

[coxy]

I know a lot of people that fit that name  :D :D :D

[repmma]

As long as they are college educated in forestry, have every cert under the sun and have the best shiny, newest equipment available then they are obviously the best qualified....  those 50 year old guys who resist the best data from bureaucratic geniuses, and insist on running old equipment definitely the ones to shy away from...   ;)  what is a bureaucratic geniuses? Was looking out the window at school and missed that one. And can't compute. Think I messed up the quote thing. Sorry.

Not sure if your joking and as has already been explained it's an "oxy-MORON"

They is, the blow hards in the Govt that can't do it themselves but sure can tell you the best way! 

And for full disclosure, I'm also utilizing a thing called "sarcasm" in my prior post.

[g_man]

Just another thought that might help you. You must be in a local Tree Farmers Association being a master tree farmer. I would think you would be able to find what you are looking for there. At least around here there are lots of tree farmers that do there own logging.

[beenthere]

I am wondering what your consulting forester is telling you the bid range should be ?  Certainly he would have discussed the value of the job for you and for the logger before he went out and marked trees for bid. Wouldn't he ??

I'd want a consulting forester to make the forest better managed with a cut of trees that a logger can harvest and do minimal damage in the process.
That marked cut would include access roads, landings, knowledge about marketable wood, any wood quarantines in effect, and etc. The bid contract that goes out would address the concerns of the OP. If no one is interested in bidding, the consulting forester would be paid and the process would end. Just seems to me about the size of it. The bid may be the logger paying out money or it may be the LO paying out money to get the job done.

[Ford_man]

If you have 110 ac of timber , sell 200 mature live trees along with the ash and you may be able to get a logger in to do it. That would be less than 3 trees per acre including the ash. I wish you were closer.

[FarmingSawyer]

As a horse logger I'd do the job.....$25/hr to fell em. $75/hr to skid them. Minimal damage, low site impact.....BUT I'd still need an access road, bridges across wet zones, and a landing..... Just getting them there....100 trees on 110 acres....so probably 50 2per hour to a landing...$5K minimum..... So....figuring ash 14" dbh x 40 ft useable is 129bf Scribner......, so 12, 900bf....or 25.8 cords. No 2 Ash is paying around 275/M in New England..... so figure, maybe.... $3500? Cut, Split, dry and sell it as firewood next year....$275/cord....$7095, you might break even with the horse logging route.

I've been hit over the head before by a "forester" who claimed I new nothing because I didn't take the hour long test he did, nor did I know the special "I am a forester" song.....therefore I shouldn't be allowed to work in the wood......despite 25 years of doing just that to his...maybe...5. But I would also think that someone deserving of "master" before they're title should know a bit more about their game, and be able to figure the sums, like I did above, on the inside of a snoose lid. I'd also think that being a master anything would give you knowledge, skills and abilities to do the job yourself and thereby pocket the savings.

[Ljohnsaw]

As a horse logger I'd do the job.....$25/hr to fell em. $75/hr to skid them. Minimal damage, low site impact.....BUT I'd still need an access road, bridges across wet zones, and a landing..... Just getting them there....100 trees on 110 acres....so probably 50 2per hour to a landing...$5K minimum..... So....figuring ash 14" dbh x 40 ft useable is 129bf Scribner......, so 12, 900bf....or 25.8 cords. No 2 Ash is paying around 275/M in New England..... so figure, maybe.... $3500? Cut, Split, dry and sell it as firewood next year....$275/cord....$7095, you might break even with the horse logging route.

<<snip>>

Not knowing 'nuttin, I was just about to ask "how much is that wood worth"?  Thanks for the education.  That's a lot of trees, and sounds like a LOT of work with not a lot of payback.