So what is it like in Georgia and eastern Alabama?

[Southside]

Tonight I get a call from the wife, she tells me a conversation at work contained words such as "promotion",  "really would like to see you put in for this",  and "Atlanta, GA"     is pretty much my inside reaction.  By no means a sure thing but in her line of work you pretty much do as you are asked and do get rewarded for it.  Me, well I cut wood and I farm, with the intention of farming full time at some point in the next few years.  My wife has a minimum of 5 years to go before any sort of retirement could even be considered, so the though of doing the apartment thing is not appealing at all.  Of course moving a dairy is not appealing in the least bit, logging equipment sells all the time so that does not concern me too much. 

My wife travels a lot for her work and does not have to be in the main office every day so living 1.5 ish hours from the office does not make for a deadly commute for her, and gives us options on where to settle down, which is why we can live where we do now and it is not an issue.  She is not a city girl by any means but deals with it when working, when home she does not leave the farm.

So what are things in the logging and AG industries like in the area within a 1.5 hour drive from Atlanta? 

What does land cost?  We are strictly a pasture operation with the cows so I don't need tillable ground but I need ground that will grow grass. 

Can a one man logger get work on small lots and be able to sell the timber?  I ask about eastern Alabama as I see that appears to be within range as well. 

Is there a direction from the city that is better - IE, south / east. etc? 

Anybody want to buy a Fabtek?   say_what  My head hurts right now and it's not because I whacked it again. 

[rospaw]

My .02 Was born and raised 30 min N of Atla and still have a home in Roswell GA. After 44 years I moved north about 1.5hrs from dowtown Atla and have been here 4 years. In the foot hills / mountain area. Your wife will be in what part of Atla? Reason i ask is a if she has to cross Atla it could take 1-2 hrs going 20 mile thur the city or even around on hwy 285. I know north / NE GA area very well with home / land costs. How much land / house size ect would you be looking at? I am not a realtor but i watch the land market close. To give you an idea the Roswell Ga area raw farm land goes for 30K-100K+ acre lol yes 100k an acre! You can go north 1.5 and pick it up for 3k-18k or more an acre. Great area to live. 5hrs to the beaches/gulf mex, 2 hrs to the moutains, large lakes for boating/ fishing less than an hour away. Weather is pretty good maybe a little warm in the summer.
Yes you can set up and sell some lumber for pretty good prices. Lots of custom builders/craftsman in the north Atla area. Any question you have i will be more than happy to answer. S

[drobertson]

Spent many of days passing through Ala. and Ga.  love the country, that's all I know, lots of timber for sure, not sure who owns it, Atlanta traffic is something to be seen, unbelievable,  lakes, mountains, rivers,  I say if you have to go, it would be a hard place to beat,,  unless you made it to the Ozarks ;D

[WDH]

Not much commercial timber harvesting North of Atlanta.  Mostly development.  However, to the South, there is a very good timber industry with a number of mills.  The area to the East near Madison, GA is good dairy country and also has a healthy logging industry.  Timberland prices on timberland that is stocked with trees in areas outside the development influence of Atlanta are in the $2000 to $2500 per acre range.  The further the South, East, and West that you go, the more attractive the land prices.

[Southside]

Ok, thanks so far.  Not sure where in Atlanta, will have to look that up, did not even think to consider that but it is a very valid point, from what WDH said my hope is the south east side. 

The Ozarks have been my choice for a long time, just has not been in the cards.  $2,000 an acre for decent ground is manageable, obviously less is better, with decent rainfall or the ability to irrigate I can carry that on a couple hundred acres as our input / operating costs are lower than traditional confinement dairy operations.  $18K - $100K for an acre - guess it grows good houses is all I can say!!! 

As far as the house goes - does not need to be fancy, I can fix it up or even build it if need be.  We lived in the camper for way too long in the past getting things up and running and the way we wanted it so we can do it again.  We don't have any children so that does not complicate it and the dogs think we were going camping every day so they loved it!!!

Please keep the info coming.  Thanks.

[Raider Bill]

I drive through Atlanta many times a year. I call it the "water melon 500" you are either going 90MPH in 8 lanes trying to blend in with traffic or slamming on your brakes to keep from being run over.

[kiko]

I live 50 miles southeast of Atlanta and there is plenty of logging and chipping going on here. However,  low per ton prices exclude the small logger, production is the name of the game. 

[WDH]

The really efficient crews with one skidder are producing about 8 - 10 loads per day.  With two skidders, the production rate is not 2x the one skidder rate, but less.  A normal set-up would be one large knuckleboom loader with CTR delimber, one skidder, and a rubber-tired fellerbuncher.  Some of the two skidder crews run two loaders.