Here we go again. Cutting firewood off the edge of a field.

[upnut]

Last winter I traded chainsaw work for the use of a digger to remove stumps along the woods/field edge, this is what he provided for clean up work....


  

Made stump removal a breeze!

Scott B.

[cutterboy]

Some more cutting on the edge of the field.
Five trees growing together off of an old stump. I cut two, the other three will be coming down too.


 

 

 

 

 
I've got a nice supply of wood in the barn that's ready to split.


 
Happy splitting.....Cutter

[SwampDonkey]

Typical red maple. Those small diameter maple clumps can yield a lot of firewood. The less split'n the better.

[mike_belben]

Or delicious sap

[SwampDonkey]

Now, we don't cut the sugar maples, Mike, that's the best sap.

[mike_belben]

Well dont get all maple elite on me now yankee.. I work with what i got!

[SwampDonkey]

Have to inject a correction to my caricature, it's Maritimer, not yankee. That's a swear word, didn't ya know? 

[brianJ]

Have to inject a correction to my caricature, it's Maritimer, not yankee. That's a swear word, didn't ya know?  

This is great to know and all this time I thought Grits was the official FF cuss word.

[cutterboy]

Yesterday and this morning cutting again at the edge of the field. The snow is a foot deep and I wasn't sure how much trouble the tractor would have with that. I loaded up the rear forks with 4-footers to give the back end some weight and the tractor had no problem.


 
Problems right away! First cut...chainsaw stuck and tree hung up!


 
 

 
I had another saw and a couple of pulling chains with me so things were soon made right.


 

 
After that things went well.


 

 

 

 
Now it's snowing, so I think I'll stay in and sit by the fire.

Happy cutting.....Cutter

[mudfarmer]

Looks like you are having a good time! Our snow is deep and “sugary “ right to the bottom. Tractor really really does not like it if you get off a packed trail! Luckily have been cutting mostly in one spot that is hard to get to for the rest of the year so the trails are doing pretty well. Sometimes I get jealous of the flat open ground pics you guys post on here 

[thecfarm]

When there is less than a foot of snow, on the edge of the field, I will start my cutting again. Or when I can see the ground, which ever comes first.  

[stavebuyer]

I'm letting our northern hardwood have back what belongs to it in several areas on our place.   Trees have a greater benefit here than open ground

I own a tract on the north face of a knob that is growing hardwood at an annual rate of 600ft per acre (Doyle). Taxes are next to nothing and ground could be leased for hunting. Figure stumpage at $.30 a BF and its paying me as much as high dollar river bottom corn ground cash rents for at about 1/3 the per acre land cost.
Curious what the return might be from growing walnut and oak in good bottomland corn ground? I bet by the time you figure all the inputs the trees could be viable.

[SwampDonkey]

Land prices up this way fluctuate a lot. There is lots of it and low density population. If competition for stumpage goes gang busters wood land goes up in price from $200/acre to $1500/acre. I've seen stumpage as high as $2000/acre and you don't even own it, and that is based on softwood logs and hardwood/popple pulp. We tend to hang onto our woodland though, taxes are about nil. But a lot of us were raised on cutting and selling wood the last 50 years. Before that, our grandfather's used it for their own needs. Mills will pickup woodlot ground from heirship sales. The family wants sale money, and have no interest in the woods. That's how some recent ground got acquired. No sooner than they buried their mother and I seen mill orange painted lines and corner posts, that was never painted and marked for 100 years. It's terrible rough ground though with an old esker up through it. Steep slopes and gullies but full of gravel to. It's a climb up to the main road.

[SwampDonkey]

Curious what the return might be from growing walnut and oak in good bottomland corn ground? I bet by the time you figure all the inputs the trees could be viable.

If you're in a high population of deer, it ain't as simple and sticking trees in the mud. Wait until they chew off all the tree tops for lunch. And the voles and mice girdle what is left that winter. I know if I planted a field of yellow birch, the few deer we have here, would be moving in and those trees would be gone in 2 weeks. Did it on a couple sites, so have experience in that venture.

[farmfromkansas]

Hey cutterboy, how do you get around with that yellow ford?  Had one of those years ago, and I was stuck if we had any moisture. Did get a set of chains so I could push snow, made a huge difference.  Mine had turf tires, added wheel weights which helped some.

[stavebuyer]

Curious what the return might be from growing walnut and oak in good bottomland corn ground? I bet by the time you figure all the inputs the trees could be viable.

If you're in a high population of deer, it ain't as simple and sticking trees in the mud. Wait until they chew off all the tree tops for lunch. And the voles and mice girdle what is left that winter. I know if I planted a field of yellow birch, the few deer we have here, would be moving in and those trees would be gone in 2 weeks. Did it on a couple sites, so have experience in that venture.

We have lots of deer but its a full time job here to keep ground from converting itself from open to wooded. Ask the electric company

[SwampDonkey]

Let'r go. Then the battle between you and the bushes is over.   A 20 stemmed coppiced tree is worth less than a single stemmed one that could potentially make a log in the future. But if they both turn out to be firewood, probably the coppiced one will bring in more dollars, at the very least more heat.

[cutterboy]

Hey cutterboy, how do you get around with that yellow ford?  Had one of those years ago, and I was stuck if we had any moisture. Did get a set of chains so I could push snow, made a huge difference.  Mine had turf tires, added wheel weights which helped some.

It's not a Ford. It's a Massey Ferguson. Because of the heavy front end loader it is light in the rear. However, if I put weight in the back it's ok in the snow.

[cutterboy]

I moved to another field. Just some pictures cutting along the edge.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
I now have plenty of wood in the barn to split and it is snowing right now so I guess I'll be splitting and stacking today.

   Happy splitting.....Cutter