The War on cedar trees has begun.

[sparkkky]

Got a good start on our war with the cedar tree's. We have thousands that must be cut by hand because of the steep slopes and amount of them.

We would cut the outer tree's at the top and I would drag them out with the Kubota B21. Some of them are sixty to eighty foot tall with bases between twelve to twenty inches across.

Skidding the trees whole is different than a hardwood with limbs removed. Bet my B21 looked really funny dragging tree's ten times larger or more.

Was it a mistake to tie them to the hooks on my FEL, where should I tie up? liked dragging backwards because its easier to see what I am doing.

 

[Junkman]

with that many trees, why not sell them to a logging company and let them do the work and you collect the money? Cutting trees can be very dangerous work if you don't know what you are doing, and you only get one chance if something drastically goes wrong. I have read about too many amateur's cutting trees that are now employed as harp players with wing......

 

[SPIKER]

I agree with junkman:

cedar is verry expensive wood to buy should be very marketable in those sizes!

MarkM /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[EddieWalker]

One of the things I really like about cedar trees is the ease they fall over. Nothing else pops out of the ground as easy as a cedar tree, root and all.

I'm saving my cedars for posts. After they are down, I delimb them and drag to pile for future use.

 

[sparkkky]

Well, I am not new to cutting tree's but thanks for the worrying!

Can't find anybody that wants them, even for free. Going to keep and stack some of the big ones, burning the rest.

What about dragging with my FEL, is that a bad thing?

 

[Junkman]

Have you tried contacting anyone on the state level? I know that in some states, they have contacts with the paper pulp industry and other users of wood pulp. Sometimes they can put you in contact with the right people. It might be a case of your not knocking on the right doors..

 

[SCB]

I just cleared three acres of mostly cedar trees. They were a little larger than the ones you mention. I skidded many of them with my fel. Use the proper caution though. Keep the bucket low and go slow. BTW in Wash. those trees go for alot of money. We made a tidy profit out of ours.

 

[SKOALMAN]

Hi Sparkkky,
Man I know what you are going through. I just got my TN65 and working to get a grapple to help me with about 10 acres of Cedars. I bought my Homeplace from my parents. The last 8-10 years my Grandparents got sick and my Dad moved all cattle to their farm to take care of and have them in one spot. Well about 10 acres of the 30 Grew Up with Cedars adn they average 15-20 ft high. SO my wife and I have been cutting a Full Tank of Chainsaw Gas every other evening or so. All the neighbors have stopped by and commented on "How Good" it looks, but No One has offered to help! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif They do cut easy enough. I am cutting themoff at ground level. Chainsaw Chain is holding up very well!

SO, the TN65 with FEL and I am going to add a Grapple soon for the Bucket, watching Pineridge and some others with their Grapples. I figure it will take several nights/evenings, just gets so dark so early right now.

Good Luck with getting them cut. I need to post some pictures of my work! You have got me to thinking about it.

 

[johan3400]

Love to see some pictures. Do not give up sellling those logs. Here in Iowa the size you are talking are worth a great deal of money. Do a search for saw mills and send a picture of the pile of logs you have. I believe you can make this pay. My tree project is about 60 acres of hedge trees. I started cutting them last summer and did find a guy to purchase some saw logs out of what I have taken down. Good luck, be careful and have fun!

 

[sparkkky]

Thanks, guys I finally found a buyer. Now I am thinking about going ahead and buying a Tajfun skidding winch so I don't tear up me or my tractor.

 

[WVBartMan]

Sparkky: The most effiecent way to clear trees is with a Komatsu 300 Excavator or one of similar size. We use the track excavators on steep slopes 2:1 to remove the trees (hardwoods mostly). You can use the tree against itself by pushing the tree over from midway on the trunk. The weight of the excavator plus the weight of the tree allows for the leverage to bring most of the stumps out of the ground with the tree.

 

[Ray_H]

You'd be sitting on a gold mine if those trees were in Idaho, minimum $100 a cord but could fetch as much as $150.
Ray

 

[Docsknotinn]

Cedars that size here bring over $2,000 per acre ! The white cedars we have that size would be over 150 years old. Do you just want them gone or do you want them to regenerate ?

 

[sparkkky]

Just want them gone, may leave some of the medium ones that are male.
We are loosing 760 acres a day and 6000 coveys of quail a year to red cedars in Oklahoma.

 

[sparkkky]

After closer inspection some of the tree's are near 30" at the base.

 

[SPIKER]

boy wish I had about 100 of those trees up here I could retire! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif a lot of cedar (red nice smelling stuff airomatic) sold at auction to a fried for 80.00 and it was 6' long pile maybe 2' high by 3' wide. cut down and rough sawn only... he said it was a good deal! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif boards were ~4" wide by 1/2~3/8" thick. anyhow you should try and sell em on ebay /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif lol

Mark M

 

[JD3130]

You might try posting on some of the wood working forums. I know if I was a little younger, I would load my equipment on my lowboy and come help you for a few weeks in exchange for the logs. Bet you could get enough guys to all the work for you.
JD