timber cutting equipment and prices

[yanmars]

I have about 70 acres of hardwood. A number of firms want to buy it. Some would use tracked equipment, some horsed. A number of ravines, and many trees in a soft, boggy area. Most are under 30 inches but some 4 feet in diameter, that is cottonwood and sycamore. Many walnuts and cherry.
Concerned about how many tops would be left, damage and ruts and many trees gone. Some want to do it on a 50/50 basis.
Any thoughts/experiences on any of this? Unsure where to post this.

 

[hayden]

First step would be to hire a forester to assess the parcel and come up with a management plan. Then, assuming a harvest is called for, have him/her mark the trees to be cut. Then have loggers make bids to cut and remove the marked trees. Have teh forester help you with a contract for the cut. It should stipulate the basis for how you get paid, how often, and the condition the lot needs to be left in. Check references on the logger.

If you want to cut out some steps, just have the forester mark trees to be cut.

Under no circumstances, and I really mean NONE, let the logger decide what to cut. Many will tell you they can do it and save you money, but it almost always results in you being taken advantage of and getting left with a stripped, low grade lot. Too many will come cut the best trees, leave a mess, and be nowhere to be found afterwards. In a typical hardwood harvest, 90% of the value will be in 10% of the trees. This creates a huge incentive for abuse.

 

[3Ts]

^+1 I have pine trees I market. I have dealt with many loggers and the contracts they write up are to benefit themselves. One contract was for $2/ton (when market was at $22) and would go down if market went down, but would not go up if market went up. So read the contract VERY carefully. I also suggest you get a forester to come out and evaluate what you have. I also suggest you have a forester draw up the contract and handle the bid process. We did this and the forester bundled our place (50 acres) in with 3 others to make it more attractive to the loggers and we ended up getting a much better price than when we were looking at doing it ourselves.

 

[newbury]

OP-
Location matters.
In Mississippi we have a pretty good extension service for forestry run by Mississippi State University. They will come out and work up a basic forest management plan and provide a list of registered foresters that work in the area.
Based on my personal experiences with loggers many are like royalty, Nigerian princes to be specific.
Wife's family inherited about 20 acres in south Mississippi. They all live in extreme north Mississippi.
Logger called about 10 years ago and offered her mother (now 97) an extremely low price for the timber.
He'd send the paperwork pronto.
After I got involved he claimed most of the timber had been wiped out by a hurricane a couple of years before.
I grabbed some recent aerial imagery which showed no damage and all the trees had miraculously grown back.
Then when she got the paperwork he sent it detailed the sale of the land AND the timber. For the same low low price.
And the logger (or his "secretary") kept calling her daily to sign the papers.
We contacted the local extension agent, got a couple of good references, netted about 10 times what the first offer was.
Usually loggers are big guys, without good reliable references trust them as far as you can throw them.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

^+1 I have pine trees I market. I have dealt with many loggers and the contracts they write up are to benefit themselves. One contract was for $2/ton (when market was at $22) and would go down if market went down, but would not go up if market went up. So read the contract VERY carefully. I also suggest you get a forester to come out and evaluate what you have. I also suggest you have a forester draw up the contract and handle the bid process. We did this and the forester bundled our place (50 acres) in with 3 others to make it more attractive to the loggers and we ended up getting a much better price than when we were looking at doing it ourselves.

They get 20 a ton to get it to the mill. I wouldn't cut any. You get maybe 50 per log truck loaded. That is per entire load of logs.

 

[4570Man]

I wouldn’t cut anything if you expect it to be neat. Loggers make a huge mess no matter what.

 

[fruitcakesa]

I cut and market my own trees and sell directly to the mill for sawlogs.
W. Pine currently at $375 per 1k bd/ft, hemlock at $290 and pulp at @$17/ton.
I follow a forester developed management plan and clean up my own mess.
I have a real hard time trusting my property to loggers other than myself.

 

[deezler]

When I had 30 mature black walnuts logged back in a select cut several years ago, the sawyers did a very nice job of cutting up the tops to lay them flat on the ground. Not leaving them in a big tangled mess like happened on a property just up the road from mine, where they took all the hardwoods and left an impassable mess behind afterwards. I guess I was just lucky, it wasn't in my contract with them, just a verbal discussion, and they kept their word. I was able to pull out the majority of the big upper branches for good firewood over the next few years.

 

[arrow]

First step would be to hire a forester to assess the parcel and come up with a management plan. Then, assuming a harvest is called for, have him/her mark the trees to be cut. Then have loggers make bids to cut and remove the marked trees. Have teh forester help you with a contract for the cut. It should stipulate the basis for how you get paid, how often, and the condition the lot needs to be left in. Check references on the logger.

If you want to cut out some steps, just have the forester mark trees to be cut.

Under no circumstances, and I really mean NONE, let the logger decide what to cut. Many will tell you they can do it and save you money, but it almost always results in you being taken advantage of and getting left with a stripped, low grade lot. Too many will come cut the best trees, leave a mess, and be nowhere to be found afterwards. In a typical hardwood harvest, 90% of the value will be in 10% of the trees. This creates a huge incentive for abuse.

Concur wholeheartedly with this and I was a logger.
The firm I worked for always hired a licensed aborist before we stepped onto the plot if we weren't clear cutting for commercial use.
There is too much liability not to do so.
We also hired a separate firm to deal with and clean out the slash.
Lotta firewood in crowns if so inclined.

Here's another thing. Wood measured in tonnage or cordage for mill work is one thing but if you want top dollar for your trees, get the mill or someone knowledgeable to your property and have the logging crew separate your fruit and nut tree stem piles as they carry a premium.

Have these trees measured in board feet so you can derive the proper amounts for your premium harvest.