How much a week?

[Bobus2003]

How much wood do you guys put up on a weekly basis? I have been goin for 20 loads a week, but this past week was above average, put up about 30. I'm about 3-4 weeks ahead of the truck, so hoping it will get to the mill by mid February

Big pile is just under 300' long and 12' tall, Small pile is 25' long 8' tall (Special order 14's)
 

[rick f]

Nice looking wood pile, Bobus. What do you call aload, tri axle, semi?

[Bobus2003]

Semi loads, (10-12 cord)
 

[beenthere]

Bobus
That is a pic of a semi?  Not what I've had in mind.    Learn something everyday.

[zopi]

Wish I had a couple dozen of those...need some joists..

[treefarmer87]

nice lookin stacks of wood

[Autocar]

Thats a nice load of logs, if I had that big of pile road side I would take a few days off 

[timbuck2]

I don't know about your neck of the woods  but Eastern Spruce/Fir has been on a slide lately.

[Corley5]

Any week that we produce enough that I can pay myself more than my help is a good week 

[Bobus2003]

Bobus
That is a pic of a semi?  Not what I've had in mind.    Learn something everyday.

Our trucks are a bit different than what they run in Wisconsin.. They way we log is different than back their, I enjoy seeing it when i'm back there though

nice lookin stacks of wood

Thank you, My boss didn't care for how nicely i pile. Said i was losing production. The trucker, Our Mill Forester, and the USFS Forester like them, Makes it easy to load for the trucker, and makes the job site look clean

[red oaks lumber]

in wisconsin we call that a truck with a pup  :)if your that far ahead can you get more trucks to haul? be a shame if the price tanks before you get it all hauled to the mill.

[chevytaHOE5674]

In the dead of winter I don't mind having a couple dozen truck loads (20-22 cords each) piled up on a landing. But in the fall and spring I don't like having much stacked up because the weather can change really fast and the logs won't last when the weather turns.

[Jamie_C]

We average about 180 cords a week. By the look of the wood in those piles i would love an average stem size like that. We normally average 600 stems per shift to get that kind of weekly production.

Just for general interest, a 10 hour shift normally yields 7.5 hours of "productive time" (actual time spent harvesting wood). 600 stems per shift / 7.5 productive hours = 80 trees per hour or roughly one merchantable tree every 45 seconds. Makes for an intense day behind the controls when you factor in dealing with unmerchantable stems, dealing with 7 different sorts ( sometimes as high as 11), controling your brush mat, difficult terrain, etc, etc

[inthewoods]

lot a wood ya got there!
Need a pile like that at my mill
In Michigan's UP a full load is towards 9000 board feet(truck w/pup).  I'm generally cutting old hardwoods (prob 85% hard maple & Birdseye) by hand, on a much smaller production scale.  I produce anywhere from one to ten loads/week depending how rough the terrain & the guys I've got working.  What we're shooting for is to complete our kiln building, & bring all but the nicest veneer back to out own mill asap.

[Bobus2003]

in wisconsin we call that a truck with a pup  :)if your that far ahead can you get more trucks to haul? be a shame if the price tanks before you get it all hauled to the mill.

Yeah its a Truck & Pup (Pup has a extendable Tongue for weight reasons), But its the Norm For our Logging trucks, Most are built to bunk 12' to 24' on the truck (10's & 8's get mixed in so they don't fall out), have known a few guys to haul 26' and 28's on the pup

Wish we could get another truck to haul wood, but its the only truck the mill has contracted for us. I'm sitting roughly 70 loads ahead of him, and the mill has no intentions of slowing me down till spring break.

We average about 180 cords a week. By the look of the wood in those piles i would love an average stem size like that. We normally average 600 stems per shift to get that kind of weekly production.

Just for general interest, a 10 hour shift normally yields 7.5 hours of "productive time" (actual time spent harvesting wood). 600 stems per shift / 7.5 productive hours = 80 trees per hour or roughly one merchantable tree every 45 seconds. Makes for an intense day behind the controls when you factor in dealing with unmerchantable stems, dealing with 7 different sorts ( sometimes as high as 11), controling your brush mat, difficult terrain, etc, etc

Averaging around 14" Diameter, with a few scattered 26" dia. The stand we've been working in has been full of 4 stick trees (16 footer's) and very few limbs, Loving it. I can manage about a tree a minute in the big wood, and in "pecker poles" (4"- 8" Post and pole material) I can do 2-3 trees at a time. Luckly we don't have to do any sorting unless i'm cutting saw logs and posts, then i run two decks (one infront, one behind me). unmerchantable wood just gets thrown in the brush pile or left in the woods to be brushed down

[mad murdock]

That is a serious WHACK of logs you got there bobus! nice looking landing. Out here the mills like 40's( they get a better overrun on longer log,'and don't have to pay fer it). I am sure you have seen pics of how they haul out here. I hope the markets hold for you so's you can have a decent winter season.

[Jamie_C]

in wisconsin we call that a truck with a pup  :)if your that far ahead can you get more trucks to haul? be a shame if the price tanks before you get it all hauled to the mill.

Yeah its a Truck & Pup (Pup has a extendable Tongue for weight reasons), But its the Norm For our Logging trucks, Most are built to bunk 12' to 24' on the truck (10's & 8's get mixed in so they don't fall out), have known a few guys to haul 26' and 28's on the pup

Wish we could get another truck to haul wood, but its the only truck the mill has contracted for us. I'm sitting roughly 70 loads ahead of him, and the mill has no intentions of slowing me down till spring break.

We average about 180 cords a week. By the look of the wood in those piles i would love an average stem size like that. We normally average 600 stems per shift to get that kind of weekly production.

Just for general interest, a 10 hour shift normally yields 7.5 hours of "productive time" (actual time spent harvesting wood). 600 stems per shift / 7.5 productive hours = 80 trees per hour or roughly one merchantable tree every 45 seconds. Makes for an intense day behind the controls when you factor in dealing with unmerchantable stems, dealing with 7 different sorts ( sometimes as high as 11), controling your brush mat, difficult terrain, etc, etc

Averaging around 14" Diameter, with a few scattered 26" dia. The stand we've been working in has been full of 4 stick trees (16 footer's) and very few limbs, Loving it. I can manage about a tree a minute in the big wood, and in "pecker poles" (4"- 8" Post and pole material) I can do 2-3 trees at a time. Luckly we don't have to do any sorting unless i'm cutting saw logs and posts, then i run two decks (one infront, one behind me). unmerchantable wood just gets thrown in the brush pile or left in the woods to be brushed down

We average about 7" to 8" diameter and 3 to 4 8ft sticks per tree. The block we are in right now is running about 18cds per acre with pure stands of hdwd that averages about 6" dbh and has a ton of 4' to 10' regen in it, while the pure stands of softwood average about 10" dbh and ranges from 40% crown to limbs right to the ground.

Here is what we have for sorts on our current block. Softwood: 2 grades of 8' pulp, 10' & 8' studwood, sawlogs (12',14',16') Hardwood: 8'pulpwood, 9' firewood, sawlogs (6',7',8') ... The worst block we had this year was 11 different sorts to deal with, takes a lot of time and space to deal with.

The last time we were in a really nice stand of spruce (about 18"dbh avg) i was burying a Ponsse Buffalo King (18 tonne payload forwarder). I was harvesting around 28 tonnes per hour off the stump.

[Ken]

Our goal is to average between 150 and 200 cords/week over the course of this winter.  I don't like to end up with any more than 6-8 loads on the landing at any one time.  Always taking a chance that a mill may shut down or prices may fall. 

We don't have a lot of sorts to deal with this winter.  Logs are either 12 or 16', pulpwood is random length (12-18') and hardwood and poplar pulpwood is random as well. 

Cheers
Ken

[woodtroll]

Nice stack!
Market drop may be different. If the mill bought it, the logging fees would likely stay the same, the mill would take the hit. The stumpage is not much to begin with.
The Forest Service is cutting fast and hard to stay ahead of the bugs.
How much bug wood are you getting?
Are your roads closing anytime soon?
Our harvests stop for snowmobiles.
Are you following the new law suits over by Sand Ridge? More enviros stopping FS sales.

[Bobus2003]

Nice stack!
Market drop may be different. If the mill bought it, the logging fees would likely stay the same, the mill would take the hit. The stumpage is not much to begin with.
The Forest Service is cutting fast and hard to stay ahead of the bugs.
How much bug wood are you getting?
Are your roads closing anytime soon?
Our harvests stop for snowmobiles.
Are you following the new law suits over by Sand Ridge? More enviros stopping FS sales.

Cutting quiet abit of bug wood, prolly 25% or more, Were Working South West of the Custer Peak "Dead Zone" Right off the Custer Crossing Road (Logged the RMEF Area of the old Bulldog Ranch)

Our Roads won't close on us unless we get alot of snow in the next Couple weeks (Doubtful), Since we are right off (150 Yards) the County Gravel road. Also by the end of January first part of February were moving to The Bush Ranch in WY (Few Miles west of Beulah)

Alot of the snowmobile trails around Dumont just north of us have been closed or re-routed because of the timber sales.

Gotta Love the arguments, Their logging to hard, Their not Logging hard enough, Their using the bugs as an excuse to log in areas not supposed to be logged...Blah blah blah...

[2308500]

i know here in nova scotia, if one of our producers (we are truckers) had that much wood roadside, we would *DanG near kill ourselves to get it to the mill this week.

in our operation we strive to keep our crews cleaned up and the landing empty by every friday night

[Bobus2003]

i know here in nova scotia, if one of our producers (we are truckers) had that much wood roadside, we would *DanG near kill ourselves to get it to the mill this week.

in our operation we strive to keep our crews cleaned up and the landing empty by every friday night

I wish thats what would happen here, Thats just one of 5 piles I have waiting, and i'm putting up 4-5 loads aday.. Our trucker will not catch up..

[woodtroll]

How much the mill can cut is planned in to how many loads they will take from a producer.
I know the Bush ranch, well!, I will see you there. I have heard good things about the crew coming in.

[Jamie_C]

i know here in nova scotia, if one of our producers (we are truckers) had that much wood roadside, we would *DanG near kill ourselves to get it to the mill this week.

in our operation we strive to keep our crews cleaned up and the landing empty by every friday night

I wish thats what would happen here, Thats just one of 5 piles I have waiting, and i'm putting up 4-5 loads aday.. Our trucker will not catch up..

Not sure what it is like down there but up here about 95% of the contractors don't get paid for any wood until it is delivered to the mill, even if you are sub-contracted to cut the block by the mill.

Take into account extremely fickle markets, a varied wood basket and no advances and you can see why most contractors push to have the landings cleaned up.

[SwampDonkey]

Yeah, I couldn't imagine being that far behind on deliveries. As Jamie said, you only get paid on delivery around here. But that's still no guarantee because some mills are months behind on paying and the last few years a lot of mills close and leave you broke.

[woodtroll]

That is always a possibility. The markets here are not any better.
The out look is shaky also. The Pine Beetle where he is working is devastating larger areas. "the Dead Zone". It is likely one of the main mills will close in the next few years.
Currently our mills saw 2.5 million trees annually. There are 4 million fresh bug hit trees.
So there is a glut of logs and trees to cut. That is just the bug trees, we still need to thin our forests to prevent the beetle.

[thecfarm]

Ten to 12 cord a load,he has a job for a while. How long does it take for a round trip?

[Bobus2003]

Ten to 12 cord a load,he has a job for a while. How long does it take for a round trip?

2.5 to 3 hours Depending on Weather

[Bobus2003]

How much the mill can cut is planned in to how many loads they will take from a producer.
I know the Bush ranch, well!, I will see you there. I have heard good things about the crew coming in.

Ah yes, Pat said their would be a Forester out there

Not sure what it is like down there but up here about 95% of the contractors don't get paid for any wood until it is delivered to the mill, even if you are sub-contracted to cut the block by the mill.

Take into account extremely fickle markets, a varied wood basket and no advances and you can see why most contractors push to have the landings cleaned up.

Its the same here, Contractor only gets paid for whats delivered, not whats sitting decked in the woods. I keep hearing "It's Money in the bank", Don't know how much the boss likes that answer. But our mills pushing us to get done and get moved to Lower ground on private for the heavy snow months..

[rwthom279]

Yeah, I couldn't imagine being that far behind on deliveries. As Jamie said, you only get paid on delivery around here. But that's still no guarantee because some mills are months behind on paying and the last few years a lot of mills close and leave you broke.

Not sure what it is like down there but up here about 95% of the contractors don't get paid for any wood until it is delivered to the mill, even if you are sub-contracted to cut the block by the mill.

Take into account extremely fickle markets, a varied wood basket and no advances and you can see why most contractors push to have the landings cleaned up.

I don't envy the bigger operation when you start talkin about money and payment.  Always heard...The bigger you are, the less money you make...I can't offer my opinion.  But it sure is nice to just pull in the yard, argue about scale and BF'ages, head to the office and get paid!  I can only imagine the stress of just covering payroll and operating costs while waiting a month or 2 for payment.

[2308500]

we ged paid by the ton and producer/landowner get paid by the ton so the quicker it gets to the mill, the more we get
not so bad in the cold months but 5 percent is 5 percent no matter how cold it is, cut wood will continue to dry... some

we run 3 trucks andstrive to get 1800 to 2000 tons to the mill every week on a 9 hour round trip including loading and unloading.   thats why its tough if you slack off.

its slower in the summer so another truck is not cost effective over the calendar year