# Horse Logging Costs



## Nickrosis (Dec 7, 2003)

What would it cost to log a 40 acre parcel using horse logging techniques? It's a mixed northern hardwood stand with not-a-lot of big trees. It has a 6-20% slope. It would be like a heavy commercial thinning - not a c/c. I understand it would probably take a couple weeks. I heard one person say it would be $45/hour/person. What else? I need a really, really rough estimate for an assignment.

Nickrosis


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## Ryan Willock (Dec 8, 2003)

Hi Nick, there are a couple of horse loggers around here I don't know how they charge but most of the logging around here is on shares which is how I personally work. Look up the internet yellow pages for Floyd Virginia and put in Black Horse Logging, I would give him a call or Jason Rutledge out of Floyd, I am sure that they would be willing to help you.


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## John Ellison (Dec 8, 2003)

Nick, check out the Rural Heritage site. The Logging Camp on there has a lot of info on horselogging and a listing of loggers for hire. Several are from Wisconsin and I am sure one of them would help you out with info and market conditions for your area.
If it is a HEAVY thinning dont overlook mechanical logging, especially if very much of the timber has to come up a 20% slope.
The per/hr est. might be close for your area but the time est. sounds way off. But then that would depend on how many hosses and how many men 
John


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## John Ellison (Dec 9, 2003)

These guys are all for horse logging.


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## Madman Mark (Dec 11, 2003)

Hey Nick, with 2 guys and a horse (or two) it would take a few months or more of steady work to cover 40 acres (even if only thinning it out) not a couple of weeks.
I do some logging for myself and for others with a 4WD tractor with a logging winch.
This does alot less damage then a skidder or a porter.
You might want to look into finding someone who does that.
I work alone and I'm lucky if I can do one acre (20 cord average) a week.


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## Nickrosis (Dec 14, 2003)

According to the rural heritage site, a team can log 1800 to 3000 bf/day. We used 2000 bf/day as the number for our report (http://students.uwsp.edu/ncraw045/Silvicultural Presentation.ppt) to estimate that it would take a couple weeks to do what we wanted to achieve. Our professor (the extension forester for the county) will let us know what he thought of the report on Monday, but I talked to him on Friday, and he seemed to be really pleased.

Apparently horse logging is in vogue in urban areas especially. Thanks for the info - always a great place to ask questions.

Nickrosis


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## Nickrosis (Dec 14, 2003)

In our report, we said $150/day for 4 weeks = $3000. Again, we used the information from Rural Heritage for that. How realistic is that?


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## beenthere (Dec 20, 2003)

$150 per day? I assume you are talking about a logger who has the horses and all the equipment to work those horses in that day. If you were that logger, would you load up everything, go to the site, and unload everything, then say turn right around and load up and go home for less than $150. Probably a minimum of 3 hours a day just moving the team back and forth, given that you were logging close by the barn where the horses would be kept. What I am getting at is just the fixed cost of doing that days work, not counting what you would want to be paid between the time you get to the 40 acre woods and when you want to leave, would be close to $150. 

I really think most horse logging is done by someone volunteering their time, and not someone who is in it to make a profit over and above expenses. 

I could be wrong, and sometimes am wrong. But think about that $150 per day figure a bit and see if it makes sense to you. 

When I was a student, I had a proposal to take on a pulpwood logging operation for the summer. I was being told by the professor that I could just borrow equipment from the local farmer, and all I had to do was get the pulpwood to the side of the road, and piled. I remember having to convince this professor to think in the real world, and don't think I ever did. But I didn't fall for the pulpwood logging job either. It would have been a nightmare summer, to say the least. I had 'zero' equipment.


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## Nickrosis (Dec 20, 2003)

Got a 95%.


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