Our goal this year is 300-330 full cords. (I only say this because I am on a job outside NYC and was talking with a guy from central NY who told me he was burning 30 cords a year for his 2000 sq ft farm house. Turns out, they refer to facecords as cords in his town. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor!) I think more realistically we will be closer to 250 full cords. I have a difficult time getting more than 2 log truck loads per week. Most everything comes from landclearing and PennDOT maintenance contracts where they are dealing with brush and stumps versus a logger who is looking for mill wood, poles, and tops and leaves the mess behind, generally. I am in a "sweet spot" between the Pittsburgh suburbs and rural PA, for sales anyways. (I say that because I find that people more rural aren't as willing to pay top dollar for premium wood simply because they can do it themselves for cheaper and have the resources) However, loggers to the north don't generally want to haul this far south. (35-60 miles).
Another point I have pondered (not quite worried about, yet, anyways) is the room 400-600 cords would take up, let alone 1000. We are currently working about 2 acres of my parents farm, mostly frontage to a 2-lane highway. We have about 100 right now and that is a serious pile. We have the room to expand, across and creek and behind a good sized garage, but that takes time and money. We are utilizing the most flat part as of now, not that piling split wood on a slope would matter all that much.
I have a few bags as well and they are hard to deal with not being rigid. Like I said, there is no miracle cure. The best option is a pole building which is the most expensive, outside building a kiln, which does nothing to keep the weather off of it once it is dried.
On a side note, there is a guy about an hour and 15 mins from my house I found on craigslist that sells the totes. He says he has 50 left and wants $20 a piece for them, well worth the investment, I think. I think too, most times people would take a little less money if you bought the remaining ones. I may try and make a deal on all of them. Remember too, dismantling them is quite a bit of work and makes a ton of garbage (plastic tote bladder).
A question for mijdirtyjeep/Jim: When you are splitting 25 cords at a time, how are you moving it away from the conveyor? I have a tracked skidsteer that can push it away for the first few cords but after that I have to take diagonal swipes at it. It's kind of rough on the machine, especially the tracks when woods falls into and beneath the tracks as well.....
Question #2: Do you have a self-serve/ farmers stand "like" setup at your wood yard? I did not for sometime but in the past 4 or 5 years, we have made racks along the road and into our driveway with $10-$20-$50-$100-$140 racks that have worked phenomenally. Imagine going away for the weekend skiing or camping and coming back to more money than you spent that weekend. It's a great feeling.....I have only been shorted 2 or 3 times by no more than $20. Also, I have been overpaid more times than that so it has more than balanced out.
Remember too: If you are always selling out, perhaps you aren't charging enough. You may profit a lot more by increasing your prices. Simple supply--demand stuff. I have had the same battle with myself over raising prices. We always sell out. But the human, passionate person most of us are don't want to charge more especially the customers that we have had for years and now over a decade for us.....
