new guy looking for some tips

[PeytonM]

Well I want to know if any of you loggers that log for living could help me out

I’m 21 and have a team of Belgians, I’ve been logging for fun to burn fire wood at my friends and uncles but I just love doing it I would like to make a living out of it. I picked up the latest issue of Rural Heritage magazine and read Taylor Johnson’s “Why do you…?” and I really agree with what he has to say. A little about me, I went to school for welding and I work for a large dairy farm and get my odds and ends welding jobs. I’m not really too crazy over that, I don’t mind welding but I wanted to go for big money and now I found how fun working with horses is, I enjoy working them, I love going out to the pasture and they can be way in the back of the 40 acre pasture and I’ll just whistle a few times and I can hear them running up to meet me and get fed. Its a great feeling. I love the feeling of getting up and going to work with the horses and putting in your days work and then turning it in and eating and going to bed.

I would like to do this but I know its going to be hard to come out of no where all alone, so I thought of logging with them and the lumber I log use on a saw mill and make boards.

If anyone in WI/ MN has a logging business and needs a hand or is willing to teach me a few tricks I’d greatly appreciate it. or anyone that can give me some tips. I know that some guys have 2 teams they bring out to the woods and they kind of take turns and give breaks now and then. I’m working on buying another team of Belgians that are going to 7 and 8 in 2013.

thanks for all the help

Peyton

[Scott G]

Peyton, talk to Taylor. Great guy who has got it dialed in over the past few years. He’d be your best bet depending on where you are located. All loggers, regardless of how they log, ALWAYS need a good welder on the job. :rolleyes:

[Donn Hewes]

welding, like carpentry, is one of those skills that will help almost no matter what you eventually persue. take it from a hack welder, it is a great fit with farming or logging with horses. Donn

[PeytonM]

I ended up finding Taylor’s site and sent an e-mail last night and when I woke up this morning he sent me one back.

Thanks for the help. I know that now days horse guys get some pretty sweet set up’s, I was like “HOLY CRAP” when I saw Taylor’s horse drawn forwarder. I wondered how much they sold for because in all honesty, they are pretty simple set up as far as building in my eyes accept the grapple, don’t know how much work that would take cause I haven’t been able to look at one closely.

I’m not too far from Taylor’s, He lives in Springbrook WI according to his site, I’m by Bloomer WI, 2-3 hour drive north for me but I’m sure is jobs are all over the place.

[Carl Russell]

@PeytonM 38493 wrote:

…… I was like “HOLY CRAP” when I saw Taylor’s horse drawn forwarder. I wondered how much they sold for because in all honesty, they are pretty simple set up as far as building in my eyes accept the grapple, don’t know how much work that would take cause I haven’t been able to look at one closely. ……

US horse-loggers need good fabricators of multifunctional equipment…….. Another good contact would be John Plowden from Maine http://www.plowdenhorselogging.com/ , not so much for logging work, but to build contact around equipment fabrication.

Horses offer some great opportunities to diversify your income. Don’t get stuck thinking you need to specialize, to be a welder, or a farmer, or a horselogger only, you can be all of them……… especially if you use live power.

Good luck, Carl

[PeytonM]

I’m sure this would all depend on the place I’m sure but what can a guy normally get on a logging job? say a 20 acre lot of thick heavy hard wood?

what is the going rate on a forwarder? I tried looking them up and I couldn’t really find any mf that built them.

Thanks for the help Carl.

[PeytonM]

anyone use shoes in the winter time? I didnt know if they would really help in deep snow. I could see on the landing if there was some ice in the winter time where it could help and in summer time depending on the environment it might help out but at the same time would it cause more wear and tear on the ground not?

[PeytonM]

Well Taylor called me back a few days ago and we had a very nice conversation. He called and we made a little small talk and he asked why I wanted to get in to logging with horses. I told him, a few years back my Grandpas health went south, he lost both his legs above the knee and we always went to see him, the young kid in me got tired of it, I was sick of hearing of horses and the old way, I’d much rather be out on my bike racing and throwing dirt, 2006 I got a phone call while I was loading up to go to the track to race and my mom told me that Gramps had passed. To be honest I took it really hard. A short while later after he was gone a lot of what he told me started to sink in and the biggest thing I regret is never saying thank you to him. So now its early 2012 and my grandma told me that I get to have all of Grandpas horse stuff. I got a bob sled, cutter sleigh and some old harness and collars that were shot. It really bothered me to have all his stuff and not have the ability to put it to use so with my tax return I bought my team of Belgians. So with that being said, 6 years after he passed and a year of learning about my team and how they work together and work with me I didn’t want to let the way my Grandpa lived his life be swept under the rug, I wanted to do my part to keep it alive.

After I explained that to him he told me that he understands and its not that you cant make money at it but its tough. He also talked with me about how to pick lots and how to bid on them and ways of skidding. He told me that he had a job a little bit close towards me at the end of the month and said that if I wanted to I could come out and check it out and see how some things are done.

I also talked about his horse drawn Forwarder he has and I would like to know if anyone on here logs with Hybred powered equipment. I would like some one to post up some pics of the frame work. I have an idea but I have to a closer look at one. I’ve searched google and can find all kinds of pics of them loaded but nobody that makes them to look at them. Taylor said that they can run about 20K.

Thanks for all the help and the reply’s.

[Eli]

Payton like I used to got tired of hearing about horses and the old ways only from my father. We had 20 cows, 80 acres and he worked in town. He would talk about farming with horses all I could see in the shiny new tractors driving by. And that is what I ended up with, four years ago I sold most of my equipment but kept my land and want to slowly start farming it with horses. I wonder if I could have talked him into a team years ago. The sad thing is I will probably never know as much as he took to his grave. Good luck and I am sure your Grandfathers hand guides your team in some way.

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