Starting a horse Logging Business

[gwpoky]

We currently farm with horses and looking to add some winter income to our farm. We are looking into starting a horse logging business. Any advise would be great as I know there is a wealth of knowledge on this site.

Thank you
George

[TaylorJohnson]

Hello George,
I will post things as they come to me. First thing is that if you get into horse logging it can be a very rewarding job . To look back at acres that you have logged with horses is a true sence of accomplishment . I don’t know how much you have logged with them or who you have asked about it . Some advice I would give you is to take a lot of the advice you get with a ,,, well more than a grain of salt. You can wast a lot of time and money on poor advice . Also be ready to work your self very , very , hard if you are ging to make any money with consistency and do not get into bidding against mechanized operators ( most of the time , there are exceptions to this rule ) . Find jobs they don’t want and get them at an arrangement you can make money at. Do not work cheap with the promise of big pay days a head , your time is valuable and the work is dangerous so get paid for every thing you do . Learn how to lay out a strip for your horses. If you just go in and start dropping trees with no plan then you will fail. Logging is logging and you have to be efficient and laying out a job is just about a lost art it seems these days and in horse logging you can not shift a gear and make up for mistakes and poor planing. If I can think of some other things I will post them but right now I have to run .
I looked at you web site and it looks like you have a nice place . I live in WI but in the northern part by Hayward . If I can help you in any way let me know my number is 715 416 1078. Taylor Johnson

[Carl Russell]

George,
If you haven’t already, try to find someone in your area who is, or has been, logging with horses so that you can get a close-up on processes, equipment, and job layout.

It will be important to have a good idea of production rates, costs, and markets. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to take it on like any other part of your business, and make plan with financial parameters and goals.

Take on jobs that are small, and easily conducted, with products that you know can be marketed easily. It will also be important to have some flexibility built in to allow for education.

I don’t mean to make this sound elementary, but from your post it is hard to tell how much previous experience you have.

If you give us more to go on we may have better advice.

Carl

[Carl Russell]

George, also make sure you get into a chainsaw safety class if you haven’t already.

Call the mills that you hope to sell to and visit them. Spend time with the log buyers at the mill, so you can see what they are looking for, and how they use it.

Just a few more thoughts, Carl

[TaylorJohnson]

George ,
Carl is right the chain saw safety if very important. I will send you some info on classes in our area. And once again watch who you take advice from . Some people will act like they are experts on every thing to do with logging and they will have never even logged off 10 acres in their life. When you do find an old-timer or some one that really knows their stuff ask them every question you can think of . If you commit 30 to 40 hours a week to the craft you will learn a lot and you will get something done. Logging and getting something done is a trick , you have to be very tired to learn if not you can bull your way though poor technique. It is like working a heavy bag any one can walk up and hit it hard eight or nine times but can they hit it hard for 30 minutes when your arms are not fresh and are weak your technique has to make up for your lack of strength. Then the next time you are fresh some of the technique will be with you and will make you better and faster . You learn , get better , get faster,…. when you put the hard work in and push your self when you feel like quitting . This is why you can see a twenty year old in the bush swinging a saw like a mad man and a fifty year old-looking like he is walking in the park and at the end of the week the fifty year old has doubled the young mans cords. When you are tired you become very aware of the steps you are taking and the moves you are wasting. Taylor Johnson

[Rick Alger]

Hi George,

Welcome to the forum. I like your website and the business plan behind it. We have done something similar here at our place in NH for a number of years – boarding, sleigh rides, a few lessons, and field work with our horses.

I have also logged with my horses for many years. I generally do commercial cuts, but it is getting much tougher to make ends meet.

Taylor and Carl have offered some good advice. All I’ll add is that if I were starting out today I would try to get a Forester’s license. The license gives you the opportunity to write and manage Stewardship Plans for private woodland owners. This gives you access to the long-term forestry work that is best suited for horses, and it should pay appropriately.

Best of luck.

Rick

[TaylorJohnson]

You have a lot going for you in that you have horse experience and you have other ways to supplement your income that complement horse logging. I would love to learn proper farrier skills, I know how to trim mules and horses to suit me and have helped shoe . Saying that I can say that I do not have any where nere the skills of the old boy that I help and that shoes my horses in the winter. I learn all I can from him and I think for the first few times we ment he may have thought I was a mute lol. I was just trying to be quite and listen to him and watch him.
One more thing a long time ago Tim Carrol who is a horse logger from MN told me some good advice he said “in horse logging fast is slow and slow is fast” this is true . There is nothing wrong with working hard and moving quick but if you get fast in your head it will soon get knocked right out of it LOL. Taylor Johnson

[lancek]

How true that is talor!

[mitchmaine]

Hey george, how does the woods business work in your neck of the woods? maybe you could talk to some of the locals, taylor included, and find out how the wood is bot sold and moved, find a trucker, and a wood buyer and a forester or two and get to know the business enough to find a place where you can fit in with your horses.
getting your wood to the landing, and what you do with the wood once its there can be two totally seperate problems. try not to confuse the two or make one problem out of both, and I think it might make the job easier. I like your website. You have a great spot there. Thanks for letting us visit. mitch

[gwpoky]

Thanks for all the great advise it does put things into perspective. I think what I might be looking for is more to hire my teams on with someone or just some small jobs. We farm and I shoe for a living, but it gets slower in the winter so I was wondering if small time logging would be a fit. Outside of feeding and plowing snow I think it would be good for are teams in the winter. I have dragged fire wood around home and find it enjoyable. If anyone is ever in the River Falls/Ellsworth, WI area give me a call I buy lunch in exchange for picking your brain, I am always looking for more ways to make this work:D
My number is 715-821-6775.

Thank you all very much,
George

P.S. Anyone going to the Neilsville auction on the 15th of Sept?

[TaylorJohnson]

George ,
I get down that way once in a while , I have logged a lot across the river from you . I might be going to that auction . Do you know Dave Mortensen? or Joe Johnson ? Some time this winter or when ever you will have to bring a team up and work them a bit. I will have one sometimes to apprentices this winter . I am hoping to head south after a while though . I actually have some jobs I have to look at in your neck of the woods . Taylor Johnson

[TaylorJohnson]

After I read my last post I had to laugh a bit ,, what a choppy sounding mess lol. That post was more like a text message . What is technology doing to us and the written and even the spoken word ? LOL Taylor Johnson

[gwpoky]

Taylor,

Drop me a line if you get down this way or need some help, I can’t guarantee anything, but allot of the time I can tweak my shoeing schedule. We are raking the first third of hay today hope to get it up this afternoon.

Thank you
George
715-821-6775

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