Starting a logging busniess with oxen

[shorthorn]

I am hoping to start a logging business in Maine. Does anyone have any tips and ideas on how I can do this. Also any tips on what I need, where to sell my logs to, and advertisement for my business.

[Carl Russell]

Welcome Michael, Great to find out about your interests. You will find great stuff here. Try “searching” for “Logging Business” in the search box at the top of the page, you will find quite a few threads with good discussion about your inquiry.

Of course, if you get specific questions, I’m sure you will get good replies. Also touch base with some of the other members from Maine, and with folks from MOFGA LIF to get excellent assistance.

Good luck, Carl

[shorthorn]

I did look up and I found some good ideas that I can change. Im wondering if you had any ideas on Adverisment on my business. I want to get people to understand what I’m trying to do for a living.

[dominiquer60]

I have been starting a business myself and I found that the process of writing a business plan to be very helpful. Even if I never complete it, it has forced me to think about many aspects, such as how I want the public to view my products, who my audience is and where I want to advertise.

When the sugar bush is all set for the season we would like to do some animal logging too, I have no idea who your potential customers are or where you might find them in your area, so I can only share with you about ours. Recently we worked with a local college to put on a logging with draft animals clinic for landowners, this was well attended and we handed out several cards to a captive audience. We also have a few local eateries and a food coop where people that may consider draft animal logging go to eat and look for services. We don’t have any plans to do this full time, so attracting a couple customers a year is all we are looking for.

With over 6,000 members you could contact MOFGA and put an ad or classified in their quarterly newsletter, you may find some interest there.

Best of luck,

[Baystatetom]

When I started in forestry I had to eat sleep and breath timber. Everybody I met the first thought in my head was do they own timber, if not do they have a good in with somebody who does?. Thankfully 15 years later people just call me and I often turn down the work because I have too much to do. You just have to stay out there stick with it and build a network of clients, friends and connected people overtime. Erika also gave you great advice about the business plan. I got a grant from the state of Mass. to write a business plan for my weekend sawmill business. They put me in touch with a professional business guy who asked questions that I did not no the answer to. I think the experience of writing that plan with his help was highly educational. I would try and seek out assistance in coming up with a business plan and a pro to help you do it. The state div. of food and ag, farm bureau, and NRCS are all good places to start looking. The business plan is the foundation you need to start with. You should also get a couple jobs lined up and do it as a side line for a while so you can start your way around the learning curve without your livelihood on the line. The game of logging is a great program.
~Tom

[dominiquer60]

Working to develop a business plan with a pro is good, but you can do it on the cheap too. I have 11 years experience in others market gardens, but now that I am starting my own, I decided to try to document what I want out of my business, have a marketing plan and so on. I have been using an earlier edition of this book and worksheets. http://www.sare.org/Learning-Center/Books/Building-a-Sustainable-Business. It is very farm oriented but even so there are a lot of good ideas and challenging questions that really force me to think about all aspects of my business. There are real life examples and it is laid out in a way that I can often relate to, as opposed to other self help business plan books that never consider Ag a profession. Anyway it is a good place to start and you may be able to order it from your local library if you just want to look at it.

[Eli]

One thing I learned is get all agreements on paper no exceptions. And always have an exit plan. When I started dairy farming 25 years ago if you told me I would sell my cows in 20 years I would have said no way. But things change I didn’t like the direction my farm needed to go to be viable for 20 more years so I sold my cows and rented out the land. Work hard to develop an accurate viable plan that covers all the variables and stick with it. Failing to plan is planing to fail. Eli

[Carl Russell]

You have some great suggestions here. The business plan is a good way to refine your purposes. I also wrote one as I got underway. One thing I found, though, is that this scale logging is hard to capture in balance sheets and P/L statements, especially because of the independence and personal value that draft animals bring to our lives.

For me it has always come down to working for people who understand what I am doing. That does not mean that I need to advertise to the public. I have tried a few such campaigns, and found very little interest. Like Tom says, network. Find locals who appreciate your work, and spread out from there.

One of the most important ways to assure that others know what you offer, is for you to KNOW what you offer. That is more of the narrative part of the business plan, but that has not changed for me in over 25 years.

As Tom also says, education like GOL chainsaw safety are great tools to develop a professional approach. In VT there is a LEAP(Logger Education to Advance Professionalism) program offering logging and forestry business management and forestry skills. MOFGA LIF has great programs to support draft animal logging and forestry. Working with other loggers to learn their markets and product processing practices, will be beneficial.

Most of all, at least for me, is to get a grip on the service you intend to provide. Are you going to be a low-cost harvester, looking for opportunities to under-cut competition? Are you going to be looking to work as a contract logger dispatched to work by a consultant forester? Or are you going to work directly with landowners to provide specific improvement practices?

Whichever way you go, you need to gain understanding of that work so that you can apply it just as you claim you will be able to, and so that you can describe it clearly when talking to potential clients. No matter, you will always get folks contacting you just because you log with cattle. While on the surface that may seem like free advertising, it can also be dangerous, because they actually have many other preconceptions about what that means. Having a clear picture of what you are going to do in the woods is a key, as far as I am concerned.

Then break down the finances so that you are clear about what you need to make at the end of the day, and then take the work that supports that. And do the kind of work that speaks for itself……

Carl

[Eli]

Also have a mission statement. It is imperative when you are selling your value added services and not just one of the heard.

[shorthorn]

Thanks guys for all the tips. I am starting to write a plan and a mission statement today.

[Author]

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