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MONTH 2016 ● Southern Loggin’ Times

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Vol. 46, No. 6

(Founded in 1972—Our 537th Consecutive Issue)

F E AT U R E S

June 2017 A Hatton-Brown Publication

Phone: 334-834-1170 Fax: 334-834-4525

www.southernloggintimes.com

Flora Brothers In Top Form

Pulpwood Producers Winston Family Story

Co-Publisher Co-Publisher Chief Operating Officer Executive Editor Editor-in-Chief Western Editor Managing Editor Associate Editor Associate Editor Art Director Ad Production Coordinator Circulation Director Marketing/Media

David H. Ramsey David (DK) Knight Dianne C. Sullivan David (DK) Knight Rich Donnell Dan Shell David Abbott Jessica Johnson Jay Donnell Cindy Segrest Patti Campbell Rhonda Thomas Jordan Anderson

ADVERTISING CONTACTS DISPLAY SALES Eastern U.S. Kathy Sternenberg Tel: 251-928-4962 • Fax: 334-834-4525 219 Royal Lane Fairhope, AL 36532 E-mail: ksternenberg@bellsouth.net Midwest USA, Eastern Canada John Simmons Tel: 905-666-0258 • Fax: 905-666-0778 32 Foster Cres. Whitby, Ontario, Canada L1R 1W1 E-mail: jsimmons@idirect.com

Tidewater 70th Anniversary Event

out front:

Jerry Sapp (right, with his wife Sharon in the center and son Jeremy on the left) and his team at Sapp’s Land & Excavating have evolved their company to meet Enviva’s demand for microchips in northwest Florida/southeast Alabama. Story begins on Page 8. (Jessica Johnson photo)

Callier Logging Twin Rivers Teamup

D E PA RT M E N T S Southern Stumpin’.............................. 6 Bulletin Board....................................30 Warrior Tractor Anniversary........... 44 Industry News Roundup...................46 Machines-Supplies-Technology....... 52 ForesTree Equipment Trader.......... 55 Coming Events/Ad Index ................. 62

Western Canada, Western USA Tim Shaddick Tel: 604-910-1826 • Fax: 604-264-1367 4056 West 10th Ave. Vancouver, BC V6L 1Z1 E-mail: tootall1@shaw.ca Kevin Cook Tel: 604-619-1777 E-mail: lordkevincook@gmail.com International Murray Brett Tel: +34 96 640 4165 Fax: +34 96 640 4331 Aldea de las Cuevas 66 Buzon 60 • 03759 Benidoleig (Alicante), Spain E-mail: murray.brett@abasol.net CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING

Bridget DeVane

Tel: 1-800-669-5613 • Tel 334-699-7837 Email: bdevane7@hotmail.com

Southern Loggin’ Times (ISSN 0744-2106) is published monthly by Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc., 225 Hanrick St., Montgomery, AL 36104. Subscription Information—SLT is sent free to logging, pulpwood and chipping contractors and their supervisors; managers and supervisors of corporate-owned harvesting operations; wood suppliers; timber buyers; wood procurement and land management officials; industrial forestry purchasing agents; wholesale and retail forest equipment representatives and forest/logging association personnel in the U.S. South. See form elsewhere in this issue. All non-qualified U.S. subscriptions are $65 annually; $75 in Canada; $120 (Airmail) in all other countries (U.S. funds). Single copies, $5 each; special issues, $20 (U.S. funds). Subscription Inquiries— TOLL-FREE 800-669-5613; Fax 888-611-4525. Go to www.southernloggintimes.com and click on the subscribe button to subscribe/renew via the web. All advertisements for Southern Loggin’ Times magazine are accepted and published by Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. with the understanding that the advertiser and/or advertising agency are authorized to publish the entire contents and subject matter thereof. The advertiser and/or advertising agency will defend, indemnify and hold Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. harmless from and against any loss, expenses, or other liability resulting from any claims or lawsuits for libel violations or right of privacy or publicity, plagiarism, copyright or trademark infringement and any other claims or lawsuits that may arise out of publication of such advertisement. Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. neither endorses nor makes any representation or guarantee as to the quality of goods and services advertised in Southern Loggin’ Times. Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. reserves the right to reject any advertisement which it deems inappropriate. Copyright ® 2017. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Periodicals postage paid at Montgomery, Ala. and at additional mailing offices. Printed In USA.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Southern Loggin’ Times, P.O. Box 2419, Montgomery, AL 36102-2419 Member Verified Audit Circulation

Other Hatton-Brown publications: ★ Timber Processing ★ Timber Harvesting ★Panel World ★ Power Equipment Trade ★ Wood Bioenergy

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SOUTHERN STUMPIN’ By David Abbott • Managing Editor • Ph. 334-834-1170 • Fax: 334-834-4525 • E-mail: david@hattonbrown.com

The Next Generation e’ve told you in recent months about the American Loggers Council’s Future Logging Careers Act (see Danny Dructor’s update on page 47 this issue). The goal of the bill is to protect and promote the continuance of our industry, which by definition requires passing it on to the next generation. The next generation, right now, is the much-maligned “millennial” generation. You know, the generation all the older generations currently hate. Now ranging in age from about 13-35 years old, the reality is that, while we still tend to think of them as kids, millennials now make up 40% of the American workforce. Within about 10 years, it will be roughly 80%, as they continue coming of age and previous generations retire. Like it or not, it is inescapable that millennials are the future, so business owners and managers have no choice but to adapt.

Who’s A Millennial? There is no real official definition of when a given generation begins or ends. According to the Census Bureau, only the baby boomers get an official designation: those born from 1946-1964. Generation X would be the children of the baby boomers, and millennials are the next generation. To me, that’s too broad an age gap. A person born in 1980 doesn’t really have much in common with someone born in the year 2000 in terms of shared cultural experiences. Researchers Neil Howe and William Strauss identified the millennial generation as those born between 1982 and 2004. If that’s so then my little sister and her older son are part of the same generation—which, if you think about it, is inherently stupid. I would think, for practical purposes, any useful definition of the word “generation” must be constructed in such a way that parents and their children cannot be members of the same generation. Literally, biologically, they are two distinct generations. 6

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I myself argue for a more fluid definition of what constitutes a generation. To say that someone born in 1982 is the same generation as someone born in 2004, but that someone born in 2004 is NOT the same generation as someone born in 2005, is obviously silly. To me, you are part of the same generation with people up to about five years older and five years younger than you. My girlfriend is younger than me; born in 1985, she’s clearly a millennial based on age. But in terms of her cultural attitudes and worldview, she arguably has more in common with Generation X than I do. She grew up in a very small, semi-rural town and most of her life experience has been in the same county where nearly all of her friends and family have lived all their lives as well. By contrast, my best friend, who is several years older, is, culturally, much more of a millennial. His lifestyle and worldview are more in line with millennials than many people much younger than him. I think the reason why is that he’s lived most of his life, and basically all of his adult life, in larger, more urban areas. My observation is that millennial traits skew older in urban populations but may only be widely prevalent in the younger end of the spectrum among rural populations. In other words, a guy who’s 35 in Boston, Mass. is probably more like a millennial than a guy who’s 35 in Pea Ridge, Ala. But, even in Pea Ridge, the 15-20 year olds are still going to display a lot of the millennial traits (greater fluency with digital technology and social media, for instance).

What Millennials Want Of course one of the biggest challenges for sustaining our industry isn’t just making it legal for the next generation to work in the woods; we have to actually give them a reason to want to work in the woods. How do we attract millennials to our industry? In thinking about this, I was reminded of the presentation given by Timber Harvesting columnist Wendy Farrand at the American Loggers

Council’s annual meeting in Florida last September, in which she discussed some of these very issues. She spoke about what employers in our industry need to consider in seeking, hiring, training and retaining members of the younger generation. I called Wendy and asked her thoughts on millennials. “In all the things I did to prepare for that presentation, the one thing I felt that really pertained to our industry was the fact that they really want to work somewhere where they feel they can make an impact on the world,” Farrand says. “That is what is important for our industry to understand. We need to communicate that story regarding mitigating climate change and carbon sequestration with young forests. The world doesn’t really understand that a working forest is actually helping the environment, in more ways than one.” Millennials grew up with a greater awareness of and concern for the environment than previous generations, Farrand believes. Under the influence of the wrong narrative about logging, young people may see us as the bad guys. We have our own version of that story, a narrative grounded on facts. As we see it, proper forest management is good for the environment…essential, even. Seeing it that way, younger generations can take a sense of pride working in the woods. Wendy pointed me towards any article by Mark C. Crowley: “Millennials Don’t Want Fun; They Want You To Lead Better.” If you’re interested in understanding the millennial work force, I suggest you look it up on Google. It’s an interesting and, I think, an encouraging read. Crowley cites a Gallup study that seems to indicate that, while a sizable percentage of millennials are indeed less loyal to employers than previous generations might have been, it might not be for the reasons some of us older people have assumed. In other words, don’t be so quick to write them all off as needy, entitled snowflakes. The facts seem to show there’s something more to them. “What’s evident is that this is no

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slacker class,” Crowley says. “What they are is demanding. They know very clearly what they want in exchange for their work, and have proved very willing to keep looking until they find it.” In itself, that’s not necessarily a bad or unreasonable thing. Although many view millennials through a negative lens, Farrand sees it differently. “I think they have tons to offer our industry as far as energy, enthusiasm, ideas and a fresh perspective,” she says. “I think it is just a different way of looking at things. They are showing us that we have to look at things differently because the world is different.” The point is, I think instead of just criticizing millennials, we have to embrace. Resistance is futile. Those who oppose change tend to end up on the wrong side of history. You never win the fight because the natural progression of the world is change; it is the only constant. And the truth is, this is nothing new. Every generation is different than the ones before it. Every decade’s young people seems hopelessly lost and irresponsible to their predecessors—the old generation that used to be the young generation, who bewildered and vexed the generations before them much the same. Doesn’t every generation complain about the spoiled, lazy kids today while waxing nostalgic for the good old days? To my dad, the 1950s and ’60s were the best time, to me it was the ’80s and ’90s. At some point, don’t we all morph into the crusty old farts railing in dismay against a world we no longer understand, a world that had the audacity to move on and leave us behind? Inevitably, it seems, every generation thinks the next generation is a bunch of idiots who are going to screw everything up—just like previous generations thought about them. You don’t like the way they dress or wear their hair or the music they listen to or the way they talk… just like your parents or grandparents didn’t like yours. So, I think maybe we should just give these millennials a chance; they might SLT just surprise us.

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Good Mix ■ Sapp’s Land & Excavating turns out high production in the front yard of Enviva Biomass in Florida.

By Jessica Johnson ★

COTTONDALE, Fla. ometimes all it takes is the right person to be in the right place to find success, and that is exactly what happened for Jerry Sapp, 62. A fourth generation logger, Sapp has a solid work ethic and good understanding of not only the logging woods of north Florida and southeast Alabama, but also how to give his business the room it needs to grow. So when Mickey Knapp— with what was then Green Circle BioEnergy, now known as Enviva Cottondale—asked the logger and land clearer if he would be interested in running a chipper, Sapp was able to jump at the opportunity to grow and diversify his operations. From that one phone call with Knapp, Sapp’s entire company

would change over the course of about one calendar year. He’d go from four logging crews and some land clearing and excavating jobs to three full-time microchipping crews, one logging crew and 18 fulltime trucks. “It wasn’t without prayer,” Sapp’s son Jeremy, 37, explains of the expansion, though being in the right place at the right time opened doors for the family that have led them to where they are. With the rapid expansion came a need to move out of a pole barn shop in the back of Sapp’s house in the country to a plot of 10.5 acres with a three-bay shop, enough room to park all 21 trucks and house parts needed to keep four crews running. In a demonstration of gratitude to industrial pellet maker Enviva for the

opportunity to be a mainline supplier, and also to show that Sapp was in for the long haul, Sapp’s Land & Excavating (as well as trucking entity Jerry Sapp Timber Co.) placed its headquarters on Green Circle Parkway—essentially Enviva Cottondale’s front entrance. “We’re set up in their front yard, to let them know we’re here and we’re serious,” Jeremy explains. “Once we started chipping it was just boom, boom, boom.”

Humble Beginnings One of the biggest advantages his company has, Sapp says, is the benefit his services provide to landowners. By having both a chipping operation and a logging crew, landowners can get every possible dollar out of even the messiest of timber stands. Mostly, Sapp’s business comes

Ninety-eight percent of Sapp’s Land & Excavating production is microchipped for Enviva in Cottondale, Fla.

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from word of mouth. Landowners often call after seeing his crews handle post-harvest chipping and want their land chipped before site prep begins. Additionally, Sapp leans on contacts with other timber brokerage firms that will have land chipped before reforestation. “When they finish logging they call us to chip the cleanup, so it can be cleaner for site prep. It gives landowners a little bit of money and saves them money on site prep cost—plus it’s a better looking job,” he explains. Other times, a timber broker might find that a given tract is not profitable enough for traditional roundwood logging—but Sapp can handle it. “We are looking for tracts that others can’t cut. We will harvest out the merchantable trees and the things with value, but then there’s still a lot of value left for chipping,” he says.

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The ability to move his roundwood crew to compliment the three chipping operations means it’s not often he’s hurting for work, even when battling against quotas. A common run for Sapp is 200 loads of chips per week to Enviva, where 98% of his production goes, with between 20 and 30 loads of logs. “We don’t push the logging operation like we do the chipping operation. The reason we have the logging operation is because some tracts will have product in them, and do both at the same time,” Sapp explains the large gap in production. It also takes time for Sapp to train buncher operators to handle the typically smaller stems. “A bigger challenge is getting operators to realize that the smaller stems are where we get our most production. The process in how we treat stands also varies and needs to be taught to operators, we handle natural stands different than planted,” he explains, though adds his operators are very good and willing to learn how to make themselves the most efficient possible. Sapp says the thing about chipping that keeps him the most on his toes is the mix of products Enviva needs to keep its pellets consistent. He gets separate quotas for pine and hardwood and has to make sure the mix needed at the mill is what is provided. Mary Finch, who assists the Sapp family in the office makes use of Fleetmatics and Caribou Software’s Logger’s Edge to keep track of percentages. Jeremy says checking the Fleetmatics app helps him a lot with knowing how the runs are doing. When asked if he’d ever convert his roundwood crew to chipping, Sapp is quick to say no. The logging operation is a vital support to the

Sapp says Tigercat is the best equipment he’s worked with over the years.

The crews work tracts that are often post-harvest, offering added value to landowners.

other, he explains. “It’s all about the cost effectiveness,” Jeremy says, echoing his father.

Machinery During the beginning of the company’s boom, Sapp tried his hand at

operating a fuel chipper for Enviva, and just two microchippers for feedstock. “We did it for six months. We were producing so much fuel for them, they asked us to park it for a while until we got caught back up,” he recalls. After two months Enviva ap-

proached Sapp about making the switch from fuel chipping to a third microchipper. He remembers being skeptical, noting the profit margin difference between fuel chips and microchips. In the end, Sapp was able to work out a contract he was comfortable with and transition

SLT SNAPSHOT Sapp’s Land & Excavating Cottandale, Fla. Email: jeremy_sapp@hotmail.com Founded: Jerry Sapp Timber Co., February, 1978 Sapp’s Land & Excavating, June, 2003 Owner: Jerry Sapp No. Crews: 4 Employees: over 40 Equipment: Five cutters, five skidders, six loaders, three microchippers Trucks/Trailers: 21 trucks, six log trailers; 19 chip vans Production: 230 loads per week Average Haul Distance: 50 miles Tidbit: The Sapp family was featured in Southern Loggin' Times in the mid-1980s working a tract of timber less than three miles from where Sapp's crew was working when SLT visited in May, 2017 for this story.

Sapp likes the microchip quality of Morbark.

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Sapp’s Land & Excavating employs over 40 people across four crews, 18 trucks and the service shop.

from a Morbark fuel chipper to a Morbark 50/48 microchipper, without losing any loads. “We were putting 13-18 loads per day of fuel. We replaced the fuel chipper with a bigger microchipper and put it in at 18 loads per day. I’ve had them chip 30 loads per day. It’s productive,” he says with a smile. Sapp’s Land & Excavating runs three Morbark chippers and all Tigercat equipment with the exception of two Barko loaders. “We’ve found Tigercat equipment to be the best on the market. We’ve tried others and we just had problems with it and it wasn’t the same quality as Tigercat for us. There is something

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they are doing in that equipment, either it’s better steel or bigger pins, or better pressure point positioning, it doesn’t have the wear factor we’ve seen with other equipment,” Sapp says. The Barkos (outfitted with Rotobec grapples) were a test for Sapp, one bought used with only 4,000 hours on it, and one bought brand new just feeding a chipper. Neither has a CSI or CTR cutting package on it like the two Tigercats Sapp’s other crews are running, but all have hydraulic landing gears—a sticking point for Sapp. “They work better than the fold down option,” he explains, finding moves to be faster and

set-ups quicker with this type. Chippers use hydraulic levelers as well. All three Morbark chippers have Caterpillar C27 engines with PT Tech clutches, another sticking point for Sapp. He says this set-up works better for them compared to other options. Sapp says he’s always liked Firestone tires, and has run Primex as well. Right now the crews are running 35.5 tires. Nokian is the next brand Sapp has slated to try in the larger size. When the crews converted from roundwood to chipping in such short succession, the budget wasn’t available to buy all new equipment. Jere-

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my says the focus was on the chippers. Now that the company is in a comfortable position with the size of the crew and production, Jeremy would like to move to a scheduled rotation pattern. “We went from a staff of seven to three crews within a short amount of time. We had to have machines as well as more people. Our model isn’t growing in number anymore but getting in a trade cycle that is more efficient compared to running older equipment,” Jeremy explains. For Morbark and Tigercat support, Sapp leans on Tidewater Equipment in Thomasville, Ga., though mostly the crews elect to

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Sapp’s Land & Excavating Equipment Lineup Bunchers 2016 Tigercat 720 G; Tigercat 5600 head (2) 2015 Tigercat 720 G; Tigercat 5600 head 2010 Tigercat 720 E; Tigercat 5500 head 2007 Tigercat 720 E; Tigercat 5500 head 2006 Tigercat 720 E; Tigercat 5500 head

Dozer 2006 Komatsu D39PX-21A

Skidders (2) 2017 Tigercat 630 E 2014 Tigercat 630 E 2008 Tigercat 620 D 2007 Tigercat 620 D

Chip Vans: 19

Loaders 2015 Barko 595 2016 Barko 495 2009 Tigercat 230 C 2006 Tigercat 244 2003 Tigercat 240 B 2002 Tigercat 240 B Chippers 2016 Morbark 50/48 2015 Morbark 50/48 2013 Morbark 40/36

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Excavator 2006 Komatsu PC160LC Mulching ASV 2016 Takehuchi ML12 Mini Excavator Komatsu PCM-88

Log Trailers: 6 Haul Trucks 2 Tri Axle Peterbilts 11 Peterbilts 7 Kenworth 1 Western Star Service Trucks 1 Peterbilt 1 Freightliner Crew Trucks 4 Dodge Rams

handle their own maintenance at the sizable shop grounds.

Maintenance As part of the move from the pole barn setup on family land to the 10.5 acres in front of Enviva, Sapp was able to put in a three bay, 60 x 96 ft. shop with knife sharpening room and parts storehouse. In addition, bulk tanks of DEF, off-road and on-road diesel, hydraulic oil and bar and chain oils are kept at the shop. Sapp believes this one-stop shop keeps the crews productive; no longer does it take a half a day to get something done. For the most part, if the crew might need it, it is at the shop— including a vending machine for OSHA-required safety gear. Not only does having everything at the shop keep crews productive, Sapp says it saves a significant amount of money. For example, the operation uses 7,000 gallons of fuel a week. Sapp’s wife, Sharon, and daughter, who both assist Finch in the office, shop around for the best price. After a while it became clear the best way would be to have a 10,000 gal. fuel tank installed and buy in bulk weekly. “That $50,000 investment paid for itself in savings over six months and saves $2,000 a week,” Sapp says.

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Buying in bulk, and shopping for the best prices, means Sapp has no real brand loyalty, but it does add up to big savings. He translates that bulk mentality to parts as well. “We basically have our own parts store,” Sapp explains. Sapp’s Land & Excavating keeps a variety of parts in stock: starters, drive belts for chippers, sprockets, filters, belts, anything needed just about, he explains. “Of course there is always something we miss, but anything we need is in this building. Ordering in bulk saves us time as well; we get deliveries of parts two or three times per week, instead of sourcing one part at a time as needed,” he adds. The investment was sizable— about $100,000—but the time savings, with the nearest Tigercat dealer 120 miles away, Sapp says it made it worthwhile. Having Sapp’s own parts store also helps mechanics work quickly. Ninety-five percent of all maintenance, preventative and restorative, is done at the shop. “It’s a necessity and it saves money. By the time the dealer drives over and works on anything it’s about $1,400 a day for them to come, just the labor and truck, not counting parts,” Sapp says. So unless it has to do with a DEF system or the elec-

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tronics of the harvesting equipment that require the Tigercat computer system, they work on it themselves. As an added benefit, Jeremy is Morbark technician level 1 and level 2 certified. “I am able to do little things that can be knocked out during the day like figuring out a loose wire or why chipper might hiccup because of the training that would have otherwise meant a dealer service call,” Jeremy explains. After recognizing how often the mechanics were needing a computer system to check sensor failures,

especially on the trucks, Jeremy began doing some online research and found a computer system that is similar to those at dealerships. It cannot read the Tigercat sensors, but it does help significantly with trucks. Again, it was a hefty investment of $10,000, but Sapp estimates it has already paid for itself in saving dealer service calls. Normally, chippers are serviced in the shop at the 500-hour mark. The other harvesting equipment is serviced in the woods but mechanics will carry oil and tools from the

shop to assist operators. Chipper knives are sharpened by J.R. in a dedicated outbuilding using an automatic knife sharpener. The two larger 50/48 chippers run 20 knives apiece and the smaller 40/36 chipper runs 16, so J.R. keeps busy sharpening between four and five knife sets per day.

Trucking In addition to handling all truck, trailer and harvesting equipment maintenance, Sapp also has begun to

tackle building his own glider kit trucks on-site, putting Cat engines in his preferred brand of Peterbilt trucks. “We didn’t want to guinea pig any of the new trucks, I wouldn’t buy anything between 2007-2013,” Sapp explains. So when the crew finally had the need to buy a new truck in 2014, he thought the issues with the engines had been resolved. Unfortunately that was not his experience; one ran for six months before a broken wire knocked it out of service for three days. That’s when he and Jeremy turned to glider kits. “It’s just a truck with an engine that pulls like a train,” Jeremy says. Sapp prefers the glider kits because it’s nothing but a bucket of new parts with the Cat engines he likes. He is cautious about the new trucks. “If they are a problem new what’s it going to be like when they are five years old?” Currently a little less than half the Sapp fleet is glider kits, and before the 2018 mandate, which will ruin the glider kit market, Sapp would like to add at least two more. Aside from the problems with the actual truck engines themselves, Sapp says trucking isn’t too big of a headache for him. He and Jeremy handle all the dispatching with the trucks rolling in the mornings between 4:00 and 5:30. Trucks are generally dispatched to the same woods crew each day and just simply run back and forth right past the shop to Enviva. The company has suffered one serious trucking accident (in 2016), but it was settled before the courts intervened and no life was lost. “Both teenagers survived, but it lingered for a while. Some of those things are unavoidable. You never know what can happen,” Sapp explains.

Trailers For log trailers, Sapp believes Pitts cannot be beat. However, for chip vans, it has taken a while before he has found a product he likes that he believes works well, trying Dorsey before settling with Peerless. In the beginning, the crew made use of Dorsey open top trailers and walking floor trailers, but as production increased Enviva requested Sapp use more walking floor trailers to help with unloading at the mill. “We bought three open top Dorsey trailers that kept giving us trouble,” Sapp says. Unfortunately, the Dorsey he ordered didn’t hit that mark at first. “We wanted a chip trailer built like a log trailer with the fold down landing gear. It comes with a heavier system under it so you can set out a load and then you have ➤ 54 14

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One-Two Punch ■ Foresight for opportunity has made the business-savvy Flora brothers a force to be reckoned with. By David Abbott MABEN, Miss. rothers Jason and ★ Jeremy Flora have understandably always been close; they were born only 11 months apart. Working together in their dad’s company since childhood, Jason, 40, and Jeremy, 39, started their own company, Flora Logging, LLC, just before the 21st Century dawned. Along with their other brother Justin, their path to a career in logging began early, working part-time for their dad, Henry Flora, who started logging in 1981. They started going to the woods with him when they were only 5 and 6 years old carrying oil and gas cans. Later, as teenagers, they learned to top trees, progressing as they got older to felling and driving cable skidders. “He didn’t believe in hiring labor when he had three boys to work,” Jeremy says of their father. “We got out of school in the evenings and went to work.” Jason recalls, “We would cut down and get two or three loads dragged up, and (dad) would haul it the next day

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while we were in school.” When Jason graduated high school in 1996, with Jeremy following in ’97, it wasn’t long before they went full time, both with their dad and eventually on their own. Jason did some contract driving for a year, while Jeremy worked with Henry cutting big timber in the Natchez Trace Parkway for long while. In 1999 Henry gave Jason

and Jeremy a 1986 Prentice 180 and ’87 Clark 665 grapple skidder so they could start their own company, and they began trying to establish a name for themselves.

Growth In 2002, a 53-mile-wide windstorm hit the Natchez Trace, causing significant damage that had to be

Brothers Jeremy, left, and Jason Flora, right

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cleaned up. “People from all over came and bid on that job,” Jeremy recalls. Because of his earlier experience there with his dad, this presented an opportunity for the brothers to prove themselves. “I had been working on it and I knew what it took to clean it up, because we had already been running chippers there. That bid came open and I got the bid.” Jeremy admits that the decision

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The Floras started running all Tigercat machines in 2011.

From left: Jason Flora, Reginald O’Briant, Eddie Perkins, Jeremy Flora, Lance Crowley, Stevie Forbes, Alvis McKay

SLT SNAPSHOT Flora Logging, LLC Maben, Miss. Email: jeremyflora@att.net Founded: 1999

to award the job to him and Jason was not without controversy. “They were hesitant to give it to me because I was a 22-year-old kid and I didn’t have much financial backing then, and this was one of the largest disasters ever had on Natchez Trace. They told us some people doubted we could see it through. They gave us six months to find out. We got it done in a little

over five months, with three crews logging and two crews chipping.” That job was when things started to turn around, making the boys enough money to allow them to upgrade to better equipment, Jason says. Another big milestone, he adds, was the development of Flora Logging’s relationship with PCA (Packing Corporation of America) in Counce, Tenn. It was a risky move that turned out to be a real boon for the young loggers. At that time the company was running only older trucks and hauling primarily to Georgia-Pacific in Grenada. After becoming frustrated by a dispute with G-P over loads being rejected—Jeremy says the paper mill had become too picky—he called Tony Bacon, a procurement manager for the Counce mill who had a longstanding relationship with Henry Flora. The boys accepted Bacon’s offer to haul pine pulpwood there. Incidentally, this was also what prompted them to start buying newer equipment; at the time they had only bought used iron. The trucks they had then couldn’t stand up to the long haul (165 miles one way from some tracts), so they bought their first new pieces, two ’07 Western Stars. The Floras were then one of only two loggers in their area hauling to Counce, and most of their peers were skeptical. “People said we’d go broke hauling it that far,” Jeremy recalls. But, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so when the nay-sayers started seeing that it was working, others wanted in, even more so after G-P shut down the Grenada operation. “These folks had nowhere to go with pine pulpwood, so everybody branched out,” Jeremy says. By the time International Paper shut down its Courtland, Ala. mill a few years ago, Jeremy says there were 22 loggers from his area hauling to Counce. With the Courtland closure bringing a great influx of new wood supply, Counce had no choice but to cut 17

Owner: Jeremy and Jason Flora No. Crews: 2 Employees: 11 (6 woods, 5 truck drivers) Equipment: 2 loaders, 3 skidders, 2 cutters, 2 dozers, road grader Trucks/Trailers: 6 trucks, 5 trailers Production: 80-100 total Average Haul Distance: 150 miles (300-mile round trip) Hobbies: fishing and hunting Other Businesses: Flora Farm (35 head cattle) Tidbit: They were Mississippi’s Outstanding Logger of the Year in 2016.

Left to right: Jason Flora, Cecil Burton, Brent Crowley, Matthew Carden

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of its loggers from the Maben area. Bacon kept only the first five, the ones who had been loyal to him from the start—including the Floras. “That man has been so good to us,” Jeremy says.

Operations After running John Deere and some Caterpillar machines, they tried their first Tigercat, a used ’05 model cutter, in 2008. Pleased with the machine as much as with the service from the dealer, the brothers converted the entire operation to Tigercat in 2011. The company now runs two crews, each one supervised by one of the brothers, and each mirroring the other in terms of equipment: all Tigercat, 234 loaders, 724G cutters and 620E skidders, with a John Deere dozer, just different year models. Several new machines have made their way into the Flora lineup in the last few years. The brothers added three new units in 2016, two in 2015 and one in 2014. That last machine, a ’14 Tigercat 234 loader—now the oldest primary machine on the crews—was bought, and demoed, at the 2014 Mid South Forestry Equipment Show in Starkville, where the brothers were fea-

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Both crews run 724G feller-bunchers, 2015 and '16 models.

tured in a Southern Loggin’ Times video that was posted online. At the 2016 version of the show, members of the Flora crews returned to Mid South to operate all the Tigercat equipment exhibited there. Today, Jason’s crew uses the same Tigercat 234 loader from the 2014 Mid South show, alongside a 620E skidder and 724G feller-buncher, both ’16 models, and a ’03 John

Deere 750C dozer. Jeremy’s crew uses a ’16 Tigercat 234 loader, 724G cutter and 620E skidder, both ’15 models, with a ’06 Deere 700J dozer. A 1987 John Deere 570S road grader floats between the crews and a ’12 Tigercat 620D skidder is kept as a spare used on either job as needed. They use 57 in. Tigercat grapples on the loaders and 18 sq. ft. grapples on the skidders, which they say

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is good for bunching pulpwood. They prefer Quadco carbide saw teeth on Tigercat 5500 felling saw heads with 22 in. blade diameter. The head requires 18 teeth that can last from three to six months before change out, depending on if they hit anything besides wood. The boys say they have had the best luck in the woods with Primex tires. They have a set of 44s on the

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The team operated equipment on display at the 2014 and 2016 Mid South shows in Starkville for B&G Equipment.

newer skidder. Wingfoot Commercial Tire Systems in Tupelo is their supplier. Their trucks typically roll on Goodyear rubber, but they admit when it comes to truck tires they just shop for the best price. Flora Logging now runs five Peterbilt 389 glider kit trucks, all from 2014-2016, with one 2003 Peterbilt 379 as a spare. They pull Magnolia trailers, 2014-2016 models. The trucks are all kept quite clean and each one stands out with a different color paint job: green, yellow, orange, red, black and white. Jason says, “We take the most pride in our trucks, because nobody sees our logging stuff but everybody sees our trucks on the road.” The boys have recently added to their fleet with purchases from used truck dealer I-20 Truck Sales in Leeds, Ala., not far from Talladega along Interstate 20. The salesman, evidently, had heard of the Floras by reputation from his other customers. “He said, ‘They all say they want a truck like those Flora boys have got,’” Jeremy relates. “‘Y’all make it easy to sell a truck,’ he said. And he gets people to call me to compare the Detroit to the Caterpillar engine. The Detroit is getting seven miles to the gallon in fuel versus five for a Cat. Two miles a gallon in a big truck is a big profit at the end of the week.” Other primary dealers include B&G in Philadelphia for Tigercat (salesmen Johnny Burton and Justin Webb), Peterbilt Truck Center in Pearl, Miss. and Fitzgerald Peterbilt of Birmingham in Birmingham, Ala. The brothers estimate their investment at this point to be between $2.5-3 million. While they acknowledge that modern equipment is engineered such that it will generally keep performing longer than was perhaps the case in the past, they have become 20

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firm believers in keeping relatively new machines in the woods. “We try to trade in before 8,000 hours to retain some value,” Jeremy says. He cites an example as to why they developed this policy. They had a skidder a few years ago that they had planned to trade in soon but held on to just a little bit longer. At 7,100 hours, both the front and rear axles failed, at a replacement cost of $21,000 each. Yes, each. “I knew we needed to go ahead and trade it in,” Jeremy says. But, Jason points out, B&G helped on the repair cost. “That’s why I like Tigercat,” he says. “They are so good to us.”

R&M Annual expenditures for maintenance, repairs and spare/replacement parts have declined dramatically for the Floras since they stared buying newer equipment. “It has been a lot of years since we have had any major breakdowns,” Jeremy says. “It’s now maybe $10,000 a year, wheras before it was maybe

$150,000 a year.” He continues, “Back then we ran nine older trucks and we had $78000 a month repair bills. One time we had $50,000 in truck repairs with two engines going out at once. We sold three trucks, and the six trucks we have now will haul as much as the nine would because of fewer breakdowns.” The crews handle routine maintenance, changing oil and fuel and air filters every 250 hours on machines, with a full service, including changing hydraulic filters, at 500-hour intervals. They service trucks completely every 15,000 miles at the company shop in Maben, where the Floras also have fuel tanks for trucks and the crews. Crew trucks, ’12 and ’13 model Ford flatbeds, carry extra hydraulic lines, oil and air compressors to the job sites. The company also has a ’96 Freightliner crane truck with a welding machine, formerly a Stribling Equipment service truck, parked at the shop ready to send to the woods or to a truck broken down on the road.

The brothers take pride in putting six clean trucks on the road.

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After every second or third tract is completed, before moving on to the next, the crews bring each machine into the shop one at a time for a thorough pressure washing, cleaning out belly pans and such. Among other benefits, this serves to decrease fire hazards. “We’ve been in business since 1999 and have never had a piece of equipment catch fire,” Jason points out.

Business In current conditions the Floras say they have no interest in expanding operations. “The markets aren’t here anymore,” Jason says. He blames the situation, at least in part, on simple math: too many loggers with too many crews. His brother agrees. “A lot of people are being put in business who have no business being in business,” Jeremy says. “Tigercat doesn’t have that kind of financing so you have to be a stable logger to get Tigercat. They won’t put somebody in business who they know will soon get their

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equipment repossessed. If you don’t have the money and you have to borrow money to operate, then you will never get out of the hole to pay for it. It’s just not profitable enough.” He continues, “It is unreal how much we pay out in just one week for payroll, stumpage, equipment payments and insurance.” Although Jeremy says a 10% profit would be about right to have healthy numbers, he shrugs that the reality is closer to the 4-5% range. “There’s not another business that makes our level of investment for this low of a profit,” Jason adds. “No way would a Wall Street investor look at these numbers and make this investment.” The business is cyclical, with the pendulum swinging back and forth based on a variety of constantly changing variables, the brothers acknowledge. They say that 2015 was a particularly bad year when they could only work two or three days a week due to heavy rainfall, but things bounced back in 2016, when they hauled 130 loads a week most of the year. “We got in good shape last year, but now 2017 is shaping up to be another bad year, not a profitable year for us,” Jason says. “Something holds you back all the time but you can’t complain

Quotas have cut them back from 140 combined loads a week to about 100.

because the bad years are balanced by the good ones.”

Markets Mill outlets include PCA (Packing Corporation of America) in Counce, Tenn., for pine pulpwood and Winston Plywood & Veneer, LLC in Louisville, Miss. Chip-nsaw goes to Weyerhaeuser in Bruce, Miss. and Georgia-Pacific in Belk,

Ala., while GP’s chip mill in Louisville takes their hardwood pulpwood. Shuqualak Lumber Co. in Shuqualak, Miss., McShan Lumber in McShan, Ala., Johnsons Timber Co. in Pheba, Miss., and International Paper’s Columbus Cellulose Fibers in Columbus, Miss. (when they are buying) are also destinations for Flora trucks. Rob Johnson’s private operation Johnson’s Sawmill in Starkville takes hard-

wood logs from the crews. The crews each haul an average 50 loads a week, but before mills cut back consumption, the company consistently hauled an average 130140 weekly total, the brothers say. Along with having too many fiber suppliers, Jeremy believes, there is also too much winter wood stockpiled. Reflecting the observations of many a logger throughout the Southeast in recent months, he

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notes, “It was wetter in the spring than all winter. That has cut us and hurt us on production. They never used up the winter stockpiles because it was too mild, so now they have to run it out before they can let us back in.” Along with developing their own relationships with mill markets, the brothers also buy their own timber. Just a few years ago both crews primarily thinned all the time, Jason says, but now they can’t do first thinning jobs due to market constraints. “I used to buy two years

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ahead on first thinnings but now I can’t get rid of that volume of pine pulpwood. So instead of being two years behind, we are three or four years behind on first thinning.” There are other factors and ramifications of the oversupply relative to demand, the brothers point out. “Everywhere you look there’s a pine tree,” Jason says. “We cut for so many people where we go in and clear the land, and they are putting it back for pastures and crops, not timber.” He’s worried this is a problem for the future.

Jeremy concurs, adding, “60% of the people we cut for don’t replant because they don’t make enough back from the pulpwood. I ask them to please replant because one day it will come back. But you can get $200 an acre per year for sweet potatoes and no pine pulpwood can offer that per year. So people are not interested in thinning the wood and the ones who have to are taking $1.50 or $2 a ton for it, so it is discouraging them from replanting it, and it is growing up in hardwood bushes.”

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Team “We are in a big predicament on trucking insurance in Mississippi,” Jason believes. “Progressive quit writing new policies. We are grandfathered in, but others coming in are paying way higher rates on trucking insurance, and workers’ comp has doubled on a lot of stuff. And that is with no claims.” Mike Ledkins Insurance in Thomasville, Ala., covers Flora Logging’s needs. The loggers hold monthly safety meetings with their crews, and Jason and Jeremy are always on their jobs ready to address any potential safety hazards they see. Importantly, they note, most of their employees are older men who have been in the woods all their lives. That experience pays off: they have a nearly flawless safety record. Employees on Jason’s crew are Brent Crowly on the cutter, Matthew Carden on the skidder and Cecil Burton on the loader. Jeremy’s crew includes Eddie Perkins (loader), Brent’s brother Lance Crowley (cutter) and Steve Forbes (skidder). Truck drivers are Ben Baxter, Reggie O’Briant, Mike Womack, Cody Christenson, Gary Kimball and Alvis McKay. As an incentive, Flora Logging pays all members a $100 production bonus if they get more than 40 loads in a week. Logging is truly the family business. Their dad, Henry, now 69, still does some logging on a small scale, and the boys send their trucks to haul for him. The third brother, Justin, also now runs his own company, Justin Flora Logging. Both the brothers’ wives handle the company’s office work. “If they didn’t, we’d quit and go do something else,” Jeremy laughs, in a joking-but-not-joking kind of way. Jason and his wife Kimberly have two daughters: Peyton, 12, and Jasie Rae, 9. Jeremy and his wife Ashleigh (who is also a registered nurse) have four kids: 22year-old son Brett, 20-year-old daughter Kandler, 18-year-old son Ben and 3-year-old daughter Waverleigh. Kandler is playing college softball in Meridian, while Brett, who currently works on the pipelines, may join the family business one day. “I want him to get the experience of working for someone else first,” Jeremy says. Active in meetings and fundraisers for the Mississippi Loggers Assn., Flora Logging was recognized by the Mississippi Forestry Assn. as the recipient of the 2016 Mississippi Outstanding Logger of the Year award. Jason and Jeremy received the honor at the MFA’s annual meeting in JackSLT son last October.

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Long History ■ It’s been 55 years since the Winston family started at Pulpwood Producers, the company it now owns.

By David Abbott SHERIDAN, Ark. few years ago at an event celebrat★ ing its 50th anniversary, Evergreen Packaging in Pine Bluff, Ark., honored its longest running continuous supplier: Pulpwood Producers Co., Inc. Originally a timber dealer, one of only two in the area at the time, Pulpwood Producers went into business sometime in the 1950s—nobody’s sure exactly when anymore. The original owner, R.M. Henry, and his partner, a man named Lang, founded Pulpwood Producers after International Paper came to town. It was 1962 when Henry and Lang hired a young forestry graduate with a minor in accounting, W. A. Winston. “I just kept the books,” Winston, soon to be 77, recalls of his earliest duties. Winston wasn’t destined to be just an accountant for long. When another employee was caught stealing, he stepped up to take over that man’s duties, telling his boss, “I can do all of what he did.” In June 1976, Win-

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ston and another employee, Coy Park, bought the company from Henry. In 1986, Winston and his wife Deborah bought Park’s shares upon his retirement. Over time, W.A. and Deborah guided the company as it evolved from a dealer to fielding several crews of its own (three, currently, but at one time as many as five). The couple has two children. The older, their daughter, Andrea, 47, is a dental hygienist in Little Rock. After spending several years as a professional golfer, their son Brent, 45, now works with his parents, both helping them in the office and on one of the crews. “Dad has worked since he was about 7 years old,” Brent says. “He worked at the barbershop shining shoes; that was how he bought his first car.” They ran the company and raised their children together at the same time. Deborah recalls, “The kids were still in grade school when our office was located in Pine Bluff, and I would go in on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. I was the jack-of-alltrades but master of none; I did a little of everything.”

W.A. always worked in the office, not in the woods. “Nobody takes care of your business like you do,” he believes firmly. His wife says, “He Deborah, W.A. and their son Brent Winston took care of this part of it and let the people in the woods recent years, Winston remains activetake care of that part of it.” Brent ly engaged in the company he poured believes that worked for a simple rea- his life into building. He still comes son: “He surrounded himself with to the office every day, still approves good people. The whole key to it is to purchases and still makes sure it’s his surround yourself with good people name signed on paperwork. “He and this company has a lot of good won’t hesitate to let you know who is people.” in charge,” Brent smiles. “None of us And the key to keeping good peowould be here if it were not for that ple, of course, is to take care of them. man right there,” Deborah nods Winston always made it a point to try towards her husband, whose desk sits to help his employees. “He sacrificed just across from hers. a lot for a lot of people,” Brent says. Years ago one employee lost his left Golfing leg below the knee in a delimber Although he worked around the accident. “Dad tried to help him a family business growing up, Brent’s lot,” Brent recalls. The man wanted real passion was for golf. He started to keep working, so Winston arranged to have a lightweight clutch as a child when his grandfather gave him a cutoff club. He learned to play installed in his machine so he could in the front yard of the house where push it down with his prosthetic. Although his health has declined in the company office and shop now

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Truck driver Doug Funderburg has been with the company 28 years.

sits. “I hit golf balls and my grandmother chased them,” he remembers. As he grew older he started playing and having some success in junior tournaments and later also in national tournaments. This earned him a scholarship to play at the University of Arkansas and at the University’s Little Rock campus. He was a three-time state amateur champ. After college he went professional in 1995. “I played in two PGA tour events and in the Nationwide tour, what is now called the Web.com tour,” he says. He travelled extensively with it in 2000-2002; some of his matches were even televised on the Golf Channel. “I had limited success, at times got close to making it to the PGA tour but never got on it full time.” Things started to change for Brent when his longtime friend Bobby Taylor told him about a girl named Heather, a fundraiser who worked for the foundation at the Children’s Hospital in Little Rock. Taylor, who is also a logger, knew of Heather because of her involvement with Log a Load for Kids. “I wasn’t real interested,” Brent admits. He figured his life was full enough and he wasn’t looking for a relationship. At the same time, Taylor’s wife was encouraging Heather to meet him, but she was similarly unenthusiastic about the idea. “She was about like me, she didn’t give a rip about dating anyone,” Brent says. Finally they gave in to their friends and agreed to go on a blind date. That, Brent says, was that. “She changed her mind,” he laughs. They dated for three years while he continued to play golf professionally. “I decided if I wanted to marry someone it needed to be her because she is a hard worker,” he smiles. They were married in 2008. The work ethic he liked in her didn’t diminish. She has been promoted in her organization to the position of head recruiter now. “Once he got married and started having kids, he had to settle down and come to work,” his mother teases him. He agrees that, although he had always been marginally involved with the company when he wasn’t

This Barko 495 is nicknamed “Cooper” because it was bought in 2012 on Brent’s 40th birthday, the same day his son Cooper was born.

SLT SNAPSHOT Pulpwood Producers Co., Inc. Sheridan, Ark. Email: Winstonbdub@aristotle.net Founded: 1950s Owner(s): W.A. and Deborah Winston No. Crews: 3 Employees: 13 Equipment: 6 skidders, 8 loaders, 4 cutters, a dozer, 6 trucks and 6 trailers Production: 150-200 loads/week Average Haul: 50 miles Tidbit: The owners’ son Brent, who manages the crews, is a lifelong golfer who even played professionally for 15 years before joining the family business full time.

The crews run six John Deere skidders.

playing golf, when he got married was when he got really involved. Brent and Heather now have two kids. Son Cooper was born five years ago on Brent’s 40th birthday. Their daughter Claire is 3. Brent still plays as a hobby and occasionally competes in some amateur tournaments. Cooper has already learned to like the game as well. “I don’t have a lot of time for it any-

more, though, with work and kids and baseball.”

Business “I always wanted to be outside, whether it was hunting or playing golf or other sports,” Brent says. He found that working in the woods was a suitable outlet for his nature. “Something about it gets in your

system. I never thought it would get in mine and a lot of people didn’t think it would either, but it has.” When he decided to join the company full time, Brent wanted to learn every aspect. So he set about learning how to run each machine (the only thing he can’t drive is a log truck), how to cruise and buy timber, and how to make connections and sell the wood. These days he spends three days a week manning a loader, and two in the office. “I have a guy who comes out to run the loader for me on Mondays and Fridays so I can come into the office and help mom with the bookwork, since dad has kind of declined.” Brent serves as foreman of his crew. The other crew foremen are Jeff Hager and Shane Nugent, who has been with Pulpwood Producers for 25 years. All are three-man crews, paid by the ton hauled. Truck drivers are Scott Rawls, Roy West and Doug Funderburg, who has been with the company 28 years. Of the company’s 13 employees, five have been there 15 years or longer. They receive a week paid vacation after a year on the job, and if they need time off for an emergency, they get paid for that. The crews hold tailgate safety meetings once a month. Brent believes the level of experience on all the jobs is vital to maintaining a safe environment. “These guys have been doing it their whole lives and everybody looks out for everyone.” Workers’ comp is through Bitco (Bituminous Insurance Co.) and general liability is with Davis-Garvin Insurance Agency. Brent admits that keeping trucks and truck drivers insured is a growing challenge. The company runs multiple John Deere skidders: two ’14 748Hs, ’14 648H, ’10 848H, ’07 648H and ’06 648G-III. Loaders are all Barko: ’16 and ’14 495s with CSI delimbers on Big John hydraulic trailers, ’12 495 with CSI on a Pitts hydraulic stand trailer, ’11 and ’10 595s with CSIs, and for spares, ’03 225, ’02 295 and ’01 225. All loaders have Rotobec buckets. Cutters are all by Prentice: ’15 2570C, ’13 2570C, ’12 2670C

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and ’10 2670, all with 22 in. side cut heads and Koehring saw teeth. The team prefers to run Firestone tires in the woods. They set up duals on the skidders with 30.5 inside and 24.5 outside. Cutters use size 43 floatation tires. Trucks are 2017 Kenworth W9, ’16 Peterbilt 389, ’12 Kenworth W9, and ’06 Kenworth. They also have a 2001 and a 2000 Kenworth, but Brent laughs, “Those last two are just out there holding the ground down. Nobody wants them.” They get used as spares when a main truck is down.

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Except for one AMC in the bunch, trailers are all Pitts Load Payin’ series, the newest a ’16 model. Brent describes the level of equipment investment as “too dang much.” It’s about $2.5 million. Dealers are Stribling Equipment in Camden for John Deere, Don’s Hydraulics in Sheridan for Prentice and Crouse Truck Parts in Sheridan for Barko and most trailers. Trucks come from MHC Kenworth in Little Rock. For maintenance, Pulpwood Producers keeps a shop next door to the office. Mechanic Scott Hodges han-

dles a lot of work on trucks. For equipment, the crews can handle minor jobs in the woods and send the heavier duty repairs back to the dealers. Operators change oil every 250300 hours and grease machines twice a week, blowing out air filters as needed. Each piece is thoroughly cleaned once a quarter with a portable steam cleaner.

Supply, Demand Brent takes care of most of the timber acquisition. “I have a man who

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cruised timber for years, who took me under his wings and showed me how to do it all,” he recalls. “The biggest piece of advice he gave me was that you can’t buy it if you just drive by and look out the window. If you’re gonna do it, do it right. He and I spent many hours punching tickets. I consider him a good friend and a mentor.” Deborah recalls the old days when her husband called it a great week if they could get 25 loads with five crews. Now they may get that many in a day. Most of the time each crew averages 12-15 loads a day. Brent says their record for a single crew is 120 loads in one five-day week. With all the three crews combined, the most they have done was one load shy of hauling 6,000 tons, or about 200 loads, in one week. Saw logs go to West Fraser in Leola, pine poles to McFarland Cascade in Leola and Rison and pine logs to Anthony Timberlands in Malvern. Grade pine goes to H.G. Toler & Son Lumber Co. in Leola, hardwood sawlogs to WLS Sawmill in Benton, and pine pulpwood to the Georgia-Pacific OSB plant in Fordyce. GP in Gurdon and Wilson Bros. in Rison also take some logs, and of course pine and hardwood pulpwood both go to Evergreen Packaging in Pine Bluff. Two crews work mainly on RMS-owned pine plantation tracts year-round, while Brent’s crew works on more private tracts. The pulpwood market is tight, he says, so to stay busy he has kept the crews working on RMS land more because that company has a committed volume to Evergreen and other mills. The Winstons say they have no interest in expanding. “At one time I thought we might,” Brent says. “But not the way it is right now.” One of the biggest issues confronting the business currently is oversupply, Brent believes. “Stumpage prices are so low that people don’t want to turn loose of their timber investments. It is all supply and demand driven, like anything else.” He says paper mills are still at 130% capacity due to winter stock that has not been depleted yet, and sawmill quotas have also been tight. “This week they bought wood Monday and Tuesday but bought nothing on Wednesday.” The recently opened Highland Pellets mill in Pine Bluff is a promising development, Brent thinks. “Hopefully when everything is running there that will help even things SLT out a little bit.”

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Repairing Hearts & Harleys

Looking Back: John Deere 743 Harvester/Feller-Buncher

A mechanic was removing a cylinder head from the engine of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle when he spotted a well-known heart surgeon in his shop. The surgeon was there waiting for the service manager to come and take a look at his bike. The mechanic shouted across the garage: “Hey, Doc, can I ask you a question?” The surgeon, a bit surprised, walked over to the mechanic, who straightened up, wiped his hands on a rag and asked: “So Doc, look at this engine. I open its heart, take the valves out, fix ’em, put ’em back in, and when I finish, it works just like new. So how come I get such a small salary and you get the really big bucks, when you and I are doing basically the same work?” The surgeon paused, smiled, leaned over, and whispered to the mechanic: “Try doing it with the engine running.”

Diary Differences The ‘thinking process’ difference between men and women can pretty much be explained by reading their daily diaries. Wife's Diary—Tonight I thought my husband was acting weird. We had made plans to meet at a nice restaurant for dinner. I was shopping with my friends all day, so I thought he was upset because I was a bit late, but he made no comment on it. Conversation wasn't flowing, so I suggested we go somewhere quiet so we could talk. He agreed, but he didn't say much. I asked him what was wrong. He said, “nothing.” I asked him if it was my fault that he was upset. He said he wasn't upset, that it had nothing to do with me, and not to worry about it. On the way home, I told him that I loved him. He smiled slightly and kept driving. I can't explain his behavior. I don't know why he didn't say, “I love you, too.” When we got home, I felt as if I had lost him completely, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. He just sat there quietly and watched TV. He continued to seem distant and absent. Finally, with silence all around us, I decided to go to bed. About 15 minutes later he came to bed. But I still felt he was distracted and his thoughts were somewhere else. He fell asleep; I cried. I don't know what to do. I'm almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else. My life is a disaster. Husband's Diary: A one-foot putt...who the hell misses a one-foot putt?

A Little Girl’s Fire Truck A fire fighter was working on a fire engine outside the station when he noticed a young girl nearby in a little red wagon, which had miniature ladders hung off the sides and a garden hose tightly coiled in the middle. The girl was wearing a firefighter's helmet; the wagon was being pulled by her dog and cat. 30

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Forty years ago, John Deere was touting the merits of its newly introduced JD743, a multi-functional product that had been in development for a decade. As a full tree harvester, the machine felled with a cupped 18in. shear mounted on a 17 ft., 6 in. long boom and processed one softwood stem at a time through an on-board delimber fed via mechanical drive. Delimbed trees deflected off a rear-mounted blade and were grouped for easy skidder pickup. Meanwhile, the operator was cutting/readying another tree. Deere also marketed the 743 as a fellerbuncher by leaving off the delimbing device. The machine was built with many of the same components used in the JD740 skidder. Articulated, it had a 120-in. wheelbase, 152 horsepower, weighed 42,000 lbs. (including delimber) and had a MSRP of about $130,000. Without the delimber, MSRP was about $105,000. John Deere offered the machine for roughly four years.

The firefighter walked over to take a closer look. “That sure is a nice truck,” he said with admiration. “Thanks,” the girl replied. The firefighter looked a little closer. The girl had tied the wagon to her dog's collar and to the cat's testicles. “Little partner,” the firefighter said, “I don't want to tell you how to run your rig, but if you were to tie that rope around the cat's collar, I think you could go faster.” The little girl replied thoughtfully, “You're probably right, but then I wouldn't have a siren.”

The Cynical Philosopher —I read that 4,153,237 people got married last year. Not to cause any trouble but shouldn't that be an even number? —Today a man knocked on my door and asked for a small donation towards the local swimming pool. I gave him a glass of water. —I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather—not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car. —I find it ironic that the colors red, white, and blue stand for freedom until they are flashing behind you. —When wearing a bikini, women reveal 90% of their body. Men are so polite they only look at the covered parts. —A recent study has found that women who carry a little extra weight live longer than the men who mention it. —Relationships are a lot like algebra. Have you ever looked at your X and wondered Y? —America is a country where citizens will cross the ocean to fight for democracy but won't cross the street to vote. —You know that tingly little feeling you get when you like someone? That's your common sense leaving your body. —Did you know that dolphins are so smart that

within a few weeks of captivity, they can train people to stand on the very edge of a pool and throw them fish? —My therapist says I have a preoccupation with vengeance. We'll see about that. —I think my neighbor is stalking me. She's been Googling my name on her computer. I saw it through my telescope last night.

Nails In The Fence There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive nails into the fence. The day finally came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave scars just like these. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there." The little boy then understood how powerful his words were. He looked up at his father and said, "I hope you can forgive me father for the holes I put in you." "Of course I can," said the father. Forgiveness comes easy for many people but the scars of the past never go away.

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GRAND EVENT ■ Tidewater marks 70th year with hospitable Demo Day in south Georgia.

QUITMAN, Ga. idewater Equipment Co., the South’s largest and oldest forest equipment-focused ★ dealer, celebrated its 70th anniversary May 6 by hosting a party: a well-orchestrated Demo Day for its customers and vendors. Staged a few miles south of Quitman, Ga. in a mature pecan orchard and adjacent pine forest, the event drew approximately 1,500, the majority being customers and family members from Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and the Carolinas. Tidewater and Tigercat jointly

brought in 26 machines to the event; Morbark brought five. The three companies were represented by some 75 personnel. As well, Tidewater vendors CSI, R Squared Solutions, Rotobec, Pitts, Big John, Maxi Load Scales, and GCR Tire dispatched reps who set up booths and interfaced with customers. Located only four miles or so from the Florida line, the site, provided by The Langdale Co., was pristine. Cool, sunny, and breezy, the weather was made to order. Tidewater’s hospitality was as abundant as the sunshine. It provided activities for children, a complimentary lunch, and hosted a hospitality event/outdoor dinner

Much like the weather, registration was a breeze.

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that evening in nearby Valdosta. The company sponsored a loader contest that featured a Tigercat 234B. First place winner ($500) was Jonathan Dale Stinson, Betterton Pulpwood, Evergreen, Ala.; second place ($300), Jason Braddock, Braddock Timber Harvesting, Hazlehurst, Ga., and third place ($200), Buddy Lominick, WB Lominick Logging, Newberry, SC. Winner of the golf cart given away by Tidewater was John Henderson, WE Logging, Troy, Ala. Door prizes given away by other vendors included a chain saw-carved turkey and skidder, coolers, gift cards and a pole saw. This was the second Demo Day

conducted by Tidewater, the first taking place in 2015. Tidewater built on the success of that event this year by taking it to another level in connection with its 70year anniversary. Remarked Jamie Young, Tidewater President: “We could not be more thrilled to have celebrated Tidewater’s 70-year anniversary with our customers and vendors on a picture-perfect day in an absolutely beautiful setting. Our second Demo Day went as well as any show I have ever witnessed and we are so proud to have celebrated this milestone in such a unique famiSLT ly atmosphere.”

The event drew some 1,500 from multiple states.

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Somebody must have told a funny joke.

More than three dozen machines and attachments were on site.

The dinner event on Saturday night

It was a family friendly affair.

How much do I weigh?

A friendly game

Many won prizes.

Three Tidewater folks who helped make it happen: from left, Charles Wright, Jamie Young, Allie Poirier

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Adapting To Markets ■ Callier Logging and Twin Rivers Land and Timber team up in Georgia.

It didn’t take log for Callier Logging to learn how to feed the 2017 Morbark 40/36 chipper.

By Jay Donnell EASTMAN, Ga. s the longwood markets in Georgia continue ★ to leave many loggers on quota, those contractors are left wondering when or if they’ll get back to full speed. While some continue to weather the storm, others have had to find new opportunities in order to survive. Take Callier Logging for example. They’ve been around for 47 years, but the past two years have been a real struggle for the business as their primary markets have been extremely tight. Some days they were able to haul nine loads, but other days they could only bring in five. The logging industry has always been marked by uncertainty and sometimes you just have to go with the flow, but when you’re only able to bring in five loads in a workday, that’s the kind of uncertainty that

Callier Logging was working on a tract near Albany that had been devastated by tornadoes in December and January.

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can’t be tolerated. The company needed a new idea and fast. That’s when Twin Rivers Land and Timber (TRLT) came into the picture. TRLT was formed in August 2009 by Clay Crosby, a former logger and timber buyer out of Hawkinsville, Ga. and Dennis Rich, a veteran timber company operator out of Rebecca, Ga. TRLT is currently the biggest biomass producer in its working area of the Southeast. Its sister company, Ocmulgee Biomass, owned by Crosby along with the brothers John and Jeff Hair, has four Morbark chippers and more than 30 chip vans. TRLT has 15 contract loggers, some of which own their own chippers. They have a partnership with Southern Ag Carriers and Nationwide Ag Logistics, which handles all of their freight and owns another 30 plus chip vans.

Partnership Begins At the beginning of 2017, Mike Callier, owner of Callier Logging, received a call from Crosby to start chipping for TRLT. This was the phone call that Mike needed. “Clay called me one night and we went to work,” Callier says. Callier Logging has been mostly thinning tracts since the 1970s. They’ve worked all over Georgia, thinning pulpwood and a little chip-nsaw every now and then. They own all of their own equipment except for the 2017 Morbark 40/36 drum chipper that Ocmulgee Biomass provided. The company now produces roughly 12 loads of chips per day, with most of it going to Georgia Biomass in Waycross and Albany Green Energy (AGE), in conjunction with Exelon Corporation. Callier Logging has never done any chipping before now, but there hasn’t been much of a learning curve

A 2016 Tigercat 620E skidder gets the job done for Callier Logging.

SLT SNAPSHOT Callier Logging Eastman, GA Email: kristycallier@bellsouth.net Founded: 1970 Owner: Mike Callier No. Crews: 1 Employees: 5

for the nearly 50-year-old business, according to Callier. “This is the first time we’ve ever done it, but we’ve seen enough of it and we know how to feed it,” he says. “Learning to gauge the loads was a different story.” The company’s equipment includes a 2014 Tigercat 720E fellerbuncher, 2016 Tigercat 620E skidder and a 2013 Tigercat 234 loader with a CSI model DL-4400 Classic Slasher Saw. They’ve had a longstanding relationship with Tidewater. Firestone tires are used on all equipment. Machines are greased once a week and Delo 15W-40 oil is used when oil needs to be changed.

Equipment: 1 cutter, 1 skidder, 1 loader, 1 chipper, 2 trucks

Business Practices

Production: 60 loads of chips/week Average Haul Distance: 60 miles Tidbit: Company started working for Twin Rivers Land and Timber at the beginning of 2017.

Callier Logging has one crew that consists of three operators. Mike runs the loader, his son Matt operates the feller-buncher and newly hired employee Willie Strong runs the skidder. They get to the jobsite

Matt Callier, Willie Harris and Mike Callier are excited to work with Twin Rivers Land and Timber.

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RGM Trucking is owned by Matt and his wife Kristy.

TRLT is expecting to expand in the near future.

at 7 a.m. and finish their day between 6 and 7:30 p.m. When the company moves to a new site they build the roads themselves. When Southern Loggin’ Times visited they were working on a 35,000-acre tract near Albany. This area had suffered a great deal of damage from tornados that occurred in January and February. The majority of the tract is made up of pine that either blew on the ground or blew over to the point where it couldn’t recover. The city of Albany was devastated by the winter tornados. Members of Callier Logging have found

planning to install some before he renews his trucking insurance again. “We’re going to put them in because it’s going to bring the insurance premium down,” Matt says. “If something happens on the road you can see exactly what happened.” Callier Logging makes sure to work as safely as possible. In the 47 years they’ve been in business they haven’t had to use workers’ comp one time. On most of their jobs the business does all of the BMP work and installs bridges whenever necessary, but on this particular tract they’re excluded from the streamside man-

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transmission light poles with wires wrapped around them in the middle of this particular tract. The company is strictly making fuel chips on this job. Callier’s son, Matt, and Matt’s wife Kristy, own two trucks that the business utilizes, a 2007 Freightliner and a 2010 Kenworth. Their company is called RGM trucking, named after their three children, Ryan, Gracie and Mattie. Neither of his trucks have ever been involved in an accident. Truck drivers are Antonio Munford and Marcus Hunter. The two trucks don’t currently have dash cams in them, but Matt is

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agement zone (SMZ) regulations because the timber was already laid down from the storms.

Twin Rivers Land And Timber Clay Crosby started buying wood while he was in college—mostly small tracts with big timber. During his last semester of college he bought a chain saw, a $5,000 loader, $3,800 skidder and he paid $3,000 for a truck and trailer. He and his friend were the only employees. Clay cut the wood with the chain saw, his friend dragged it to the landing with a cable skidder and

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then Clay loaded it into the truck. That escalated to some better equipment and within four years Crosby had four company crews and a contract crew. Crosby was buying the wood for all five crews and running the loader for one of them every day. He did that for several years and then in 2009 he sold out of logging and focused on buying timber. Then in 2009 he formed TRLT with his business partner, Dennis Rich. When Crosby started TRLT he knew he was taking a big risk. The economy was bad and the biomass

markets weren’t as substantial as they are today. He started off with only one contract crew producing roughly 30 loads a week, but today he has 15 contract crews that are producing more than 600 loads of chips combined. Ocmulgee Biomass strictly owns the chippers and chip vans. TRLT is the timber company that owns the contracts to deliver the wood and to cut the wood. TRLT has been a much-needed addition to the Georgia wood products scene because of the struggling

longwood markets around the state. “I take a treelength logger and I provide the chipper and the vans for them to load,” Crosby explains. “I pay them a logging rate and deduct my rent on the chipper and that has worked well so far.”

Markets Crosby is a timber buyer by trade so he knows exactly what to look for in a good tract. He has crews scattered from Macon to Columbus to Waycross. Clay’s brother, Kyle,

works as a timber buyer along with Chuck Allen and Tom Tuggle. Crosby’s wife, Ashley, does all of the paperwork and keeps all the books for the company, a tough job considering all of the moving parts involved with Ocmulgee Biomass and TRLT. TRLT’s primary markets are the Georgia Biomass wood pellet plant in Waycross and the new Exelon Energy biomass power plant in Albany. Crosby believes his company is helping the logging industry in Georgia. “I think it’s doing a service to this region and the logging industry,” he says. “There are too many people treelength logging now and that’s why everybody’s on quota. The more of them I can provide an alternative market to, the more room it makes for the ones that are left to haul the wood they’re hauling.” Most of TRLT’s crews are fourman crews that haul around 60 loads of fuel chips a week. He has one “super crew” that moves roughly 150 loads a week. All of the company’s chippers are Morbark 40/36’s. Crosby estimates he has about $6 million invested in TRLT and Ocmulgee Biomass. While things have certainly been going well for Crosby and his businesses, it hasn’t always been that way. “We have been on every end of the spectrum because there were times when he had to choose which payment got made on time and there were times when we had to park equipment until we could get enough money to get it running again” Crosby says. “After having to deal with these times, it gives us a true understanding of what it takes for a producer contracted under TRLT to make a living. I am so grateful for every learning curve logging threw at me. It gives Twin Rivers Land and Timber a solid basis to secure consistent production.”

Overall Callier Logging has had its share of ups and downs, but they’ve managed to survive for nearly half a decade. Their strength has been their ability to adapt to any situation. The company’s newly formed partnership with TRLT has been going smoothly and looks to be a great opportunity for the Eastman-based business. TRLT has plans to keep expanding so there will be more opportunities for other logging operations to dive into Georgia’s biomass markets. While the logging industry might always be uncertain, it’s important to note the industry’s amazing ability to evolve. Read more about Clay Crosby and Twin Rivers Land and Timber in the August issue of Wood BioenSLT ergy magazine. 40

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50-Year Celebration ■ Alabama’s Warrior Tractor and Equipment marks milestone with Northport event.

Warrior celebrated 50 years with a special event at headquarters.

By Jordan Anderson NORTHPORT, Ala. arrior Tractor and Equipment, one of John Deere’s strongest forestry and construction

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Gene Ray and Glennette Taylor listen as employees and customers express their gratitude.

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dealers with six locations in Alabama, hosted a 50th anniversary celebration at its headquarters here on May 25. The event attracted over 400 and included forestry and construction customers, Warrior employees and other store managers, representatives from John Deere and other manufacturers,

local dignitaries, and miscellaneous guests. Gene Ray Taylor founded Warrior in 1967 when he purchased a single John Deere dealership in Northport. Other locations include Athens, Montgomery, Monroeville, Oxford and Pelham. In addition to John Deere, Warrior

The crowd listened as Taylor told stories.

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represents Hitachi, Sakai, Leica Geosystems, Morbark, CSI, Talbert, Bomag and Big John Trailers. Commenting on 50 years of success, Taylor said, “Without our employees none of this would have been possible. Without our employees we wouldn’t have any customers. We’re very fortunate.” SLT

Taylor addressed the crowd.

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50 years of memories.

A half-century in business is sweet success.

The extended Taylor family

Warrior employees collected money to donate to Alabama’s Big Oak Ranch children’s home on behalf of the Taylors.

Taylor surrounded by customers and friends

The anniversary celebration saw a great turnout of Warrior employees, customers, vendors and special guests.

Everyone enjoyed a BBQ lunch.

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LOGGING LIFE AT HOME

Children And God’s Gifts Deborah Smith has been married to Rome, Ga. logger Travis Smith for 34 years. They have 10 children: seven by birth, three adopted from Africa, and two granddaughters. A college English major, she began homeschooling their children in 1991. Says Smith: “I love my family; I am passionate about encouraging others to keep the faith, to keep taking the next right step, no matter how hard life gets.” Visit her blog: buttercupsbloom here.blogspot.com

Travis and Deborah Smith

ne of the scariest things about raising our kids has turned out to be one

Oof the most rewarding. I remember as a young mama, praying that if

the second child was a girl, that she have different hair and eye color than her big sister. I did not want folks to compare the two, because when you compare kids, someone always comes up short. It’s devastating to the kid. My wish was granted—again and again. We have quite the span of eye colors, hair textures, hair color and skin tones with our 10 children. We decided to home school, for academic reasons. As a teacher, I could tell that our kids had definitely inherited learning disabilities from Travis and me, and being in a class full of kids might be tough on them and hard for the teacher to individualize their learning. Travis said that we would take home schooling one year at a time, and that led to me teaching six kids from kindergarten through 12th grade at home. The first four children finished college with honors. Our fifth child is in her junior year of college. Our first-born son will graduate high school and join his daddy’s logging business and build a hay business. There are four more children still to go, and they are in middle school and high school. The total years I have been teaching at home so far is 26. Don’t even ask me where the time went. I don’t know. Remember that prayer for different hair and eye color? Well, that was just the beginning. Because we were able to home school, the kids were able to pursue things that they loved. I honestly believe, and built our home school around the belief, that God puts special gifts in the souls of children. Those gifts are meant to be discovered, and then, most importantly, developed. It is obvious that my love of books and writing was passed along to some of the kids, and Travis’ love of farming and logging and just working outside with his hands was passed along to others. So....we have a

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nurse who is a mommy, an artist blacksmith, several writers, a future gift shop owner, a potter, a logger and farmer, a furniture maker, a dog groomer dreaming of her own shop, a seamstress in the making, book lovers…and the list grows and changes as the children grow and change. Travis enclosed the car shed to make a blacksmith shop, which is now the furniture shop. A friend enclosed our screened porch to make a potter’s studio for our fourth daughter. Life doesn’t seem to be slowing down long enough for Travis to finish the barn so TL can have more room for hay. Saturdays often find him navigating estate sales and yard sales with Will, looking for material and furniture to refurbish or upcycle for Will’s business, Red Barn Market. Two older girls share a room so that the extra bedroom can be a study for writing and home work. The two younger girls figure out rides to and from town, so they can each volunteer in places they each love—one at the library and one at the doggie groomers. Although I am mama and teacher, none of this dream following and venturing into the worlds they love could happen without a supportive and encouraging daddy. We all want to hear those words from our dads, “Good job!” or “I’m proud of you.” Travis is proud of his kids, and he works hard to do whatever it is that they need, that he can do for them. At the same time, he does not expect or even want his kids to be overachievers or think that they have to be perfect to win his love. He just wants them to do what makes them happy, and he wants them to be confident about it. He wants them to pursue what they love because they love it. That’s what he did. My prayer for all Southern Loggin’ Times families is that even though logging days are long, and sometimes there are more breakdowns than the check from the paper mill can cover, daddys will look deep into their children’s hearts and help them become the person that God created them to be. I pray that mamas will love their babies, and will see the beautiful differences in each one of them. It’s hard to do, sometimes. Sometimes, everyone doing the same thing, with the same goals and the same agenda would be so much easier. I remember even dreaming of uniforms, and we were home schooled for goodness sakes! Letting our kids be different and pursue paths that we aren’t familiar with is so scary. At the end of that hot, dusty day, go home and just be with your kids. Just listen to them; look at them. These years that seem so demanding are going to fly by. I know every day is not perfect, and there are plenty of reasons to come home from the woods grumpy, but inside the hearts of your kids and grandkids are gifts. They need a daddy or granddaddy, a mama or grandmama to help them try, to believe in them, just because they are loved. God gives fabulous gifts to our kids, and the world needs our kids to grow up and share those gifts.

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INDUSTRY NEWS ROUNDUP As We See It: Future Logging Careers Act: Training The Next Generation By Danny Dructor American Loggers Council has made passing the Future Logging Careers Act a top priority in the 115th Congress. We’re very pleased with the Dructor bipartisan support it is receiving in both the House and Senate. This is a credit to the hundreds of loggers who have contacted their representatives in support of the legislation. Keep making calls and sending e-mails. It’s become clear over the past several weeks that some in the news media, and some who follow ALC’s Facebook page, don’t have a clear understanding of what the Future Logging Careers Act (FLCA) actually does, and what it doesn’t do. For example, a Washington, DC reporter wrote a story last month attempting to link our bill to a very tragic accident involving an 18-year-old logger in Washington State. FLCA is intended to give 16- and 17-year-olds hands-on training in mechanized timber harvesting in a safe and legal setting, under parental supervision. The bill is aimed at helping family-owned logging companies that wish to keep their sons and daughters in the profession. FLCA, as its name suggests, is all about recruiting and retaining the next generation and to help families continue to run professional logging businesses. The text of the legislation is straightforward. It extends an existing agricultural exemption—now enjoyed by family farmers and ranchers—specifically to familyowned logging companies. For the purpose of amending the Fair Labor Standards Act, the bill defines logging as “the felling, skidding, yarding, loading and processing of timber by equipment other than manually operated chain saws and cable skidders; the felling of timber in mechanized operations; the bucking or converting of timber into logs, poles, ties, bolts, pulpwood, chemical wood, excelsior wood, cordwood, fence posts, or similar products; the collecting, skidding, yarding, loading, transporting and unloading of such products in connection with logging; the constructing, repairing and maintaining of roads or camps used in

connection with logging; the constructing, repairing, and maintenance of machinery or equipment used in logging; and other work performed in connection with logging.” The bill does not permit 16- and 17-year-olds “the manual use of chain saws to fell and process timber and the use of cable skidders to bring the timber to the landing.” Unfortunately, this important point was missed in the news story that misin-

terpreted our bill. Safety is an issue that should unite all professional timber harvesters. ALC is deeply committed to promoting safety in the woods, and on the roads, in the hope that someday logging is not included in the annual list of “America’s Most Dangerous Professions.” Nobody wants to put young and inexperienced loggers in dangerous situations. FLCA is one solution to promote safety for the future and help young loggers learn the trade in a supervised setting. The bill is gaining support as more members of Congress learn about it, and understand why supporting fami-

ly-owned logging businesses is so important. If you haven’t already, contact your House and Senate members and ask them to sponsor and support the bill. You can do this in just two minutes by visiting https://www.votervoice.net/iframes/ HFHC/Campaigns/48964/Respond. Together, we can pass this simple measure as one way to strengthen our profession for the future. Dructor is Executive Vice President for the American Loggers Council, a 501 (c)(6) not-for-profit trade organization representing professional timber harvesters in 32 states. Visit amloggers.com or call 409-625-0206.

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Johnson Stood Tall In Alabama Woods Relatives and friends of Hal Johnson gathered in Grove Hill, Ala. on May 3 to pay their respects and to remember the attributes and accomplishments Hal Johnson

of the retired logger, who died April 30 following a period of declining health. He was 94. Johnson, whose career in the timber business spanned some 70-years, was the only logger ever to serve as president of the Alabama Forestry Assn. (1979). He was named Alabama Logger of the Year in 1994. A native of Mississippi, Johnson worked around his daddy’s portable sawmill before shipping out for 38 months of duty with the Marine

Corps during World War II. He served in the Pacific Theater with the 4th Marine Division—the ‘Fighting Fourth’—which in 13 months made four major amphibious assaults and suffered more than 17,000 casualties. After the war he returned to Mississippi and founded a pulpwood dealership, a business that eventually took him to Grove Hill, Ala. Later, he founded Hal Johnson Timber Co., which he turned over to his son, and later set up shop as Whatley Timber

Co., eventually taking in longtime foreman Billy Jackson as his business partner. Very conscientious, outgoing, and blessed with a contagious, uplifting spirit, Johnson was known for his concern for employees, the land he harvested, the owners of that land, the quality of the job at hand, the markets he supplied and the forest industry as a whole. Among other attributes, he was admired for his gentle, gentlemanly manner. Billy Jackson remarked to an interviewer in 1993: “If you can’t work for Mr. Hal, you can’t work for anybody.” Survivors include two sons, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

John Deere Sells Slash Bundler Rights John Deere Forestry Oy has sold its slash bundler unit rights to the Dutch company Wellinkcaesar Timber Technology BV. The slash bundler has been marketed under the Dutch Dragon brand since summer 2016. Further improvements to the bundler unit include new scissor cutting system and higher tilting hook.

New Heating Pellet Mill Is Planned Thunderbolt Biomass, Inc. is launching a wood pellet operation in Allendale, SC. The company is planning to invest $6 million in the project, creating 35 jobs. Located on an eight-acre site, operations will be housed in a 14,550 sq. ft. metal building and have a capacity of 60,000 tons per year.

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JUNE 2017 ● Southern Loggin’ Times

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The Coordinating Council for Economic Development has approved job development credits related to the project. Allendale County was also awarded a $100,000 Rural Infrastructure Fund grant to assist with costs related to this project.

Pellet Operation Aims To Assist Landowners Drax Biomass and American Forest Foundation announced a multiyear project to invest in the future of small family landowners around Drax’s Morehouse BioEnergy facility in northeast Louisiana. The fiveyear, $1.1 million project—the “Morehouse Family Forests Initiative” (MFFI)—will provide landowners with the tools and resources to implement forest management practices that can increase the commercial, recreational and ecological value of their lands, and maintain crucial habitat for the region’s diverse wildlife.

following a conveyor-loading fire. Texas Pellets was also an affiliate of German Pellets and like Louisiana Pellets filed for bankruptcy. Drax has said it is interested in purchasing the facility.

Bandit Adds Richardson Service 1991 In SC Bandit Industries continues to expand is dealer network in the South-

ern U.S. with the recent addition of Richardson Service 1991, Inc., serving nearly all of South Carolina. Richardson Service 1991, based in Conway, gives Bandit’s South Carolina customers a local option for parts, service, rentals and sales for Bandit hand-fed wood chippers and stump grinders. They’re located at 2667 U.S. 378 in Conway, in eastern South Carolina. Richardson Service started out as a small local repair shop and has since

grown to include a large rental fleet of construction, forestry and compact equipment. Call them at 834-3972050.

U.S. Commerce Says Canada Must Pay U.S. Dept. of Commerce has issued a preliminary determination of subsidy rates on Canadian forest products companies that export soft-

Drax Plans Upgrades At Louisiana Pellets Drax Biomass intends to make a number of improvements to the idled Louisiana Pellets (formerly German Pellets) wood pellet operation in Urania, La. Drax is targeting early 2018 for the plant to resume production though the timeline could change. Drax was the winning bidder for the operation. Meanwhile Drax is waiting for creditors’ advisors to announce a new auction date for the Texas Pellets facility in Woodville, Tex. and port operation in Port Arthur, Tex. That bidding process was put on hold

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wood lumber into the U.S. and is instructing the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to require cash deposits based on these rates. The ruling was in response to a petition filed by the Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International Trade Investigations or Negotiations (COALITION). Border measures against subsidized Canadian lumber imports are essential, according to the COALITION, otherwise differences between the U.S. (mostly

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private) and Canadian (mostly public) timber sales systems give Canadian producers an unfair cost advantage. About half of total Canadian lumber production is shipped to the U.S. market, now accounting for approximately one-third of total consumption in the U.S. Department of Commerce found the following rates of subsidization for these companies: Canfor, 20.26%; J.D. Irving, 3.02%; Resolute, 12.82%; Tolko, 19.50% ; West Fras-

er, 24.12%; all other producers/exporters, 19.88%. “This ruling confirms that Canadian lumber mills are subsidized by their government and benefit from timber pricing policies and other subsidies which harm U.S. manufacturers and workers,” comments COALITION legal chair Cameron Krauss, senior vice president of legal affairs of family-owned Seneca Sawmill in Eugene, Ore. However, Canadian Prime Minis-

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ter Justin Trudeau refuted the allegations by the U.S. Commerce and the decision to impose duties. The Prime Minister stressed that the Government of Canada will vigorously defend the interests of the Canadian softwood lumber industry, “as we have successfully done in all past lumber disputes with the U.S.” “These duties stand to hurt hard working men and women in our mill communities across Canada,” says Derek Nighbor, CEO, Forest Products Assn. of Canada. “The duties are unwarranted and without merit. We 100% support the federal government’s Team Canada position and we must have a fair and equitable trading structure for both our industry and U.S. customers.” In 2016, imports of softwood lumber from Canada were valued at an estimated $5.66 billion. The petitioner COALITION includes members Collum’s Lumber Products, Hankins, Inc., Potlatch Corp., Rex Lumber, Seneca Sawmill, Sierra Pacific Industries, Stimson Lumber, Swanson Group, Weyerhaeuser, Carpenters Industrial Council, Giustina Land and Timber, and Sullivan Forestry Consultants, Inc. Unless the final determination is postponed, Commerce is scheduled to announce its final CVD determination on September 7. If Commerce makes an affirmative final determination of subsidization and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) makes an affirmative final injury determination, Commerce will issue a CVD order. The COALITION alleged that Canadian provincial governments, which own the vast bulk of Canada’s timberlands, provide standing trees to Canadian producers for an administered fee that is far below the market value of the timber, as well as many other subsidies. Meanwhile Commerce Dept. is also considering an anti-dumping petition that could lead to additional charges on incoming Canadian softwood lumber. That decision is expected early this summer. The COALITION petition detailed the injury suffered by U.S. industry and workers by reason of “unfairly-traded” Canadian softwood lumber imports. In the immediate aftermath of the expiration of the 2006-2015 U.S.-Canada Softwood Lumber Trade Agreement, Canadian imports surged and volume of imports from Canada in the first eight months of 2016 was more than 33% higher than in the same period of 2015. The previous agreement had kicked in in 2006, when the Commerce Dept. dropped the collection of countervailing and dumping duties (as much as 27%) that had

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been ongoing for more than four years. The agreement allowed the Canadian government to charge an export tax on softwood lumber bound for the U.S. The seven-year agreement was established to last seven years and then allowed for a two-year renewal, which is what happened into 2015. The U.S.-Canada softwood lumber dispute goes back to at least the Great Depression, and really kicked in in the early 1980s, resulting in a series of petitions, rulings and agreements, the course of which also brought in the World Trade Organization and the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Processing magazine. An impressive 87% forecast their “lumber business situation” for the remainder of 2017 and looking ahead into 2018 as excellent (28%) or good (59%). That compares, for example, to 66% who said it was excellent (13%) or good (53%) a year ago. Only 11% said their current lumber business situation was fair, compared to 30% a year ago; and 2% said poor/very poor compared

to 4% a year ago. Timber Processing conducted the survey online in April, and respondents (owners, presidents, vice presidents, general managers, corporate executives, regional managers) represent approximately 175 softwood lumber sawmills. The survey concluded with a few questions on trucking and byproducts. About 49% of the mills rely mostly on contract trucking service, while 39% use a blend of contract

trucks and their own trucks, and 8% use only their company owned trucks. As to truck drivers, 45% of the mills are seeing a shortage of truck driver. As to finding markets for byproducts (chips, sawdust, shavings, etc.), 43% said they’re having no serious problem moving byproducts, but 31% said it may be a little more difficult than normal and 21% reported it’s very difficult right now.

ARDCO Joins Barko Lineup Barko Hydraulics has named ARDCO Equipment as its dealer for logging and land clearing equipment in Louisiana. Based in New Iberia, ARDCO Equipment will handle sales and service of Barko loaders, industrial wheeled tractors, harvesters and feller-bunchers. The dealership was recently established after several years of operating a rental fleet in the area alongside ARDCO’s manufacturing operation.

Optimism Abounds For U.S. Lumbermen U.S. softwood lumbermen are more optimistic about their business and its immediate future than they have been in years, according to an Annual Sawmill Operations and Capital Projects Survey conducted by Timber

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MACHINES-SUPPLIES-TECHNOLOGY Tigercat Forwarder

hood flips forward for great access to both sides of the engine and the entire engine compartment. The strong steel engine house cover forms a comfortable, spacious work platform in the open position. Visit tigercat.com.

New Engine For 822 Line The Tigercat 1055C forwarder represents a major update to the heavyduty 1055 model series. The 1055C now offers Tigercat’s innovative lowwide bunk system found on the larger 1075C and 1085C models. Low-wide provides superior line-of-sight to the load and reduces operator strain. The 1055C is also available with a choice of three wagon frame lengths and fixed bunks. The new Tigercat F135T85 hooked crane means more lift for the 1055C and less chance of the crane contacting the gate. The maximum reach of the new crane is 335 in. The 1055C is powered by the Tigercat FPT N67 in Tier 2 and Tier 4 configurations. All parts in the forwarder can be lifted out as opposed to dropped from underneath the machine. The engine

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Tigercat has swapped the Tigercat FPT C87 engine for the N67 to more closely match the duty cycle of this series of harvesters and feller-bunchers. Models offered with the N67 engine will include the 822D, L822D, H822D and LH822D. The machines will be available with Tier 2 or Tier 4f engine configurations for sale worldwide. Tigercat will continue to produce the LX830D with the C87 engine and closed loop track drives for the North American market. The 822D platform has a higher

capacity cooling system and a new engine enclosure profile that improves all-important right hand side visibility. A new cab structure with narrower front posts and larger side windows further enhances visibility with improved sight lines and the skylight has been replaced by the SKYVIEW camera system providing the operator with a much wider field of view. The 822D is now standard equipped with LED lighting for improved productivity in night shift operations. At the push of a button, the powered engine enclosure fully opens with side platforms for easy access to critical components including hydraulic filters, the swing gearbox, cooling system components and both sides of the engine. The redesign also allows for a larger standard fuel tank. Visit tigercat.com.

Bandit Coloring System With Bandit’s enhanced Color Max colorizer system, creating beautiful colored landscape mulch from waste wood has never been easier. The Color Max coloring sys-

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tem sprays color directly to the Bandit Beast cuttermill, which thoroughly coats material during processing. “This system takes full advantage of the high-production capabilities of The Beast, distributing color throughout the mulch as it’s broken down,” says Jason Morey, Bandit Industries sales manager. “Because color is applied to the cuttermill, coverage on the product is distributed evenly while also being efficient with the colorant.” The Color Max system requires less colorant and water to create the rich, evenly colored landscape mulch that’s always in demand. By applying color to the cuttermill, material stays in better contact with color. On average, the Color Max system uses 25% less color and 30% less water. Visit banditchippers.com.

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14 ➤ a folding gate in the back that you can just blow in. No opening and closing as with the swing,” Sapp says. He had Peerless make something similar with a closed top, which is what he’s currently running. Jeremy says a big headache has come from the trailers’ weight issues. “Total weight would be fine but the drive axles would be overloaded,” he explains. “When we had them build these trailers, we had them slide the two rear axles forward a few feet, it took some of the load off the drive axles.” Now, chipper operators can load them like normal without being overweight. Each year Sapp purchases 88,000 lbs. permits from the State of Florida. “Before they were always stopping us to check and we were always overweight by 2-4,000 lbs.,” he explains, but with the $240 annual permit, he’s able to avoid the slightly overweight tickets that are upwards of $400.

Safety, Office Work For Sapp, who preaches at Trinity Worship Center in Southport, Fla., his single biggest stressor is making sure everyone is safe on the job. “That bothers me more than anything, getting that phone call where someone

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Recently, Sapp has begun building his own glider kit Peterbilt trucks.

has had an accident. You’d think all this stuff running is the biggest stress factor, but it’s really not. It runs very smoothly, honestly,” he emphasizes. Sapp allows each crew foreman to run his own safety program, having monthly in-woods tailgate meetings. Sharon Sapp, Jeremy Sapp, Jerry Sapp and Mary Finch all have offices in the building in front of the shop. Often, though only Sharon and Finch will actually be in them. “I go east; he goes west,” Jeremy says of him and his father. Finch and Sharon handle all office work for both Jerry Sapp Timber Co. and Sapp’s Land & Excavating, two

entities that Sapp really wishes weren’t set up in this way. “My CPA at the time advised us to do it this way, but the goal is to bring everything back under the Sapp’s Land & Excavating incorporation,” he says. Currently, Jerry Sapp Timber Co. is basically just the trucking part of the business, and most everything else is filtered through Sapp’s Land & Excavating. Sharon handles insurance paperwork, BITCO providing the underwriting for trucking and workers’ comp; Swamp Fox does equipment. The week ends for the crews on Thursday and Finch handles inputting

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all tickets into Logger’s Edge, which Sharon says is “one of the best things the company has even done.” Using the Logger’s Edge program Finch can track what mix of pine and hardwood each stand has, as well as settlements. “It just makes everything easier to manage,” Sharon says. Sharon handles all employee timesheets and runs payroll. Checks are ready for pick up on Fridays at 10:30 a.m. Usually Finch is done by 1 on Fridays, Sharon says, and she’s not there much later. Crews typically don’t work on Saturdays unless the mill needs extra production, but often when that does happen, loads will already be prepped and one truck driver can handle the 50-yard haul from the shop to the mill. “We’re the only thing on this road beside the mill. It’s a definite advantage,” Sapp says. Any major decisions are ultimately Sapp’s, though he does often have meetings with Sharon and Jeremy to get their opinions. “Usually I have the final say, but they can override,” Sapp says. Jeremy interjects, “Like with this Fourth of July, we’re taking a week’s vacation. The crew is working some extra overtime so they won’t lose pay and we will be able to have some deserved downtime.” SLT

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PRINT CLASSIFIED AD RATES: Print advertising rates are $50 per inch. Space is available by column inch only, one inch minimum.

Click. Connect. Trade.

DEADLINES: Ad reservation must be received by 10th of month prior to month of publication. Material must be received no later than 12th of month prior to month of publication.

www.ForesTreeTrader.com

CONTACT: Call Bridget DeVane at 334-699-7837, 800-669-5613, email bdevane7@hotmail.com or visit www.southernloggintimes.com

Logo indicates that equipment in the ad also appears on www.ForesTreeTrader.com

Logo indicates that equipment in the ad also appears on

1845

FOR SALE

’01 JD 640GIII skidder.............. $55,000

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304-877-5256 13164

2290

13189

2015 Deere 643K Feller Buncher STK# LT664737; 3,064 hrs $138,000

2015 Deere 853MH Harvester STK# LU287968; 1,967 hrs $445,000

2015 Cat 553C Feller-Buncher STK# LT300133; 3,605 hrs $110,000

2013 Deere 437D Log Loader STK# LU236214; 9,025 hrs $83,500

2013 Deere 753J Tracked Feller-Buncher STK# LU240593; 4,657 hrs $195,000

2015 Deere 648L Skidder STK# LT669244; 3,348 hrs $185,000

2014 Deere 848H Skidder STK# LT655945; 6,687 hrs $131,000

2008 Deere 748H Skidder STK# LT616581; 16,464 hrs $40,000

2013 Deere 648H Skidder STK# LT656458; 6,078 hrs $118,000

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FINAN C AVAILA ING BLE

5569

Ready To Place Your Classified Ad? Call 334-699-7837, 800-669-5613 or email class@southernloggintimes.com for print ads.

www.equipmentandparts.com

Office : 903-238-8700 • Jason Bruner: 903-452-5290 Bill Bruner: 903-235-2805 H REDUCED PRICES H

SKIDDERS

2012 John Deere 748H Skidder – 7,950 hours, Good 30.5 x 32 tires, Cab with air, Winch, Ready to work! ............................ Reduced to $110,000

2011 John Deere 648H Skidder – 10,600 hours, Good 30.5 x 32 tires, Cab with air, Winch, Ready to work!...$89,500

2008 John Deere 648H Skidder – 9,300 hours, Good 30.5 x 32 tires Cab with air, Winch, Ready to work! ............... $78,000

2010 Cat 525C Dual Arch Skidder – 8,000 hours, 2 New, 2 good 30.5 x 32 tires, Cab with air, Winch, Ready to work!..................... Reduced to $79,500

FELLER BUNCHERS

2010 Prentice 2670 Feller Buncher – 6,900 hours, SC-57 saw head, Very good 34;00 tires, Cab with air, 6.7 Cummins engine, Ready to work! .... $89,500

2004 John Deere 843H Feller Buncher – Wartah FD22 Saw Head, Good 30.5 x 32 tires, Cab with air, Ready to work!..... ...................................................$59,500

MULCHERS

2010 Prentice 2570 Mulcher–New FAE 200/U-225 Tx special smooth drum, 2 speed mulching head, New high pressure pump and hoses, 28L tires, 6.7 Cummins engine, Cab with air, Ready to work! 200 hours since conversion from a Feller Buncher. Rent to own W.A.C........................... Reduced to $179,500

2007 Cat 553 Mulcher - FAE 200/U-225 TX special smooth drum, 2 speed mulching head, New set of teeth, Cab with cold air/heat, 28L tires, Cat 6.6 tier 3 engine, Ready to work! ................................. Reduced to $119,500

LOADERS

2012 John Deere 643K Feller Buncher – 5,410 hours, Good 28L tires, Waratah FD22B saw head, Cab with air, Ready to work!................... Reduced to $115,000

2012 Cat 559B Log Loader – 6,393 hours, Trailer mounted with CTR 426 delimber, Cab with air, Ready to work! ....... $110,000

Visa and Mastercard accepted

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8324

1998 860 Tigercat, new engine, new 2010 2384 Prentice 426 delimber, new 2005 718 Tigercat 5000 saw head, all cylinders 2005 Peterson 5000g chipper, rebuilt 2000 Peterson 5000 chipper.... $100,000 bucket pins and bushings, 70% bottom, pins and bushings in bucket, new brg resealed, replaced pins and bushing in head, completely, new paint...............$350,000 11,000 hrs............................... $100,000 under delimber, 10,000 hrs.........$65,000 nice machine, 9,860 hr, 2,300 hrs on new engine

2016 New Barko 595B Crawler on 70% 2007 John Deere 2054 Shovel, Rotobec Gemco GI500 w/ trailer...............$35,000 2008 Tigercat 234 w/Riley delimber, hyd bottom, 24 in cab riser, 36ft live heel boom grapple saw............................... $70,000 landing gear............................... $40,000 ..........................................Price on request

NOT PICTURED • Tigercat grapple 4053 refurbished.............................................................. $9,800 • 630C Tigercat skidder, dual arch, new engine, new hydrostats, 35.5 tires 65%.......................................................................................... $75,000 • 535C Cat skidder, new center section, new boom pins and bushings 50%, 30.5 dual arch grapple, 8500 hrs...................................................................... $70,000

• Kenworth trucks–ONE OWNER: – 2000 T800, clean truck, 850,000 miles 80% rubber, C12 Cat engine recently over engine – 2005 T800 Kenworth C15 twin turbo – 2003 W900L C15 single turbo

2891

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Ready To Place Your Classified Ad? Call 334-699-7837, 800-669-5613 or email class@southernloggintimes.com for print ads.

–Used parts for John Deere skidders G thru H, axles, grapples, winches and grapple tonge, Prentice Barko and Tigercat loaders Contact Alamiss Gavin 601-394-7796 or Jerry 601-410-341

3528

FOR SALE 2005 Tigercat 860

WANTED TO BUY

Cat 518 & Cat 518C skidders in TX, LA area Call Kent 936-699-4700 r_kentjones@yahoo.com

track cutter, 17k hours, runs great, strong machine. Lots of new parts include: undercarriage, final drive, drive motor, saw disc, main turn bearing, approx 5000 hours on rebuilt engine, packings and more. Ready to go to work!!!!! .................................................... $115,000 Call: 252-862-6379

280

Ala-Miss Inc. Used Equipment

2750

NOTICE The time to straighten a bent sawdisk is soon after it is bent or the disk will rapidly over time be out of balance due to uneven metal loss. Such a disk may require extraordinary means to establish balance. A dial indicator will not give a true reading of a disk's sraightness if that disk has been operated bent for a period of time. Straightening service for all types of feller buncher sawdisks. I use TIG welding exclusively to repair cracks. MIG wire welding is not advised for repairing sawdisks.

6209

4433

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252-945-2358

566

Carver Sawdisk Repair 7393

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Ready To Place Your Classified Ad? Call 334-699-7837, 800-669-5613 or email class@southernloggintimes.com for print ads.

14,486 hrs., good condition ..............................$42,500

2006 Hydro-Ax 570 Feller-Buncher

Day 334-312-4136 Night 334-271-1475 or Email: johnwpynes@knology.net

Contact: Chris Alligood 1-252-531-8812 email: chrisa.cavalierhose@gmail.com

REMINDER:

11,858 hrs., 40% tires............ $45,000

TED SMITH

5840 Hwy 36, Russellville, AL Home: 256-766-8179 • Office: 256-766-6491 Fax: 256-766-6962 • Cell: 256-810-3190

KEVIN MONTGOMERY 256-366-1425

WANTED NOW

SKIDDERS, LOG LOADERS, BUNCHERS AND BUCK SAWS WILL PAY FAIR PRICE

3214

USED FORESTRY EQUIPMENT ALSO AVAILABLE FOR SALE

352-239-1549

Helping Loggers Save Money For Over 20 Years

770

2008 Prentice 2384 Log Loader

FOR SALE 2011 John Deere

Hose, Fittings & Crimpers 8309

13288

IF YOU NEED

To buy or sell forestry, construction, utility or truck equipment, or if you just need an appraisal, contact me, Johnny Pynes with JM Wood Auction. Over 25 years experience.

Starting next issue (July) the closing date and material due date for Southern Loggin’ Times will change. SLT will now close on the 10th of every month with material being due by the 12th.

562

RECONDITIONED DELIMBINATORS!! In addition to new machines, CHAMBERS DELIMBINATOR, INC. now has factory reconditioned DeLimbinators. These units have been inspected, repaired, and updated as needed. Call us and we will help you select a DeLimbinator for your need.

WE ALSO BUY USED DELIMBINATORS Call: 662-285-2777 day, 662-285-6832 eves Email: info@chambersdelimbinator.com 1123

335D Log Loader Knuckleboom w/CSI 243 delimber, 8096 hours............ $65,000

• 2010 Tigercat 620D D/A Grapple skidder, 30.5x32 tires, winch, very clean unit, 11,508 hrs. Machine is woods ready ....................................................... $79,500 • 2008 Tigercat 724E Feller Buncher, brand new Cummins engine, very solid unit ready for the woods, comes with 5502 saw head but have other optional heads and different tires available..................................$75,000 • 2004 John Deere 648GIII Skidder, dual arch, torque converter..................... $45,000 • 2007 John Deere 437C Knuckleboom log loader w/Riley delimber, hyd. landing gear ....................................................... $45,000 • Tigercat 230B Knuckleboom log loader w/CTR delimber.............................. $25,000 • Prentice 210C Knuckleboom log loader, 6BT5.9 Cummins engine, lever controls, Prentice grapple, 10.00-20 Dayton tires ......................................................... $7,500 • 2010 John Deere 748H skidder...... $79,500 • 2002 John Deere 650H Dozer, cab unit w/screens, c/a, 3568 hrs, cab doors need glass replaced, rails wet & sprockets good, 24" pads.........................................$45,000 • CSI Ground saw................................ $7,500 • Grapple set off John Deere 848H, repin & hookup lines ready to go................... $6,500 • Good used CTR ground saw, ready for the woods...............................................$6,000 • Set of four (4) 35.5 20-hole John Deere wheels, dual plates........................... $4,000 • Parting Out: Tigercat 250 loader, turn table out, no grapple......................... Call for price

Contact Alamiss Gavin 601-394-7796 or Jerry 601-410-341

3528

EUREKA! EUREKA! EUREKA! OWNERS HAVE OVER 30 YEARS COMBINED EXPERIENCE!

We can save you money on Saw Teeth. Hundreds of satisfied ACC OW EP customers. Rebuilt Exchange or New. We specialize in rebuild- CRE TING DIT ing Koehring 2000, Hurricana, Hydro Ax split teeth and all CARDS other brands. Call Jimmy or Niel Mitchell. Quantity Discounts! 7180

EUREKA SAW TOOTH CO., INC.

4275 Moores Ferry Rd. • Skippers, Virginia 23879 PH./FAX (day) 1-434-634-9836 or Night/Weekends • 1-434-634-9185

13267

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June

September

14-16—Forest Products Machinery & Equipment Expo, Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, Ga. Call 504-443-4464; visit sfpaexpo.com.

10-12—Alabama Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Perdido Beach Resort, Orange Beach, Ala. Call 334-265-8733; visit alaforestry.org.

July

15-16—Kentucky Wood Expo, Masterson Station Park, Lexington, Ky. Call 502-695-3979; visit kfia.org.

21-23—Georgia Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Jekyll Island Convention Center, Jekyll Island, Ga. Call 912635-6400; visit gfagrow.org. 21-23—Missouri Forest Products Assn./Missouri Loggers Council annual meeting, Lake of the Ozarks, Camdenton, Mo. Call 816-6305500; visit moforest.org. 23-25—Appalachian Hardwood Manufacturers Summer Conference, Inn on Biltmore Estate, Asheville, NC. Call 336-885-8315; visit appalachianwood.org.

August 17-20—Virginia Loggers Assn. annual meeting, The Inn at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va. Call 804677-4290; visit valoggers.org.

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4-6—North Carolina Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Hilton Riverside, Wilmington, NC. Visit ncforestry.org.

25-27—Tennessee Forestry Assn. annual meeting, DoubleTree by Hilton, Memphis, Tenn. Call 615883-3832; visit tnforestry.com.

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3-5—Arkansas Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Holiday Inn Airport, Little Rock, Ark. Call 501374-2441; visit arkforests.org.

29-31—Louisiana Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Hilton Riverside New Orleans, New Orleans, La. Call 318-443-2558; visit laforestry.com.

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October

10-12—Mississippi Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Golden Nugget, Biloxi, Miss. Call 601-354-4936; visit msforestry.net.

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28-30—American Loggers Council annual meeting, Natchez Grand Hotel, Natchez Convention Center, Natchez, Miss. Call 409-625-0206. visit amloggers.com.

25-26—Southwest Forest Products Expo 2017, Hot Springs Convention Center, Hot Springs, Ark. Call 501224-2232; visit arkloggers.com.

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15-16—Mid-Atlantic Logging & Biomass Expo, Selma/Smithfield, NC. Call 919-271-9050; visit malbexpo.com.

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25-27—Texas Forestry Assn. Annual Meeting, Hotel Fredonia, Nacogdoches, Tex. Call 936-632-8733.

November 1-3—Forestry Association of South Carolina annual meeting, Hyatt Regency, Greenville, SC. Call 803798-4170; visit scforestry.org.

January 2018 17-20—Appalachian Hardwood Manufacturers annual meeting, JW Marriott, Marco Island, Fla. Call 336885-8315; visit appalachianwood.org. Listings are submitted months in advance. Always verify dates and locations with contacts prior to making plans to attend.

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