GETTING HITCHED

Estonian firm BMF offers a one-stop solution for forwarder trailers. Shropshire user Burwarton Estates took delivery of its unit in 2022 and has had a full year of work from the 12-tonne model.

Ken Topham recently paid the team a visit to hear their verdict

Burwarton Estates has 650 hectares of forest, most of which is commercial wood. This is split between trees that are harvested commercially, and a small amount of Christmas trees that are grown to satisfy town centres, and anyone who wants a large outdoor festive tree. About 10% of the woodland on the estate is under the PAWS scheme (Planted Ancient Woodland Site), and all of the estate is covered by Shropshire’s Area of Outstanding Natural

Beauty, which means the forests must be maintained as part of the local landscape. The BMF 12T2Pro trailer was bought when its predecessor reached the end of its serviceable life, although getting the BMF wasn’t straightforward. The trailer was part-funded by a grant scheme offered by the Rural Payments Agency (called the Farming Equipment Technology fund). Forestry manager Will Worthington explained that they had to order a certain spec to qualify – the grapple size and crane reach were part of the criteria, as well as the capacity of the trailer itself.

Extra Features

On our visit, the team were pulling out some windblown Western Red Cedar that they were supplying to a local construction business that were able to process the timber, and utilise it on a project rather than imported wood. Once the estate hit all of the grant requirement check boxes, it was the team using the trailer that chose some of the extra features. Gary Broadway (the operator using the trailer on our visit) pushed for the wireless remote control option, although at over £3,000 he had to present a case for the extra spend.

‘Time is money’ was the winning point, with only feed and return hydraulic pipes and 12V power going to the tractor, and no cables or brackets, unhitching takes ve minutes compared to 45 minutes for their old machine, which had cab-mounted servo controls. Supplying agent Phil Alderson, gave his experienced opinion to the ordering process and suggested oatation tyres, which weren’t standard, the 500/50R17 offer a more favourable footprint in the woods, and a slightly softer ride on the road, as the BMF is mounted on rocking bogies.

On our visit the team were cleaning up the logs in the forest and winching them to a clearing between the racks in a

Info Panel

OWNER

Burwarton Estates

LOCATION Bridgnorth, Shropshire

BUSINESS TYPE Forestry and agricultural estate

MACHINE BMF 12T2Pro

USED FOR Timber extraction, log processing

CAPACITY 12 tonnes

TYRES 500/50R17

CRANE BMF 750

GRAPPLE BMF C24

CONTROLS Radio remote OPERATORS Gary Broadway and Will Worthington

HOST TRACTOR Valtra 111 CONNECTIONS

12V hydraulic pressure and free return commercial part of the forest, where the forwarder trailer could access, and extract the logs without itself needing to be winched out. Gary was in charge of the crane, and Will was cutting the logs to 4.3m for easy handling, tting the bed perfectly. the 7.5m includes the telescopic at full reach. Lift capacity is 750kg, at full reach, this is the bare spec, so the grapple (a C24 120kg) and rotator (Finn rotor 400, 28kg) need to be accounted for, which reduces the lift by 148kg plus ancillary pipework and oil, the crane can rotate through 370 degrees.

The crane is obviously the business end of a forwarder, whether self-propelled or trailed.

The BMF crane is made in-house and so is the grapple.

The crane is a 7.5m reach model, which features a telescopic section and wide-angle joint that allows the dipper to go almost straight to the boom for maximum reach,

The trailer’s capacity is 12 tonnes, the load area is 2,100mm wide (inside the bolsters) and 1,420mm from the bolster arms to the top of the poles, with a deeper section in the centre of the load area. The length, meanwhile, is 4,150mm. The Pro models feature telescopic load poles, but the Burwarton team tend not to use the extra capacity because the increased width makes gateways a problem. The C24 grapple has a maximum opening of 1,330mm and can clamp down to 98mm.

Working in the woods the 12T2Pro has proven its worth, extracting timber is easier than the previous trailer, as the operator can be less particular about where the unit is parked because they are not reliant on visibility from the cab. “We really like the remote control – it’s very userfriendly and you’re always able to see what you’re doing,” Gary said.

Room With A View

Will explained that part of the forestry department’s role was to clear any storm damage from the estate that falls onto highways, or bows that have been damaged and haven’t yet fallen. “The crane is handy for jobs like that. There are two of us that are quali ed tree climbers, but when there are storm damaged trees, you have to be careful, we have used the crane to secure trees and branches so we can safely cut them and control their decent.”

Processing logs is another operation where the new trailer works well, transporting logs and loading the feed deck. The remote allows whoever is operating the processor to see the work area, but also saves them having to climb into the tractor when they need to top up the deck, increasing safety in an operation where there are lots of moving parts.

Burwarton forestry team is harvesting Christmas trees. They use the BMF for this job, felling the trees and then lifting with straps onto the deck, one of the team found that 2x4-inch timber slotted perfectly into the bolster supports which enabled them to transport the festive trees higher in the load bunker without getting mud from the tyres on the foliage. One of the options Will said would be useful is the branch tube, which consists of a sheet metal liner for the bunker to transform it into a box trailer.

One of the more specialised roles for the

There have been very few negatives regarding the BMF trailer, with only the charging unit for the remote batteries coming into question, both Will and Gary saying a mains charger would be useful, rather than the 12V vehicle version. Otherwise though, this is one versatile setup that is serving Burwarton very well indeed.

Forest machines that are loved by farmers and valued by professionals:

• Grapples 0.15-0.37 m2

• Cranes 4.3-10 m

• Trailers 6-18 t

• Hidden hydraulic hoses

• Made of especially tough steel: My Inner Strenx® and Hardox® In My Body

• Protected oil pump

• Protected cylinders

• Tough turning house

• Powder-coated surface

• Lowered centre of gravity

• Accessible greasing points

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Large Tree Services Ltd. “Coolewell”, Church Road Newtownabbey, BT36 6DH +44 (0)28 9034 2838 sales@mlarge.com www.mlarge.com