Re: Horse Logging,

Posted by Shep on February 12, 2001 at 22:14:03 from (63.175.91.226):

In Reply to: Horse Logging, posted by Canadian Cowboy on February 12, 2001 at 16:21:00:

Did this as a kid (16-8) in for a neighbor in
N.Idaho. He used Belgians geldings for the obvious reasons. Lots of hard work, sawing, setting chokers, mending broken tack etc. etc; I traded horses for HP and do logging on my lot with my 550.

But to your point I have assembled some info below
HTH, Shep

Logging with draft animals is practical, efficient, and environmentally-sound on about 75% of all small logging jobs (less than 100 acres).
A horse weighs about 1,600 pounds; a rubber-tired tractor about 5,000; a skidder weighs about 10,000 pounds.
A horse can be maintained for 1 year for less than it costs to buy one skidder tire.
A trained logging horse costs $1,500-$2,000 and can work for 15-20 years.
A logger and a team of horses can be hired for skidding timber for $125-$175 per day.
Horses and mules can do about the same amount of work.
Horses and mules eat about the same amount of food: 3-4 gallons (equivalent to $5-8) of feed per day.
Mules are more tolerant of hot weather than horses.
Watch out for cougars, coyotes, bears etc. as a horse's natural instinct is that they are prey animals.
A single horse may be used to skid low-density trees like red cedar; a team of horses is needed to skid high-density trees like oak.
Horses can skid logs up or down slopes.
The maximum practical skidding distance for horses is about 1/4 mile (about 1500 feet).
A team of horses can pull a load of about 150-200 board-feet; this is equivalent to a green weight of about 1,500 pounds; to a white oak log 20-inches DBH and 24 feet long; or to two white oak logs 15-inches DBH and 32 feet long.
A team of horses can skid about 1,800 board-feet (120 logs) of red cedar per day; a pair of horses can skid about 3,000 board-feet of hardwoods per day.
Life expectancies of oxen, horses and mules, respectively, are 10, 20, and 35 years.
Typically, four animals are brought to a logging site and left. They are rotated to give them breaks from working.
Attach halter with long lead rope and ALWAYS hobble your horses!! No fun chasing critters down a ridge in the dark (don't ask how many times)
Start-up costs (1996) for horse-logging are about less than $10,000; start-up costs for conventional logging are greater than $100,000.
Make sure to factor in equipment needed to transport logs to mill unless this is to be portable tractor sawmill. If not negotiate fees upfront with local mill.
Moving logs across rough terrain is very difficult, most loggers built trails of wood planks or poles to smooth the way.
Today I would strongly consider the use of a logging arch as you could move bigger, longer timber and less strain on the stock (http://www.norwoodindustries.com/skidmate.htm)
Consider contractual logging for the local, state, provincial municipality (parks, forests) vs. homeowner lots - tree huggers can't b*tch to much about using old fashioned horse power. As a plus it would be semi-guaraunteed income without hassles of homeowner budget constraints.

• North American Horse & Mule Loggers Assoc. Inc.

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• Re: Re: Horse Logging, Canadian Cowboy 20:45:01 02/13/01 (0)

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