Horse Logging,

Im thinking of starting a horse logging bizz part time, Thinning and selective logging on private land owners wood lots. The same people who don't want big equipment ripping up there land. I feel the time is right for horse logging, people are becoming more aware of the enviroment. I think its a low capital Business with teh potential to make a decent part time living.

Any thoughts

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.

Ive been thinking more and more about starting up a horse logging bizz these day's. I thinking horse because I just haven't come across a small logging that can do the same job as clean and tough as they can. The closest isa 30 hp fwd tractor with a logging blade, even then they can make a mess in the bush. But its far more effiecent on an enviromental level than having cat 525 skidders running around the bush killing every thing. Ive thought up many variations of some sort of very small mechanical skidder/harvest. Keeping in mind, cost, weight, width, and pulling power. Nothing has come close to a big horse.

Any thoughts, does the perfect machine exsist???? Something under $5000.00, enough power to pull a 42 ft log, good on side hills, and runs on next to nothing.

I would expect that such an operation as you propose would be very much in demand by small woodlot owners.

Horses and mules used for logging in southern US were penned and left in the woods near the logging site. Someone living nearby was usually engaged to feed the animals. This could be a problem for you if you work part time. Trailering an animal(s) too and fro for just a few hours work would not be very efficient.

I will ever remember a team of mules which I had the opportunity to observe on a logging operation in Georgia in the early 1950's. They were a matched pair. They performed their task without the benefit of reigns, or driver. They made the cycle from woods to the logging deck without benefit of a man. They would skid tree length to the deck. A worker would unhook the logs and speak to the team. They would promptly turn around and make their way back to the woods where a worker would once again hook them to another turn of logs. He would then speak to them and they would make their way back to the loading deck. If they encountered small trees or brush, they would place their heads together so as to prevent the tree from getting wedged between them. It was back and forth all day without requiring anything more than just a gently word on both ends of the skid. It is hard to imaging the number of hours required to train such a valuable team of animals.

Good luck to you in your venture. You can do it!

Vernon Holt

I would expect that such an operation as you propose would be very much in demand by small woodlot owners.

Horses and mules used for logging in southern US were penned and left in the woods near the logging site. Someone living nearby was usually engaged to feed the animals. This could be a problem for you if you work part time. Trailering an animal(s) too and fro for just a few hours work would not be very efficient.

I will ever remember a team of mules which I had the opportunity to observe on a logging operation in Georgia in the early 1950's. They were a matched pair. They performed their task without the benefit of reigns, or driver. They made the cycle from woods to the logging deck without benefit of a man. They would skid tree length to the deck. A worker would unhook the logs and speak to the team. They would promptly turn around and make their way back to the woods where a worker would once again hook them to another turn of logs. He would then speak to them and they would make their way back to the loading deck. If they encountered small trees or brush, they would place their heads together so as to prevent the tree from getting wedged between them. It was back and forth all day without requiring anything more than just a gently word on both ends of the skid. It is hard to imaging the number of hours required to train such a valuable team of animals.

Good luck to you in your venture. You can do it!

Vernon Holt