I love being friends with farmers

[jrider]

Get a call two days ago from one of the local farmers that's friends with my family. He tells me he has some trees he has knocked down to expand one of his blueberry fields. Only catch is if I want to keep them from going into the burn pile I have to get them out of there this weekend. I can live with that. So I go there today after work to find roughly 20 oak and maples laying side by side already limbed- so it's just the trunks. Probably about 4-5 cords worth all together and only 5 miles from home. Tomorrow will be a good day. What is pictured is only part of the wood. He also has more to come down soon. Two years ago I got close to 20 cords from him.

 

[flashhole]

Good for you. Do you cut them into short rounds before you haul them off or take the entire length on a trailer? I hope you send him a Christmas Card.

 

[beerman6]

awesome

 

[zogger]

Nice!!!

When my boss knocks down trees on his farm, he uses his big crawler..man its a lot of work limbing and bucking them up...they arent nice and neat like that.

 

[Morgan in AR]

That's just one of many reasons to like farmers......just saying.

 

[Nosmo]

A Farmer's Offer

Sounds like a very good offer for sure. I'd try to get as much of them loaded and out of his way that I could this weekend if I couldn't get them all.

Good Luck hauling them off.
Nosmo

 

[jrider]

I plan on having it all out of there tomorrow. I will cut it all up in 16" lengths right there on the spot and haul out with my f350 dump truck, two cords at a time. I have used his equipment and hauled wood off his property in log length but I have found overall, I spend less total time this way.

 

[TKeller]

There are several farmers around me cleaning up fencerows and small woodlots with those crawlers/draglines. So much wood going to waste. I haven't asked but it looks like there is only a small window between when it gets knocked down and when they want to make these HUGE burning piles. At 60 years old I figured I would work to slow for them. There sure is alot of this clearing going on It has to be, at least in part, because of the high grain prices. Not sure though.

 

[VTWoodchuck]

Lucky! All the farmers around here burn wood.

 

[Bushmans]

Sort of have the same thing going on here in March. Landowner expanding fields and is taking out a huge amount of trees. Except we have to cut them, limb them and buck them!
Still firewood though and I need some green stock for a few years down the road! Just hope it's not too muddy!

 

[Whitespider]

There are several farmers around me cleaning up fencerows and small woodlots... There sure is alot of this clearing going on... in part, because of the high grain prices. Not sure though.

History tends to repeat itself... mostly because we refuse to remember the lessons it taught.
It's interesting to study in depth the Dust Bowl Days... the root causes, actions and inaction that interacted with natural weather cycles to worsen and extended it, and then compare it to what's happening today.
When lessons of the past must be relearned, the cost of of those lessons always increase... substantially!

 

[Arbonaut]

I have my wife sew them some quilted placemats or somethin crafty. The Christmas card was a good idea. I built a carburetor for one old guy. What comes around goes around. We are all good at something.

 

[BigDaddyR]

Very nice. It is good to be friends with farmers for many reasons. The one I'm friends with is through my FIL and the guy is a heck of a nice guy and at 93 an inspiration to me to keep going and active way into my golden years.

 

[jrider]

Hired a 16 year old kid to mark logs at 16" and to load the truck. I was able to mostly run the saw and just help with some of the bigger pieces. I cut for about an hour and a half yesterday before dark and the two of us got all of it out of there in about 4 and a half hours today. Got just shy of 5 full cords out of it.

Picture was the second load of maple. Saved the oak for the last load which was a mistake because its so much heavier.

 

[jrider]

Headed out today to get about 3-4 more cords of red oak. The Mexicans chipped brush like bandits yesterday so once again, all I have is just logs to mess with. The trunks are still attached to the root ball, excavator operator just pushed them over so for the most part, the logs are hanging in the air between shoulder and knee height. Will make for the easiest cutting possible.

 

[BigDaddyR]

Headed out today to get about 3-4 more cords of red oak. The Mexicans chipped brush like bandits yesterday so once again, all I have is just logs to mess with. The trunks are still attached to the root ball, excavator operator just pushed them over so for the most part, the logs are hanging in the air between shoulder and knee height. Will make for the easiest cutting possible.

That's cool. Just make sure to watch for them standing up while you're cutting or falling forward on you.

 

[TreePointer]

Watch out for those berry farmers--especially the ones in Michigan.

 

[jrider]

Here is all of the oak I got off the farm this weekend. I would say there is about 6 cords there. In another pile, not pictured is about 4 cords of maple from the farm as well. The guy running the excavator says there will be more to come.

 

[mr.finn]

Great work, sounds like you have a good friend there. Nothing beats free wood, and brushed out for you. I would be all over that. Just make sure and send him a christmas basket next year!!

 

[Pcoz88]

Great Score!! Iam cutting on a farmers fence rows also.