Oakleaf and Sharkey Forestry demo day: Thinning Brown’s Wood

FARMER John Brown of Thornton in Leicestershire converted all his land from agricultural production to forestry in the early years of the National Forest project. The woodland – mostly native broadleaves with pockets of pine and spruce – is now ready for thinning and, over the last couple of years, local contractor Milner Forestry has fitted the operation into its workload.

The supply of dried biomass chips and quality hardwood logs increases the income from what is often seen as a low-value timber harvest, but Ed Milner sees the future of his business as very well grounded. From now on, the many woodlands he has seen established in his corner of Leicestershire will be producing ever-increasing quantities of timber and he will not have to travel far to harvest his raw material.

Most of the machinery and equipment required for harvesting operations in the multitude of small and medium-sized woodlands in the National Forest area will be designed and built far from the English Midlands. However, the local contractor’s intimate knowledge of the area will be indispensable for efficient and co-ordinated timber harvesting.

Oakleaf Forestry’s Joe Litter runs through the controls of the Vimek 404 Duo with a visitor to the event. Joe feels that interest in a more basic concept of timber harvesting is growing and thanks all those that helped to make the event a success.

It was in Brown’s Wood in mid-June that forestry consultant Liz Sharkey and Oakleaf Forestry’s Joe Litter introduced woodland owners, managers and contractors to a range of machinery that may prove eminently suitable for operations in the region’s woodlands.

READ MORE: Vimek 404 Duo makes its UK debut

Formerly involved in forestry contracting herself, Liz Sharkey has been running her management and consultancy business, Sharkey Forestry, for 10 years. Although her business operates UK-wide, Liz has stamped her mark in the English Midlands and now manages around 30 estate woodlands in the area. She has already produced over 60 10-year woodland management plans.

The Vimek 404 Duo is equipped with an FTG Mowi P25 crane. It was, in fact, Mowi’s founder, Wiking Gunnarsson, who invented the parallel driven crane – all the other manufacturers have merely made copies, according to the FTG parent company.

Assisting woodland owners to comply with the legal requirements of the forestry authorities – and maximising the financial assistance the same authorities can provide for approved woodland establishment – is not the ‘be-all and end-all’ of Sharkey Forestry’s remit. Having seen the seedlings established in the National Forest develop into saplings and on to the thinning stage, Liz Sharkey is now very keen to introduce National Forest stakeholders to the low-impact harvesting machinery that may hold the key to opening up harvesting operations in the young plantations.

Oakleaf Forestry arranged for three harvesting units to demonstrate their capabilities to the professionals on the Brown’s Wood site – the Vimek 404 Duo and Sampo Rosenlew’s HR46 harvester and FR28 forwarder. The latter machine featured courtesy of Practicality Brown and MD Alistair Beddall also agreed to bring his recently delivered Prinoth Raptor up from the Home Counties to demonstrate its formidable mulching capabilities.

Brown’s Wood was established on farmland near Markfield in Leicestershire in the early years of the National Forest project. It was also the location for a live demonstration of forestry machinery suitable for use in young plantations.

The Vimek 404 Duo is a true mini-harvesting system. Efficiency is essential to achieve financial viability in the earliest thinnings, especially where forest holdings are small in area. A single operator can complete both harvesting and extraction of the produce and can be ready to move on to another site as soon as the contract is completed. The light weight makes intersite movement eminently suitable for agricultural tractor/low loader handling. The working length of the machine in forwarder mode is 9.25 m, but for transportation this can be reduced by stowing the trailer neck beneath the rear harvester axle.

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Power is supplied by a CAT C2.2T CRDI 50 kW engine and the Mowi P25 crane has a maximum reach of 5.2 m at which distance it has a lifting moment of 400 kg. Both the Keto harvesting head options (Forest Supreme V3/ Forst Xtreme) weigh in around the 300 kg mark, so in harvesting mode most of the Mowi’s operating envelope is within easy range of the head. In forwarding format, the grapple can achieve productive lifts at all ranges to quickly fill the 5,000 kg-rated trailer.

Harvesting heads from the Keto Forst range are eminently suited for operation with the Vimek 404 Duo. The Keto Forst Xtreme, for example, has a maximum felling and delimbing diameters of 30 cm and 25 cm respectively and is capable of handling trees up to 400 kg.

While Finnish machinery manufacturer Sampo Rosenlew has recently developed a 21-tonne eight-wheeled harvester, its dedicated thinnings harvester the HR46 stems from a concept developed almost a quarter of a century ago. Continuous modification of the design has produced an extremely productive harvester that can be delivered at 8,000 kg in weight and with a width of only 2.1 m if required. A 50° frame steering angle endows the harvester with great agility, even in densely populated stands, and fully hydrostatic drive reduces tyre friction and subsequent ground damage to a minimum.

Forestry consultant Liz Sharkey believes that investment in low-impact harvesting machinery is essential to kick-start timber production in the young plantations of the National Forest.

The base of the 7.1 m-reach crane is positioned close below the operator; stability of the machine is thus improved, as is the operator’s ground-level view of the stems to be removed in the thinning operation. Cab design has been developed not only to improve the comfort of the man/woman at the controls but also to allow the eyes to flick upwards to the canopy to ensure the optimum selection is being made.

An Agco Power engine supplies 125 kW at 2,100 rpm – engineered to supply the maximum torque at the ‘revs’ when the harvester is working at peak efficiency. Low fuel consumption and extended service intervals reduce the running costs, but ample power is still available to operate the crane and a formidably adaptable harvesting head. The manufacturer recommends attachment of the Kesla 18RH-II or the Keto 51 Eco Supreme. Both, when coupled with the HR46, are nimble enough to pick through the crop in first thinnings, but have a build that can move straight on to subsequent selective cutting or even early clearfelling operations.

While the machine may be ‘a size up’ when compared to the HR46, judicious work planning by the harvester operator can avoid the requirement for the forwarder to follow in his tracks. The Mesera 83F loader has a 10 m reach so, if produce from the harvesting head is well presented, the forwarder can pick up full loads from a few well-spaced main extraction routes.

It cannot be denied that adapting a cut-to-length system – motor/manual or mechanised – to operate efficiently in scattered multi-owner expanses of forestry, such as the National Forest, has its complexities. Getting the cut produce out to a location where it has a monetary value should provide less of a headache for the forest works manager. Sampo Rosenlew’s FR28 forwarder has turned out to provide the ideal power/weight ratio for Practicality Brown’s forestry operations.

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Managing director Alistair Beddall had been on the hunt for a suitable extraction system for some years. The ability to maximise value from the harvested crop was of prime importance and Practicality Brown took possession of the first FR28 supplied to the UK by Joe Litter and Oakleaf Forestry. The ‘light footprint’ of the Sampo forwarder may have been a key factor in the deal, but the machine was soon to be tested with some seriously hard work.

Sampo Rosenlew’s HR46 harvester is an early thinning specialist with the potential to work efficiently in larger crops if required. Long service intervals and fuel efficiency reduce the running costs of the machine and can enhance the financial viability of early harvesting operations.

Extracting tree-length material from sites for roadside biomass chip production has seen the forwarder’s bunk regularly well filled. The nominal load capacity is 10 tonnes and the crane (Mesera or Kesla) can be supplied with extensions to provide a maximum reach of 10 m. The Agco Power 49AWF engine works through a hydrostatic/mechanical transmission to provide a traction force of 130 kN and a top speed of 25 km/h.

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