Forestry Journal (Cooper Forestry)

Cooper An 8-wheel Forestry Ponsse Ergo and brand new Buffalo working in the south of EnglandThe Buffalo arrives in dramatic fashion, stirringup a photogenic cloud of dust.It is a bright, early-summer day. forming a partnership with his al to have an 8-wheeled machine. the areas to work (marked withOn the sandy slopes within the father, and forming RF & NJ They offer better climbing ability stacking areas and anything wefirst forest west of Poole in Cooper, they celebrated by invest- and are better on soft ground. We should avoid – here it is a badgerDorset, the Forestry Commission- ing in an excavator-based machine are lucky in the South, where it is sett and rare plants). I select theowned Wareham Forest, acres of with a very slow Tapio stroke-head. pretty flat, but we do get wet, trees as I go through. What the FCmixed quality Bishop’s pine (Pinus In 1997, Nick built a harvester, boggy areas.” has estimated, and what I am find-muricata) give off their heady using an old Ösa 260 base with a ing, is not what it should be.”scent. Contractor Nick Cooper of Ponsse head, his first introduction Nick approached the contract atCooper Forestry has been here to Ponsse. In 2001, Rod went on Wareham Forest as he would any The Ergo is parked up a steep bankwith his forwarder driver Philip the forwarder and Nick bought his other. “Generally, contracting is a in the forest margins. The cab isPalmer for the last six weeks, first Ponsse machine, a five-year-old standing sale. The FC put a ‘meas- large enough to fit two people.working on a 30% thin, harvest- HS15 harvester. ured’ block out for tender. Tilhill Nick offers me a ride through theing 6,000 metres of rough pine, tell me what products they want 8-hectare compartment to the har-destined (mostly) for the shaver In the mid-1990s, RF & NJ Cooper cut from the material. Knowing vesting site he is currently working.bar market. Last week, Ponsse began buying timber standing what volume of timber there Nick sits for up to 12 hours a daydelivered, direct to site, Nick’s from the FC and MoD and market- should be, I look at the job and in this cab and says that the bestlatest machine, a 6-cylinder, ing direct to the sawmills. “In the give a rate to get it to roadside.” thing in it is the ‘Sit Right’ seat275hp Buffalo forwarder. FJ went good times, this worked out better. technology. Perched on a storagealong to see it on the first day of In bad times, it was difficult to Nonetheless, the Wareham unit, I watch his seat self-level asits working life. move the timber, which impacted Forest contract is different. It is a we dodge, skirt and reverse our on cash flow. With motor manual ‘cut to select’ contract. “The trees way down the hill, around andBased in Southampton, Nick (41) teams to pay, Dad spent his time are not measured or marked. The under multi-diameter, branchyhas been contracting for 25 years, chasing the sawmills for payment.” FC has gone through and ‘estimat- stems and bare harvested piles ofworking almost exclusively for ed’ the plots. We are given maps ofTilhill on private estates and Having worked on contracts forFC-owned land for the last decade. the MoD in Camberley, Surrey, Forwarder driver Philip Palmer (left), who has worked with Nick for the last when the head forester moved to 2½ years (since Rod retired), and Nick Cooper of Cooper Forestry, beside the Leaving school in 1987, Nick BSW, it was suggested that RF & NJ 14-tonne capacity trailer of Cooper Forestry’s new forwarder, the 275hpjoined his father Rod as a self- Cooper might like to market timber Ponsse Buffalo.employed forwarder driver. He through BSW. This continued untilsays, “My father ran his own sub- BSW were taken over by UPMcontracting business and I had Tilhill. In 2003, Nick renamed hisdriven machinery at weekends and company Cooper Forestry Ltd andduring school holidays since I was returned to full-time contracting.12. We used [up to 20] handcut- “This is the way it has stayed. Weters and tractor-based machinery. get paid fortnightly and on time.“During the 1987 storm, we wereon a big FC contract near Nick remains loyal to PonssePetersfield, cutting 8,000 tonnes of machines. The HS15 was replacedbeech hardwood, forwarding out with an HS16, followed by twoon a Rottne forwarder and winch 6-wheeled Ergos. The Rottne for-machines. Our first Rottne forward- warder was superseded by aer was a big leap from those trac- Kockums 83-35, two Ösa 250s, ator-based machines.” Valmet 840.1 and then a Ponsse Elk. The machines were boughtIn 1991, the company invested in a second-hand until last year, whenKockums harvester with a Silvatec Nick took delivery of a custom-builthead (bought direct from Sweden), 8-wheeled 275hp Ergo, deliveredwhich caught fire. In 1993, after six months after order. “It is unusu-Forestry Journal 8/12 www.forestryjournal.co.uk 37

80-year-old Bishop’s pine. production] the big material, then The 8-wheel Ergo stripping a stem of Bishop’s pine. parcelled up the smaller, uneco- Before starting work on any har- nomical timber. I gave a price for The Ponsse Ergo harvester and the H7 (70cm) head is powerful. “The feed-vesting contract, the timber recov- this job at a certain tree size. In my ing force is phenomenal. In this small, rough, branchy pine, I am cutting 15ery sizes are entered into the Opti opinion, the measure that the FC to 20 metres an hour. In clean timber, you can get up to 60 to 70 metres5 computer, which prioritises the say is here is not. It is way smaller an hour.“most important products by price. than it should be and I am not cut-The program ‘optimises’ each tree, ting enough timber each day. ond for shaver bars (Mendip) andcutting the best product from each Production is down 40%. After the third for fencing materials. Westem to maximise value. expenses, it is costing me £1,000 a return to the log pile and wait. The week to come to work. It is hard to Buffalo arrives in dramatic fashion, To demonstrate, Nick harvests a argue with what the Ergo’s compu- stirring up a photogenic cloud ofstem. The cab rocks. Crown fights ter says has been cut, but the FC dust.neighbouring crown. Nick strug- are trying to. I have a meeting withgles to lay the pole flat. By the time Tilhill and the FC forester at 4pm Logs unloaded, Philip steps down Inside the cab of Nick’s Ergo har-he has said, “This is a problem [to try and resolve the issue].” from the cab and says, “Ponsse vester, with the Opti 5 system onhere; the trees are so rubbery you delivered the Buffalo to the site the computer screen, showingcannot get them on the ground,” Parking the Ergo back at the forest straight from Hull docks. They length, diameter and optimisation.the Ergo has cut, colour-marked edge, Nick says that although he PDI’d it, set up the crane, installedand laid two 2.9-metre bars into likes to work within a 70-mile radi- the radio and bar signature system,piles for chipwood, and a third for us of home, the downside of con- and the Buffalo was good to go.fencing. tracting in southern England is that This machine has an extra 100hp there are no long-term contracts. to the wheels in a 6-cylinderWe inspect the Ergo’s cutting head. For three months of the year, Nick engine. It goes well up hills. TheNick says, “The Ergo has a big oil stays in motels and Philip Palmer, back-end is the same size as theflow and big pumps. Whereas who has worked with Nick as a for- Elk’s, with a slightly larger loadcompetitor machines have one warder driver for the last 2½ years capacity. Nick had the exhaust pipepump to the crane and head, the (since Rod retired), stays in his shortened to stop it snagging inPonsse has two: a 145cc pump to Bailey Olympus 530-4 ‘caravan’ the trees. The crane is smoother.the C4 crane, and a 190cc pump when Cooper Forestry’s machinery With an internal hose run, I am notto the head. I chose external feed is low-loaded as far away as worried about pulling the metaland return hoses to the head. The Redditch and Devon. Their last pipes off. The larger 0.35 grab canrest are inside the boom.” contract was in Cheddar. Their pick up an extra 15%, making a next project, in Marlborough, is difference, especially in the smaller For its size, the H7 (70cm) head actually four contracts, three foris powerful. “At 30 kilonewtons, softwood and one for cuttingthe feeding force is phenomenal. 2,000 metres of beech hardwood.The machine cuts a wide range ofmaterial; from tiny 0.07-metre thin- Nick remains loyal to Ponssenings, right up to the 5.5-metre because of their machinery’s relia-sticks (1.5-metre diameter) of Sitka bility and build quality. Lastspruce cut at our last job in Christmas, together with otherCheddar. In this small, rough contractors, he went to Finland tobranchy pine, I am cutting 15 to look around the Ponsse factory.20 metres an hour. In clean timber, “We went into the forest where ayou can get up to 60 to 70 metres Buffalo was working. Having a goan hour. on it convinced me it was the right machine to replace our 4-cylinder “The knives should last five 13-tonne, 175hp Elk forwarder.”years, but do wear down. I sharpenthem once a week with a light Ordered after Christmas, thetouch, using a grinder and flap 14-tonne 275hp Buffalo, with adisk, which gives a good shiny fin- 10-metre reach (and hose-workish. The feed rollers are long- housed inside the boom) was deliv-toothed, because in the South we ered in just six months. Although ahave deep bark and we need the medium-sized machine, the Buffaloextra traction.” is comparable to some competi- tors’ ‘big’ machines. Under Ponsse’s 12-month war-ranty, the machine is serviced at We drive the mile between harvest-200 and 1,200 hours. Most parts ing and forwarding operations inon the Ergo needing regular main- Nick’s Toyota Hilux. Philip spenttenance are easily accessible. The the best part of yesterday tweakingonly problem has been a front ‘parts’, like moving the ‘too-close’knife snapping clean off. Ponsse bolster backwards so that longer-replaced it the next day. length logs loads would balance. This means that Philip is running aSince taking delivery of the Ergo, week and half behind Nick and weCooper Forestry has done well. Last spot the Buffalo, on its first full dayyear, profits were up by 20%. “In of work, making the first of threesmall material, it takes a long time passes through this steeper part offor the Ergo to cut a tonne of tim- the forest. The first log load is des-ber. In the bigger material, produc- tined for Bedmax (chip), the sec-tivity increases by 20%. Last year Icut 35,000 metres in 1,700 hours. “On this site, the FC cut [direct38 www.forestryjournal.co.uk Forestry Journal 8/12

timber. Unloading is quicker.” machines for five Cooper Forestry’s new forwarder, Nick listens to the engine. “The years before the 14-tonne, 275hp Buffalo, with upgrading again. a 10-metre reach loader (hosesrevs are set at 1200 for loading, “At four to five housed inside the boom) unloadingwhich is quite low. I think it needs years old you start shaver bars. Nick had the exhaustsetting at 1250 or 1300, because I to get problems pipe shortened so that it would notcan hear it pulling down the power with machines. It catch on branches when in the for-of the engine.” Philip nods in then becomes a est.agreement. balance; whether The new computer system is not at to pay money in the front of the cab as it is in thePhilip says that the Buffalo has finance, or in Ergo harvester. In the Buffalo, it isbeen well though out. “Access for breakdowns and to one side. Philip can see it whenmaintenance was a battle before; repair costs. As a driving either forwards or back-there was no room beneath the contractor, if my wards. “This is a bigger monitorElk’s cab. This one has plenty of machine is not with more information on it.”room underneath it and the interi- available, I am notor has been updated with Ponsse available and itcontrols. does not look good to my client. “The Buffalo is massively over- We work hard. Weengineered for a forwarder. The get a job, and wecentre joint is a lot stronger than get on with theon older models. Now we have job. It is far better to get a freshheavy-duty stabiliser rams, which machine and avoid the downstop the cab jiggling around and time.”smooth out the ride.” Philip doesnot have ‘Sit Right’ technology, Addendum: After another on-sitepreferring to operate, “By the seat meeting with the FC, the matterof my pants.” that Nick had hoped to resolve is still (to date) unresolved. He says, Philip needs another couple of “I decided to move the machinesdays getting used to the Buffalo off this site and to cut my losses.”and speeds up again. Nick, in themeantime, has a meeting to go to. Cooper Forestry 07774 700312 Carolyne LocherHaving spent £295,000 on theErgo and £200,000 on the Buffalo,Nick expects to keep bothForestry Journal 8/12 www.forestryjournal.co.uk 39