62 | Valintine Logging FORESTRY Best yield, site care a key focus for loggers Russell Fredric 0800 366 700 www.forest360.nz ONLY THE BEST FOR YOUR FORESTRY MANAGEMENT O Proudly independent and backed by over 30 years experience in all areas of forest advisory work and management. . 5 Monmouth Rd, Stratford Ph: 06 7657628 | M: 027 4432896 E: ross@hms-taranaki.co.nz Service Dealer since 1981 Earthmoving & Hydraulic Machinery Specialists Prooud to support Valintine Logging r t s or V L Customised Solutions sales@gfhydraulics.co.nz 06 755 2400 GF Hydraulics provide quality mobile hydraulics repair services, 24/7. We offer the world leaders in motion and control technology through Parker Hannifin group of products. CONTACT US Total Hose & Fittings Service MCCARTHY TRANSPORT ARE PROUD TO SUPPORT VALINTINE LOGGING Achieving the best possible yield combined with a high standard of site management are cornerstones that have supported Valintine Logging for decades. The Inglewood business has four staff and is run by Tom Valintine and his wife, Marian with their son Chris, aged 42, who has worked in it for 27 years and has been brought into the company as part of a succession plan. In doing so, Chris continues a legacy in which Tom started working for his father, who ran a sawmill, in 1967. Tom subsequently established Valintine Logging in 1994 and, after nearly six decades, brings a tremendous depth of experience to the business and the wider industry. During that time Tom has seen significant change, both in on-the-ground operations to the implementation of tertiary qualifications and training along with needed improvements in health and safety. The company’s business model involves taking care of the whole process for clients, mainly farmers, from harvest to sale, but it also manages numerous forestry blocks where farmers supply the land while Valintine’s plants, prunes and harvests the trees then shares the profits. Each phase of a harvest from pre-planning, environmental controls and harvest to post harvest management is a complex process, Tom says. “It’s a matter of assessing blocks of trees for their value, what its going to yield, when it can be done and what’s needed for the access of machinery or trucks to cart it out and designing the skid sites where you are going to do the [log] processing, after you’ve got permits from the regional council.” “There’s quite a bit involved.” It is the expertise of the logging company and the best-practice implemented throughout the entire process, including grading and accounting for the market the logs will be sold to, whether export or domestic, that ultimately determines the yield and return on investment, Tom says. In an industry that has had a poor track record for health and safety, prompting new legislation to be imposed in 2016, Valintine Valintine Logging takes care of the whole process for clients, from harvest to sale. Logging developed its own prodedures before the Government stepped in. “I think we were one of the first companies in Taranaki to set up our own health and safety systems before it became compulsory.” While regulations and are important and today’s loggers have the option of gaining tertiary qualifications, Tom believes there is no substitute for on the job experience and that a good logger will use their head and take the time necessary to work systematically and safely. “We take a lot of pride in what we do, it never gets boring.” In the light of the environmental consequences during heavy rain events in some areas in recent years, the post-harvest state of a forestry block is something “they’ve got to think far more seriously about” Tom says. “The last thing you want is bundles of slash that can slide off a hill and create hell further down on a farm.” “You go in there to do the job, but part of that job is also the clean-up.” “The last thing you want is bundles of slash that can slide off a hill and create hell further down on a farm.”
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