| 63 T T Hugh de Lacy Diversification keeps Steve’s crew humming The plantation that Steve and his crew are harvesting for Olsens is near Palmerston in North Otago. FORESTRY Steve Jones Logging It’s been grim times in the forestry industry since the Covid pandemic-driven crash in export log prices, but Dunedin-based company Steve Jones Logging is hanging in, thanks to a big machine and a diversification into firewood. Steve Jones himself says the state of the forestry industry is the worst in the 25 years he’s been involved in it, with contractors big and small round the country parking up their gear or folding their businesses entirely. “It’s not just the log prices,” Steve says. “”The cost of living has shot up, and there have been huge price jumps in machinery maintenance things like diesel and oil filters and lubricants. “It’s hard to plan ahead, and keeping the business on an even keel takes a lot of juggling.” Steve’s own business is underwritten by a contract for P F Olsen, the Australasian forestry services provider which manages 160,000ha of plantations in New Zealand and a further 212,000ha in Australia. The plantation that Steve and his crew are harvesting for Olsens is near Palmerston in North Otago, and while this steady work is central to the company’s continued operations, Steve has been compelled to diversify into that meanest of forestry products, firewood. Brought up on an Otago farm, Steve gravitated into shearing soon after leaving school. After ten years of that he thought it about time he got into something less physically demanding, so he went to work for a logging contractor. While he says there’s no harder work than shearing, the logging was by no means easy going either: “If you’re on a chainsaw it can be quite physical, and you’re carrying that extra weight around all day. “Tree falling’s very demanding, and so is breaking out,” Steve says. Tough as the logging proved to be, Steve liked it enough to buy the business with money he’d saved from shearing. Until the present slump occurred in the forestry industry, Steve’s log harvesting business was centred round his Madill 120 swing-yarder. “The business is one of cable-harvesting; we specialise in steep-slope harvesting but also do ground-based work on flatter terrain,” he says. The Madill 120 is essentially a tower sitting on a D6 tracked bulldozer chassis, with wire ropes linking it at the top to where the trees are being felled down the hill. The trees are hooked on and the swing-yarder lifts them into the air and up the hill to the loading skid. “It’s one of our main pulling machines, and we run a grapple and camera with it that enhances safety by eliminating the need to have someone down the hill spotting for the grapple.” The state of the forestry market has made Steve and wife Gail try to improve the outlook for themselves and their five staff by launching a bulk firewood business using the thickest of the slash. “The firewood revenue isn’t that good, but at the end of the day it puts food on the table, and as we build it up we could see it possibly changing the whole business. “It’s a bit like farming: when wool went down sheep-farmers had to switch their focus to meat. “I can see log prices picking up around August, but while they’re as low as they are, we’ve got to look at alternatives,” Steve says. Phone: 03 983 5500 waterfordpress.co.nz Your Business, Your Industry, Your News. DO OUR READERS KNOW YOU EXIST? OFS Insurance Brokers Proud to support Steve Jones Logging and looking after their insurance needs. OFS Insurance Brokers – your locally owned & operated Insurance Specialists 0508 637 637 www.ofs.nz enquiries@ofs.nz HOSE WORK, POWER STEERING AND HYDRAULIC FOR SIMPLE, FAST SOLUTIONS CALL THE TEAM AT HSR, WE SORT THINGS OTAGO-WIDE Authorised service agent for WORK SMARTER, NOT HARDER THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT TO GET THE JOB DONE FAST! 2tyretracks@gmail.com www.2tyretracks.co.nz Servicing all Southland, Otago & South Canterbury 03 215 4556 027 201 4149 AUTHORISED SERVICE CENTRE P O N S S E
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=