Business South March 2021

66 | TIMBER INDUSTRY Steve Jones Logging Hard work pays off for Steve’s team T T Richard Loader T T to page 68 F rom a farming background, hard work runs in Steve Jones’ blood; just as well because making a living in the forestry in- dustry harvesting trees is not for those looking for an easy time. Lured by the dollars to be earned, Steve left school at the age of 16 to work in a shearing crew spending 10 years in that industry till a bad back prompted a switch to forestry. After 12 years in the bush working for logging crews an opportunity arose to buy a small hauler and a couple of diggers from his boss who was leaving the region. “But it’s not just as easy as buying a hauler and away you go,” explains Steve. “I had to renegotiate the logging contract and you need the right finance and people backing you. You need a little bit of equity along with hard work — a lot of hard work.” So having successfully navigated the world of business establishment, Steve Jones Log- ging was born in 2012. Operating throughout the Otago region the business has steadily grown in reputation and capability and now harvests between 50,000 – 60,000 tonnes of trees annually with capacity to increase that volume. Significant investment in machinery and technology has defined the company as a fully mechanised ground based and cable-hauling operation mainly working in privately owned woodlots. Machinery includes a Madill 120 Swing Yarder with a 50’ tower, a 42-tonne digger with a Satco processing head that delimbs, grades and puts the logs in diameters and lengths, and two grapple diggers. There is also a felling machine, a grapple machine with a live heel, a multi purpose grapple machine for root raking, grapple skidder for ground based work and a couple of tail holds. Another multi-purpose root raking machine has just been purchased and Steve is in the process of building a large wood splitter for waste wood that would otherwise get pushed over the bank, taking advantage of an emerg- ing market for biomass woodchip. Throughout the crew’s forest harvesting operations Steve says a strong sense of environmental values always form part of the work ethic. 0800 30 30 90 I abequipment.co.nz 24/7 SERVICE, PARTS & BREAKDOWN SUPPORT. Specialists in Forestry, Construction & Material Handling Equipment. THE HYDRAULIC HOSE SPECIALISTS HYDRAULIC SERVICES & REPAIRS - REDUCE DOWNTIME, INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY 0800 • 111 • 24 • 7 Proud to be associated with Steve Jones Logging Ltd Phone: 03 477 0175 | Email: andrew@caservices.nz • Specialising in small to medium businesses • Large enough to meet all your financial needs • Small enough to know your name C.A. SERVICES DUNEDIN LTD