Forestry: Small-scale machinery buyer's guide 2023

This is Part I of the feature. Part II can be viewed here.  

JAS P WILSON
BOTEX RANGE 

Small-scale forestry machinery is often the only viable option to manage a wide variety of urban and rural locations. A key piece of the puzzle is solving the collection and extraction of timber in viable lengths to support secondary processing through either a mill or a processor. To address this market Botex Machinery, supplied through Jas P Wilson, has a range of trailer and loader options to suit. 

A mainstay of the British and Irish forestry sector, Botex has options suited to professional forestry, firewood, arboriculture, or site management duties. Its UK-manufactured, heavy-duty forestry trailers and loaders provide a comprehensive product range, which is supported by a network of Jas P Wilson-employed regional service technicians in well-stocked service vans.

One standout option for applications such as these is the GR-8 forestry trailer with 360D loader. A compact unit, offering a well-rounded specification to perform in a wide range of settings, it has a six-metre reach, one-tonne lift and a grab opening to 110 cm. This all ensures the loader is up to the task, while the GR-8 trailer offers the ability to load up to eight tonnes, with a bed length of 3.85 m. 

READ MORE: Forestry: Small-scale machinery buyer's guide 2023 (PT II)

This compact unit also benefits from a steering drawbar, which helps position the trailer in narrow sites and allows it to pass through a woodland environment with ease.

Together these features create a powerful combination for narrow sites, or for use behind smaller tractor units. 

Botex also provides  tractor forestry guarding and a system to roof-mount a loader onto your Valtra tractor. With this system, your trailer can be ordered with no loader, providing the ideal pairing with a roof-mounted tractor set-up. This creates even more flexibility in woodland and arb settings. 

Together these options allow you to tailor your Botex package to suit your business, and Jas P Wilson’s team is always on hand to discuss. 

Finance is available, subject to status.

Call 01556 612233 and ask for Ian Brown for full details.
www.jaspwilson.co.uk

BOBCAT 
T76 COMPACT LOADER 

R-SERIES Stage V compact loaders like the T76 represent the most significant redesign of Bobcat loaders in 60 years. To ensure optimum performance and comfort, the stability of R-Series loaders has been further improved with a longer track footprint compared to the previous-generation machines. 

The higher stability combined with enhanced efficiency from the hydraulics provides class-leading push and breakout forces and increased lift capacity, resulting in higher productivity even on the toughest jobs. All R-Series machines come as standard with a fully enclosed one-piece deluxe cab with HVAC, a 5-inch Deluxe Display and an LED lighting system. 

Like all R-Series loaders, the standard controls on the T76 is the Selectable Joystick Controls (SJC) system. With the SJC system in place, the T76 offers the Attachment Control Device (ACD) system as standard. Using Can-Bus communication to recognise the attachment on the machine, the ACD system automatically sets up the joystick controls and the output flow to ensure the best performance when using attachments on the T76 loader. With the availability of High-Flow Hydraulics also standard on the T76 loader, this further expands the versatility of the machine, allowing it to be used with advanced higher-flow attachments such as planers and wheel saws. 

Bobcat’s range of small-scale machinery also includes the E55z 5.3-tonne mini-excavator and E10z one-tonne mini-excavator. 

For more information about Bobcat and its products, visit www.bobcat.com

GLOBAL MACHINERY SOLUTIONS
NORWOOD LUMBERMAX HD38

The Norwood Sawmills LumberMax HD38 is the world’s only omega-shaped sawhead, allowing an unrivalled 14” (355 mm) depth of cut, along with a maximum board width of 32” (812 mm).

Andy Dudley, technical consultant at Global Machinery Solutions, said: “The latest Norwood Sawmills offering in the market is also their largest. Customers have always wanted to get that extra bit of capacity and Norwood have stepped up to the mark with increased board widths and a larger depth of cut.” 

The HD38 is a sawmill engineered and built to go where other sawmills can’t. Unmatched capacity, next-generation patented technologies and exceptional versatility make this mill stand out from the rest of the market. In manual or hydraulic configuration, the HD38 is everything a sawmill should be, and you’ll know it from your first cut. Impressive oversized cutting capacity combined with rugged carriage and log-deck engineering ensure this mill has unmatched output capabilities.

Despite its jaw-dropping capabilities, the HD38 will have you confidently milling, thanks to Norwood’s practical innovations that make sawing as much fun as it is productive.

Produce oversized beams up to 14” (355 mm) in depth thanks to Norwood’s patented Omega sawhead, engineered to deliver industry-leading depth of cut capacity. Lowering the bandwheels relative to the drive train gives you the power to handle jaw-dropping dimensions. Dual cast-aluminium rigid-core frames, engineered to handle extreme load levels, tackle the biggest logs and open your wood to a world of massive opportunities. Norwood’s patented Omega is the ultimate in sawhead engineering that delivers it all – outstanding performance, ultra-confident capability and effortless sawing.

Norwood’s advanced machined blade guide assembly delivers positive alignment of the blade through angular and lateral adjustment on all three axes. It also gives you control over the fourth axis – along the pitch plane about the blade’s longitudinal axis. Its patented pivoting shaft block to trunnion block geometry, featuring a nominal fulcrum, delivers precise fine-adjust control over both blade guides on the for–aft plane. The state-of-the-art dual-technology guides pair ceramic blocks with bearing-equipped heat-treated steel rollers to protect against deflection forces exerted on the blade and deliver precise cuts. 

For further information, contact Global Machinery Solutions on 01476 568384 or visit the website www.globalmachinerysolutions.co.uk

FIELD AND FOREST MACHINERY

Field and Forest Machinery recognises the ever-increasing demand for small-scale and low-impact forestry equipment. Regulations, conservation and restricted access can prevent large-scale forestry operations; however, lower-impact, lighter machinery offers an efficient means of undertaking woodland maintenance and regeneration.

Field and Forest Machinery has recently added Agromehanika AGT Alpine Tractors to the line-up of available products.

The AGT alpine or “mountain” tractor is perfectly suited to life in a woodland environment, with a range of attachments and forestry guarding available. The steering console, foot pedals and seat rotate 180 degrees around the gearbox, offering the operator forward and reverse drive options depending on the task at hand. These highly versatile tractors come well equipped and are compatible with many of our existing three-point-linkage and PTO products including the Holzknecht timber winch range.

The Holzknecht timber winches are available with pulling forces from 3.5–5.5 tonnes with manual controls and from five tonnes to 14 tonnes, with electro-hydraulic controls. The larger models in the range (5–14 tonnes) come as standard with a handheld wander lead and radio remote control. They are also equipped with chainsaw and tool holders. The electro-hydraulic controlled range also comes with the “Tilt Stop” system which will cease winching if the winch detects the tractor or base carrier move, helping to prevent any risk of roll-over. We have also fitted these to our Bomford Turner Flailbot range for those even-harder-to-reach extraction sites.

Timber extraction from smaller-scale sites can be difficult. Field and Forest Machinery’s range of Country forestry timber trailers are available in various sizes with or without timber cranes. These can be towed behind ATVs and tractors alike and come with various specification options.

Field and Forest Machinery also has a vast range of machinery attachments for compact machinery. The OMEF GS400 grapple saw along with the OMEF 100 and 200 tree shears are compatible with machinery up to 5.5 tonnes along with the GMT Equipment 035TTC grapple saw for felling and processing timber.

For the full range of equipment, visit Field and Forest Machinery’s website or call the main office on the details below.

Office: 01506 862371
Web: www.fieldandforestltd.co.uk
Email: sales@fieldandforestltd.co.uk