Treeline becomes Malwa's UK dealer

Efforts to bring more of the UK’s woodland resource into management are being encouraged by government grants supporting the purchase of small-scale harvesting equipment in Scotland, England and Wales, for which Malwa machines are eligible.

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In England, the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund is open for applications until 7 January. This would fund £24,467 towards a new forwarder. The Scottish scheme is accepting applications until 31 January under the Harvesting and Processing Grant, which would contribute up to £50,000 towards a new harvester or forwarder. These grants are great for helping contractors purchase specialised thinning machinery. Wales has yet to announce another round of its scheme.

Treeline’s relationship with Malwa began in 2014 when it was looking for a small, purpose-built forwarder to carry out thinning operations for its estate clients. The local contracting resource was ill equipped to carry out sensitive operations with minimal ground damage, so the decision was made to purchase their own smaller-scale equipment and operate a harvesting squad that could carry out operations to a high standard. Following a visit to Elmia Wood to look at options, and a follow-up visit to the Malwa factory in Sweden, the first Malwa forwarder arrived in the UK.

Malwa machines are built to a high standard using well-known, reliable components.

They are comfortable to operate for long periods and strong enough to stand up to the rigours of forestry contracting, with easy access for servicing and maintenance, while leaving little impact on the world around them.

The first forwarder Treeline bought was delivered to the 2014 APF where it was shown working. This machine was then put to work while being available for further demonstrations, with Treeline continuing to promote the brand on an informal basis.

In August 2019, Treeline partnered with Fuelwood (Warwick) to sell and provide backup for its range of firewood and forestry machinery across the south of Scotland. This successful partnership has allowed Treeline to gain experience in the sale and support of machinery, learning from Fuelwood’s long history in the industry. Treeline is now equipped to provide the backup required for a wide range of machinery. Over seven years of operating Malwa forwarders have also provided considerable experience in the maintenance of these machines.

This service offering is further supported by remote diagnostics on all new Malwa machines and excellent parts backup, with an online resource providing exploded diagrams, parts lists, documentation and service bulletins for all machines. Operators can quickly access the help and resources they need to keep their machines working.

The 560 range of machines from Malwa, including harvester, forwarder and a combi machine, are now in their fourth generation, with constant improvements being made to improve reliability. Rather than developing additional products, Malwa has concentrated on making the products it already has better, hugely reducing downtime for users. This has led them to be the best-selling machine in their class in Sweden, with exports to many other markets around the world.

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For the UK market, the forwarder is available with a larger headboard and longer bolster pins to optimise the load area for carrying shorter product lengths, making the forwarder far more productive when moving predominantly 3 m chipwood.

Treeline has a new fourth-generation forwarder arriving in the spring, when it will organise a demo tour to allow interested people to see the machine working.