The annual Small Scale Logging Equipment Program showcases several pieces of small equipment options available on the market that can be easily operated by hand or safely attached to a ATV, side-by-side, farm tractor or truck. This year the show took place as one of the main attractions at the Kentucky Wood Expo at Masterson Station Park in Lexington, KY. 

This 2 hour program ran twice at the Wood Expo, both on Friday and Saturday. The program that starts with some knowledge in chainsaw safety and felling, a run through of useful handouts and topics related to equipment, volume and weight estimation, board foot scaling, through finding CAIP funds for farm forest equipment and working with a forester to make and implement silvicultural management on the landscape. Critical to the conversation are safe salvage and harvesting practices and techniques using the small scale equipment. This can be very challenging in forest stands that have had blow down, standing dead trees, or ice storm damage. We then talk about marketing logs to local mills and how to do business with sawmill log buyers, establishing price and quality requirements based on mill specs, as well as bucking or cutting logs to lengths that local mills require, how different quality of logs are merchandised into different markets as well as approximate values based on available markets.

Anyone is welcome to attend, but the program is targeted primarily to woodland owners and farmers as they are who own the majority of woodlands in Kentucky. Most of these folks often already own a tractor, four wheeler, side-by-side or pickup truck so it is an easier adoption process for using implements that help them move logs around the farm safely and efficiently. Someone without this equipment could after attending this full day program know what equipment to get, as well as be able to pencil out the economics. They often learn this is very hard work, which they will not get rich doing, but allows them to have more control over the management of their woodlands and be a more engaged woodland owner. People who are thinking about logging their own woods or having a commercial harvest can benefit from the experience from others trial and error and come away with a great respect for the hard work and value of using a good logging professional in addition to a knowledgeable forester. Logging is the most dangerous profession in the US statistically. Logging is even more dangerous than commercial fishing and logs are heavy and difficult to move without experience. Safety and use of personal protective equipment are critical and covered with additional handouts for reference. We had a strong turnout of landowners, farmers and county agents from around the state this year at the Kentucky Wood Expo.

The program will likely take place online through a virtual platform this coming year due to uncertainty caused by the current covid-19 pandemic.