Getting into Forestry

Thanks for the info and yeah would definitely engage a forester before proceeding. Was just trying to figure out if there is a rough way of valuing something like 10 acres of 20 year old trees that has no premiums left, the forest I was looking at has 66% sikta and 33% ash. Do you know in foresty is there is rule of thumb for trees planted per acre or is it individual to the forest and local soil conditions/other factors.

Also on walnut I thought Id read before that a black walnut tree can be mature in 30-35 years, maybe thats totally wrong though.

Saw that on the news last night, absolute disgrace.

How the hell can Pippa Hackett retain her ministership off that kind of performance?

The forest service themselves need a complete overhaul and put in people that can come up with better initiatives..they are a law onto themselves currently...no minister can seem to change their mentality.

some recent prices in that thread above. But it will vary hugely based on location, access etc as haulage is expensive. Timber is at a record high at the moment (or was at least 6-12 months ago) not sure where it’s at now.

I'ts a manageable bit,

If you take care when felling to create the right conditions, replanting may not be needed as you may get natural regeneration, with the advantage that other species may grow along with the seeds from the standing crop.

A polytunnel on site is a fast cheap way to dry timber in one season.

Consider perhaps thinning the whole area over the first few years, and then felling smaller coupes each year thereafter with a yield of firewood, post material, pallet material, and an increasing portion of sawlog each year.

since the area is small and volumes will be small a small sawmill of your own to process and add value to whatever sawlogs you have might be a sensible approach.

japanese larch makes fantastic fence posts and is superior to sitka as firewood.

feel free to pm if you'd like a chat

tim

@timfromtang thanks for the reply. I was passing the plot of land yesterday and had a look, and its not what was described. It has been pretty much clear felled but it still has a good few tall small diameter Ash trees growing. There would be several years firewood for me with what's there still. The plot is split by an forest road which is a right of way to another forest.

Im half tempted to make a bid on it still, but it needs to be replanted and tidied up with a digger and get all the brash piled up. Any idea what it might be worth per acre now that's its been clear felled?

I'll try get a few pictures in the next few days.

@divillybit, That land should have been replanted by whoever profited from the clearfell. Not an uncommon occurrence however. As it is, it's a liability. The €4,500/ac you mention in your 1st post, would be reasonable for a decent piece of healthy forestry. Your best bet would be to enlist a forester to evaluate it for you. We had a plantation valued professionally and ended up bidding about half of the asking price, and got it!

As far as buying and managing your own plantation, I can't recommend it enough. Having that fuel security is number one but the amenity value for you and your family shouldn't be underestimated. I would suggest that the distance from your base should be as short as possible to get the maximum use out of it.

Looking at buying a bit of ground that has come up for sale near me, about 30 acres, asking price is about 2k an acre but agent hasn't replied yet if there was an offer on it yet. It has about 11 acres of maturing forestry (Norway and Sitka Spruce) which is 19 years old with 1 premium remaining. The rest of the land is of fair quality incorporating boglands with good access. Im interested in it has a long term investment, but with a view to actively manage it and plant the remaining ground with different tree species. I'd not need to borrow money to buy it and to be honest I'd rather buy something than leave the money in the bank effectively losing value the way inflation is going