The first thing our Iron Test team notices about Mangoihe Logging’s operation is lots of big new gear moving around good stockpiles of logs. The second thing is the lack of soil disturbance and soil exposure in the cutover. It’s a good advertisement for the industry, particularly being right beside State Highway One north of Hunterville with thousands of travellers passing by every day.
The block has ponds and power lines running through it too, so it has a stack of challenges. Given the amount of rain and the sticky mud underfoot, it’s just as well this traditionally ground-based crew now has a new Harvestline to yard most of their wood through winter.
As its been about three years since we tested a Harvestline we caught up with Brad Griffiths at EMS which manufactures the machines in Rotorua,
“We have produced 55 of the two drum Harvestline winches now," Brad says, “each having our Hawkeye grapple carriage with them to complete the Harvestline package. The units are spread all over New Zealand and in various parts of Australia, Chile, North America and Canada. Predominantly these machines are harvesting radiata but we also have been known to pull Douglas fir, Redwood, Hoop Pine and Eucalyptus and all the species of timber grown and harvested in North America and Canada."
To read more, get your copy of the September 2023 edition of NZ Logger magazine, on sale from 4 September. Click the link on this page to subscribe to either a printed or digital copy (or both).
