Thread: Hardwood Log Prices

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In log form around $100 a cube. As a rough idea. Damien.

would that be $100 per cube landed at a mill?

When determining how much certain logs are worth,consider the following variables...1) Species of timber..2) Size of log(s)..3) Quality of log(s),eg defects,etc..4)location of log(s),eg are they easily accessed..4) Butt log(s) to be priced at a different rate to Head log(s)....hardwood Butt logs are worth between $150-$200 a log cube generally,however size and species selection can push this figure considerably higher....lets face it..a big ol'tree is going to give the sawmiller much better recovery,and superior quality product,so a higher royalty is appropriate.The bigger the girth,the more it's worth

$100 in the bush.

hey thanks for the feed back boys !! just going of the $100 a cube figure ,lets say a Forest Redgum log 5 meters by 50cm ( that's about a cube i guess? ) still laying in the paddock is that about 100 bucks ?? what if the log was 5 meters by 1 meter ( 2 cube? ) is that worth $200 ?? my cubic maths is not the best im thinking

Originally Posted by goodwoody

$100 in the bush.

Not sure what your criteria is for working out log value...but $100 in the bush is a little too general for my liking...the days of paying the farmer buggerall for logs are very much over...i pay $260 a log cube,plus G.S.T,for logs from forestry....and have paid heaps more in the past,for sawlog off private land...landowners aren't stupid

Originally Posted by widowmaker

hey thanks for the feed back boys !! just going of the $100 a cube figure ,lets say a Forest Redgum log 5 meters by 50cm ( that's about a cube i guess? ) still laying in the paddock is that about 100 bucks ?? what if the log was 5 meters by 1 meter ( 2 cube? ) is that worth $200 ?? my cubic maths is not the best im thinking

A log 5mx50cm has .9m3,whereas a log 5mx100cm has 3.6m3....if your happy with a 'firewood' royalty,cool,but i am strongly suggesting that you could do much better than that

thanks bro! your cubic maths is better than myn ,also saves me having to work it out haha that was just a loose reference ,trying to figure out ...so a log 5 meters by 1 meter has 3.6 cubic meters in it ..so up around $350+ that's selling it at the $100 cube price ....but the $260 a cube sounds sweeter .

Originally Posted by widowmaker

thanks bro! your cubic maths is better than myn ,also saves me having to work it out haha that was just a loose reference ,trying to figure out ...so a log 5 meters by 1 meter has 3.6 cubic meters in it ..so up around $350+ that's selling it at the $100 cube price ....but the $260 a cube sounds sweeter .

I reckon you should hook into them yourself,and take all the profits,particularly if you have means to mill themthere's alot more money in the sawn stuff ...the fact that you already own the logs puts you in a enviable position...value add,i say

Originally Posted by MAPLEMAN

I reckon you should hook into them yourself,and take all the profits,particularly if you have means to mill themthere's alot more money in the sawn stuff ...the fact that you already own the logs puts you in a enviable position...value add,i say

true true , thanks mate...

If you are selling mixed hardwood logs to a mill, it is quite normal for them to pay a flat rate royalty. Thats ok, provided its a fair average. If you sell by specie, you may find the mill will reject the lesser logs and you get stuck with them. This may not be a problem if you have a ready market for the downgrades, but it means a lot of mucking about sorting. We get a grand a cube sawn for any bulk hardwood, but we dont offer the good stuff.

I found this thread really interesting. My wife and I are looking to plant some trees on some good soil, good rainfall land in Victoria with the intention of harvesting them down the track. Local council is lined up and supportive. Some of the blocks we've looked at have some plantation trees already established. And on the bare land we can plant whatever will grow well in that area.

So some native species we might already have or that we've considered planting are blackwood, silver wattle, black wattle, yellow stringy bark, forest redgum, spotted gum, lemon gum, shining gum, gippsland blue gum, southern mahogany, manna gum and silver top. One block had some mountain ash in a small plantation.

And we've also thought about some pine just on general principles, some chestnut, black walnut and a few other nut species that also have nice timber. And maybe some cherry, apple and pear.

I have some expertise in silviculture including pruning techniques to give a nice clearwood log.

But then how to sell! The sawmills are keen for good quality pine and hardwood logs but they're generally focused on relatively high-volume, low margin construction timber. They're reluctant to pay more than a minimum onfarm stumpage. And as one of the previous posts pointed out if you deliver to the mill they may reject logs etc

I have a small chainsaw mill that can handle logs up to about 1m diameter. With one of the slabbing chains and bars the kerf is down to around 6mm so the wastage is minimised. There's room on the property for air-drying sheds. And I could also look at buying one of the small Swedish kilns that can handle a couple of cubic metres.

So the questions is how best to sell. Perhaps take orders from people on this forum as to what they might want and custom mill and dry? Just cut some generic sizes and offer through this forum? Make some contacts with architects and interior designers who want timber? Sell logs to other smaller scale processors?

I would be interested in what people think might work best

Cheers

MAI

Any idea what the situation is going to be with carbon credits on new planted trees/seedlings?
Are they worth more alive than dead?

A very interesting question. Under the CPRS that Rudd proposed, plantation timber would have earnt carbon credits under an averaging system where the carbon volume was calculated as roughly speaking the average over the harvest rotation cycle. And there were stipulations to meet the 100 year requirements. I had all sorts of modelling done and spreadsheets ready to spring in to action

The new legislation has changed focus so under the Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) as the proposed legislation stood last time I looked at it the planting has to be natives, has to be locked up for 100 years and can't have any harvesting use other than firewood for personal use of the landowner. If you look at the quantity of carbon you can sequester in a regen planting vs the return from perhaps 2 to 5 rotations of commercial trees over 100 years (depending on species and purpose) the carbon price woudl have to be a bit more generous than ~$20/tonne

We will do some regeneration work along some of the creeks on the block we buy and aim to make use of the CFI provisions but as things stand at the moment there's nothing in the scheme for plantation timber as was the case under the CPRS. It's hard enough to get farmers to plant trees for timber with the potential for a commercial return so whether they will be interested in locking up significant amounts of land under the CFI remains to be seen.

Cheers

MAI