| Rapid development and improvement of machinery replaced many animals in the logging business. Still, forest harvesting with animals is alive. Low ground disturbance, low damage to residual stand, low investment and operating cost, very low move-in costs, and low noise pollution are just some of the advantages.; Field data were collected in summer and fall 1999 and spring 2001. Ground disturbances, damage to residual stand, utilization with respect to operators, functions (processing of trees, skidding, and loading or forwarding of logs), and cost and productivity from animal logging were investigated. It was found animal logging operations, on average, left 73 percent of the ground area undisturbed, 24 percent area with slight disturbance, only two percent with deep disturbance, and less than one percent rutted. An average of 18 trees per acre was scarred with 30 square inches per tree.; Utilization of horses or mules averaged 22 percent with highest for the mule crew at 40 percent. Forwarders had the highest utilization. Labor utilization averaged 58 percent. The animal logging operations averaged 6.2 working hours a day.; Based on the costs provided by loggers, the log production cost per cord was the highest at {dollar}38.68 from a side loading crew and lowest, {dollar}20.70 from a long stick cable loader crew with an average of {dollar}28.74. The cost of animal logging with current prices of used equipment was only one percent higher than reported costs. Cost per cord with new equipment was lowest at {dollar}26.78 for the long stick cable loader crew and highest at {dollar}68.44 for the knuckleboom loader crew with an average of {dollar}45.98.; Working eight hours a day and increasing productivity for the horses with side loading truck by 11.3 percent, mules with forwarder crew by 11.6 percent, and the horses with long stick cable loader trucks crew by 17.8 percent will equal the reported cost of log production for those crews. However, the horses with forwarder and horses with knuckleboom loader operations would need additional modifications to match reported costs. |
