Triple C's Place

Been a while…
Still kicking at the Triple C. Turkey season came n went with 1 bird killed at the farm. Logging operation is wide open. 60 acres of 32 yr old loblolly clear cut. Will probably let this land lay for a year then do an aerial spray in fall of '23, followed by planting of improved loblolly.
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On the other side of the farm we're having 110 acre stand of 22 yr old loblolly thinned for the 2nd time. The stand to the right of the equipment is thinned. The stand to the left of equipment is not thinned. You can see the difference in stand density between the two. 2nd thinning leaves a basal area of between 50 and 60 or approximately 80 trees standing per acre. From now until final harvest, this will become a wildlife magnet with so much sunlight hitting the floor.
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Post thinning. We will run fire thru this next spring to set back the hardwood stems and promote forbs.
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Meanwhile...on other parts of the farm, 6 acres of various grains are seeding out in our largest field. Will let this go untouched until fall and replant with a fall mix of grains n brassicas. Fields are full of white clover beneath all the grains.
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Plenty of pears this year.
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Beavers continue to do what they do in the wetlands.
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Meanwhile...back at the new homestead, I needed a barn. 40x26 with two 14' lean-to's.
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Brooks graded the barn pad and then brought his excavator over and ran a water line from well to barn.
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Enjoying the flex wing.
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Needed a SxS for the new place. Ordered a JD but finally got tired of waiting. Bought a Yanmar Brahma diesel. Very similar to the Polaris diesel we've run at the farm for the past 10 years. Had it about 2 months and so far I like it a lot. Power steering, automotive glass instead of poly. Wiper, turn signals, 4WD and locking differential. 2K towing and 1K cargo box. Cargo box is steel. Only downside so far is turning radius sux.
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Even found time to catch supper in the river this past Saturday. Served striper tacos for dinner Sunday night.
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Post thinning. We will run fire thru this next spring to set back the hardwood stems and promote forbs.

AC, have yall experimented any with growing season burns? They really seem to be picking up popularity throughout the south, especially when trying to kill hardwoods and promote forb growth
 
AC, have yall experimented any with growing season burns? They really seem to be picking up popularity throughout the south, especially when trying to kill hardwoods and promote forb growth
Funny you mention that. Yes. I've listened to a number of podcasts on warm season burns and will plan for such next year. In fact, the best burn we ever had was a late April burn after everything had greened up that was a relatively hot burn. Smoked the sweet gums. Burns during Jan - Mar, not so much. I'm at the mercy of the Georgia Forestry Commission on scheduling dates but have made it known that I want a warmer burn for 2023.
 
AC, who did you have do your second thinning. I can’t find anybody that wants to cut in Madison County.
 
Been a busy man. Looks good. I finally got logger for my place. All hardwood mostly oaks. No pines to speak of. Timing isn’t the best but hard to get loggers here for less than 20 dbh. Mine will be selectively thinned down to 16 dbh w some areas heavy cut random acre dispersed.
Many don’t realize most red/chestnut oak goes to China for furniture then boated back to US. Previous tariffs by them in retaliation of our tariffs depressed timber industry here for 4 years. Lifting of tariffs resulted in resurgence of our timber industry.
On another note Soft wood industry got a real boot about 6 years ago when Trump placed tariff in Canadian softwood which was being timbered there subsidized by their government, timbered on their public land , and sold well below what it could be timbered in the states. I’m not being political just explaining some of the variations in the last dozen years.
Good to see you post again.


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AC, who did you have do your second thinning. I can’t find anybody that wants to cut in Madison County.
Plains Logging is doing mine. Jesse Johnson is my consulting forester. If you want to handle yourself, I've got a good contact that you may want to reach out and contact for getting a bid. Not Plains, but a referral from my cousin that is 2nd generation logger but doesn't come down this far. I talked to the guy and he does smaller tracts. Might be worth a reach out.
 
Been a busy man. Looks good. I finally got logger for my place. All hardwood mostly oaks. No pines to speak of. Timing isn’t the best but hard to get loggers here for less than 20 dbh. Mine will be selectively thinned down to 16 dbh w some areas heavy cut random acre dispersed.
Many don’t realize most red/chestnut oak goes to China for furniture then boated back to US. Previous tariffs by them in retaliation of our tariffs depressed timber industry here for 4 years. Lifting of tariffs resulted in resurgence of our timber industry.
On another note Soft wood industry got a real boot about 6 years ago when Trump placed tariff in Canadian softwood which was being timbered there subsidized by their government, timbered on their public land , and sold well below what it could be timbered in the states. I’m not being political just explaining some of the variations in the last dozen years.
Good to see you post again.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Yep. Great points and insight on U.S. timber industry. Since moving in to our new place and being so close to kids and grandkids, seems we hardly find the time any more to log in to the forum. Heck, we don't hardly even turn the tv on any more.
 
Well boys...finally finished up with the pole barn build here at our homestead. Going forward, we'll just call it the shop as it looks nothing like a barn now.

Inside measurement is 26' x40'. Lean to's on each side are 14' x 40'. Trimmed and electric all finished up. Ran LED strip lighting on inside and under both lean to's as well as a strip under the brow over the roll up door. Really like the roll up steel door. Easy to roll up n down and doesn't cover any of the lighting up as a garage door would when rolled up.
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Renovations of the old log cabin that we had moved from front entrance to back of field is well underway. All woodwork is finished. Waiting on the stone mason to re-chink to logs and rebuild the chimney.
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As for things at the Triple C...everything is pretty much on auto-pilot. Logging finished up in early June. All interior roads back in great shape. Forbs and browse is exploding in the clear-cut and thinned pines. Plenty of deer roaming around. Fall planting will start end of September or first of Oct.
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Always something cooking for the crew back on the home front this time of year.
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Bonus track from 12 yrs ago at the farm. 1 year into owning it then. 1st wood duck box Brooks put in one one of the beaver ponds along with grandson who was 8 at the time.
He’s now 18 and becoming a man. Man…always get a little misty eyed when I look back in time.
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