Celebrating 21 years in business, timber harvesting, clearfelling and thinning specialist Larke & Davis Timber recently took delivery of two state-of-the-art Ponsse machines which have been put to work at various Coillte-owned forests in Co. Mayo.
Owner Tony Davis travelled to Emo, Co. Laois to purchase the new Ponsse Cobra harvester and Ponsse Wisent forwarder from Ponsse Machines Ireland. The investment in the new plant comes after Larke & Davis Timber was awarded a five-year contract to carry out harvesting, thinning and clearfelling work for Coillte, which is the state-owned commercial forestry business.
Ponsse is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of forest machines and a brand Tony is very familiar with, having purchased his first – and Ireland’s first – Ponnse Wisent in 2004. He has also been to Ponsse’s factory in Vierema, Finland which is less than 200 miles from the Artic Circle. Ponsse forest machines are based on environmentally-friendly, cut-to-length (CTL) logging, where trees are felled, delimbed and cut into various log assortments before they leave the forest. Their product range covers all size categories of forest machines, from first thinning and the harvesting of forest energy to heavy-duty regeneration felling as well as all logging sites, from soft soil to steep slopes.
Tony’s new Ponsse Cobra harvester is a versatile tool for changing conditions. Its versatility makes it feel at home at first thinning and clearfelling sites alike. It is an eight-wheeled multi-purpose machine that is ideal to supplement work teams of several machines through its versatility and properties. It is also the perfect choice for small operators such as Larke & Davis Timber who use a single machine at logging sites.
Thanks to its reliable basic solutions, the Cobra is a durable and economical harvester. Its precise and easy-to-use crane, good balance, strong work pump and powerful six-cylinder engine makes the Cobra a reliable tool for years to come. The crane is located on the rear bogie, making the machine very balanced. Its 11-metre reach is an unbeatable feature, particularly at thinning sites, separating it from most other machines.
The Ponsse Wisent forwarder treats thinning sites gently. Its agility and excellent visibility in all directions from the cabin reduce damage to standing trees. Being lightweight, it also causes less damage to the terrain. It still offers an excellent load-carrying capacity and power that never runs out. Wisent is a small-sized machine with large properties and with low emissions and costs.
Thanks to its excellent weight distribution and geometry, Ponsse Wisent leaves minimal tracks in the terrain and makes driving easy, even on dense and curvy thinning trails. Its rear wheels closely follow its front wheels. With Wisent accurate, operators can easily avoid damage to trees. The best ergonomics in the market, the operators and the modern engines save fuel.
“We’re a year-and-a-half into a five-year contract with Coillte to carry out work at a number of their forests across Mayo. We wanted to do the work as efficiency as possible and these machines allow us to do that,” Tony explains.
Based in Moygownagh near Ballina, Larke & Davis Timber was set up in 1998 by Tony and Aidan Larke, who left in 2002 and now supplies straw to the race horse industry from Monasterevin, Co. Kildare. Tony is in the business for 33 years and has been driving timber harvesters since 1990 when he worked for Tony Doonan and Aidan Muldoon of National Harvesting in Swanlinbar, Co. Cavan.
“That’s where I learned the ropes and I’ve amassed a wealth of experience since then. Tony and Aidan were pioneers of the Irish harvesting industry and I got a good grounding from them. They had a Silvatec 854 which was one of the first thinning harvesters to be brought into Ireland,” he recalls.
Larke & Davis Timber provides a complete harvesting service that ensures a plantation is thinned to optimum levels of thinning intensity and will not be over-exploited for instant volumes. This practice ensures the crop is managed to best sylvicultural practices and future thinning and clearfell yields will be safeguarded and protected. Thinning of a conifer crop is usually carried out from 15 years onwards depending on the performance of the crop. Clearfelling is also practiced to encourage the growth and proliferation of tree species that require high light intensity.
“We cut between 25 and 30,000 cubic metres of timber per year,” adds Tony, who is joined in the business by Paul Joyce and Gary Naughton.
“Most of the timber we harvest goes to the Coillte-owned MEDIT and SMARTPLY manufacturing sites in Clonmel and Waterford, and to Masonite, who manufacture doorskins in Carrick-on-Shannon. Some of it is also goes to ECC Teo Sawmills in Cornamona, Co. Galway.”
Tony would encourage any farmer to plant forestry on their land and also welcomes the Government’s plans to grow 440 million trees in the next 20 years as part of its Climate Action Plan. The benefits of growing forestry on your land include: planting is 100% grant aided by the Forest Service; stable and secure tax-free income for up to 15 years from forest premia payments; the forest premium can increase income from poorer land; farmers can retain their single farm payment entitlements; reduced farm input costs as planted land requires much less cost inputs; and forestry enhances the environment by increasing biodiversity, capturing carbon and reducing the use of fertiliser and pesticides.
“My father-in-a-law Joseph Kelly planted a number of forests when he worked for Coillte which have sustained three generations of our family,” he says.
“I’m thinning forests for a second time – you’d be surprised how quickly they grow. Trees are a sustainable crop and Sitka Spruce grows at its finest at this latitude. But it’s like anything, if we’re to encourage more farmers to plant forestry, it has been more profitable. There has to be more to it than just premiums.”
Here’s to the next 21 years of Larke & Davis Timber!
Larke & Davis Timber
Moygownagh,
Ballina,
Co. Mayo.
Telephone: 086 252 6193
Email: [email protected]
First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 7 No 6, November 2019
