Hitching optimal payloads increases skidder productivity

SYNOPSIS The study of seven articulated wheeled cable skidders at five different locations revealed that the optimism skidder pay load is not skidded. The average results of three similar Timberjack 380C skidders that formed part of tile study are discussed. The optimum payload of a skidder, whether a cable skidder or a grapple skidder, is the most important element determining its optimal use or productivity for a given stand of trees and therefore the cost of the extracted timber per cubic metre. Several methods of determining the optimum payload are discussed.