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Road Lining Challenges

Dan Mouatt tackles tough terrain and steep slopes on New Zealand’s North Island with both conventional ground-based and cable logging crews, while overcoming the added challenges associated with road lining.

— Paul Iarocci

Dan Mouatt (front) with brother Dave Mouatt.
Dan Mouatt (front) with brother Dave Mouatt, the primary operator of the 180 swing yarder.
In early 2023 Bay Forest Harvesting purchased the first Tigercat 180 swing yarder to reach the shores of New Zealand. Dan Mouatt is the owner of the Napier based company. Dan got his start in New Zealand’s forestry sector over 30 years ago. He initially worked for his older brother Dave, then for Ribbonwood NZ, before purchasing a used yarder from Ribbonwood and ultimately founding Bay Forest Harvesting in 2006. Since 2017, Bay Forest has been contracting to Forest Management New Zealand. Dan operates a conventional ground-based crew as well as the yarding side. Both crews are underpinned by Tigercat 855 series leveling carriers for most of the felling operations. Dan estimates 10% is handled by contract hand fallers.

The ground-based crew worked on Cyclone Gabrielle salvage and clean-up near to Taupo for a solid year after the devastating February 2023 storm. The four-machine system consists of a shovel logger, loader and skidder, along with the Tigercat LH855E. Equipped with a Satco harvesting head, the LH855 falls and delimbs infield for half of the day. The shovel logger and skidder work together to perform tree-length extraction. The LH855 carrier then processes logs on deck for the other half of the day. Dan says that this unique system produces around 300 tonnes daily.

Dan’s brother Dave has operated yarders throughout his working career and is currently the primary operator of the 180. He also operated the excavator-based Harvestline system that the 180 replaced. The yarding operation is a four-machine system – falling machine, yarder, processor and loader – along with a QC man on the ground, and a sixth man who moves the backline and fills in gaps as required.

When Dan first won the yarding contract with Forest Management New Zealand, it was exclusively for road lining services. Bay Forest was tasked with opening up greenfield plantations – falling and extracting the timber required to push in and build the roads and landings. It is very challenging work from a planning and operational perspective because there is no existing infrastructure to work with. Later, the contract was extended to cover the regular harvesting as well.
180 yarder
Bay Forest Harvesting purchased the first Tigercat 180 swing yarder to reach the shores of New Zealand.
The LS855E, equipped with a directional felling head, fells and bunches in a line for the yarder and occasionally shovels up to 60 metres (200 ft) or more depending on the topography, either to the line or the landing in order to extract timber that the yarder cannot directly access. Dan says that in regular harvesting operations there is not much need for shovelling. In road lining it often becomes a necessity. When we visited Dan’s yarding operation in April the crew was working on a road lining job. Once the road and pad construction is complete, the crew will go on to log the entire 160 hectare (400 acre) site.

There are a lot of challenges associated with road lining. The falling machine clears and bunches a swath of timber that is yarded back to a landing accessible to haul trucks. Then the road crew comes in and performs all the road construction for the segment. After that, the yarder essentially hopscotches from one landing to another, extracting the timber to facilitate the next stage of road construction. The yarder moves much more frequently compared with a regular logging operation and there is a lot of planning and timing involved in coordinating with the road building crew. The processed timber can’t be hauled until the newest segment of road is truck worthy. However, controlling both the road lining and main harvesting contracts adds synergies. “Sometimes while they are building the road, we will go over and log another piece,” says Dan. He explains that with careful planning, the logging crew will never have to yard trees over, and consequently damage, one of the newly constructed roads.

TO ME THE 180 IS AS ADVERTISED. IT IS IN BETWEEN AN EXCAVATOR BASE AND A SWING YARDER AND THERE IS NOT REALLY ANOTHER MACHINE THAT I AM AWARE OF THAT IS IN THAT CATEGORY.


— Dan Mouatt, Owner, Bay Forest Harvesting

The terrain is not straightforward. There are hills, ridges and valleys and the slopes run in many different directions. As the 180 moves along the road line, it will be doing both downhill and uphill yarding. However, Dan and Dave both articulate that the job is made easier with the 180, especially in this type of ground.

Dan says that the 180 is a big benefit on this type of operation compared to a larger, traditional swing yarder because it is so much quicker and easier to move. Dan’s previous yarder, a small excavator base was even more manoeuvrable but lacking in pulling power, making it difficult to produce in low deflection situations.

“Everyone wants to know the difference between the 180 and the Harvestline, but it is not really comparing apples to apples,” Dan explains. “The 180 pulls more wood and does more ground – more distance. It has more lift to get the drag above the ground and pull over little bluffs. It has more line speed, and it can pull further out. It is pretty manoeuvrable but not as manoeuvrable as the Harvestline. To me the 180 is as advertised. It is in between an excavator base and a swing yarder and there is not really another machine that I am aware of that is in that category.”
Tigercat 180 yarder hauling a load
Dan says that the 180 gives the company a wider scope of the sort of jobs it can take on. He adds that the machine falls into its own category in between an excavator base and a swing yarder.
The company has put 2,000 hours on the machine in around twelve months. Although the crew has had 500 tonne days, average production is around 320 tonnes. “We have learned a lot. Like any log extraction with a grapple, if you can bunch it and feed it properly, the production jumps.” Fuel consumption ranges from 18-25 L/hr (4.7-6.6 gph). The low end of the range is normally being observed when the crew is shotgunning (not running the haulback line).

Dan himself has put between 200 and 300 hours on the machine. “It was daunting to start, with the movement in the [high] cab. Once I was used to it, it was good.” Cable logging expert and Tigercat western US field representative Kushiah McCullough travelled to New Zealand to conduct training and assist with the start-up. He, along with the AB Equipment support team, and Tigercat product support representative, Warren Nolan have been instrumental in the success of this first 180 yarder placement in New Zealand. Warren, in addition to assisting with start-up, has provided ongoing operational and service support. “We got good support from the factory. My only complaint is that Kushiah didn’t stay long enough,” Dan remarks with a laugh.

On occasion Dan uses guylines to stabilize the yarder. “You can feel it right away if you are going to need to tether the machine,” he says. “It is not really pulling on the guylines, so much as just a bit of extra security. The machine feels very stable once you are used to it.” Dan says the only exception is soft ground. “On hard ground, you put the blade down and it is really stable. When it is wet and boggy, you really want the guylines.”

Dan says the Acme grapple carriage maxes out at about a five tonne payload. “You can’t really overload the machine with that grapple.” Maximum haul distance is 600 metres (1,970 ft), and the machine is productive up to 400 metres (1,315 ft).
LS855E shovel logger
Dan’s LS855E shovelling timber in broken ground.
Dan’s older brother Dave, with 48 years of cable logging experience on every type of yarding system used in New Zealand, says the 180 is relaxing to operate. “It took time to get used to it. A big advantage of the small excavator-based yarders is how quick and easy they are to move,” Dave explains. The 180 retains that advantage with the added benefit of a whole lot more capability. “It takes two to three hours to shift to the next site. You would lose a lot more time on a big swing yarder in comparison,” says Dave. “The shifting is brilliant.”

As for the way the machine operates, Dave says that it is much the same as the excavator base but with significantly more lift capacity in the skyline. “It has more lift than any tower I’ve operated,” says Dave. “The skyline gets loaded up.” 200-300 metre (650-985 ft) haul distances are optimal, although often the site layout dictates that the skyline is a lot further beyond the actual extraction zone. “It is hard to get the lift in the back with other machines, but the 180 does it all really well. It can clear stumps even in the back.”

Dan adds that the 180 gives the company a wider scope of the sort of jobs it can take on. “We did a really difficult piece before Christmas. Windthrow everywhere. Hard terrain, not enough deflection. We wouldn’t have had a chance to do it with a small yarder. It was slow going, but we did it.”

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