Stress-free harvesting at Hawkes Bay
Kevin knew the value of combining his sound knowledge of growing Radiata pine with knowledge of the growth potential of his farm in Hawke's Bay (site, soils, climate).
Kevin likes to keep the stocking of his forest high enough to suppress branching, reduce taper and to maximise tree height growth. He also prefers to plant at around 1,000 stems per hectare so there is plenty of choice to select the best trees at thinning time -the ones whose genetics work particularly well on his site.
Kevin also understood that total recoverable (wood) volume was maximised by maintaining a relatively high final crop stocking. The harvesting results far exceeded expectations for 24 and 25 year old trees.
Key statistics averaged across the two blocks (both Radiata pine) are: Per hectare log yield of 875 tonnes over 8.6 hectares.
Net income (stumpage) of $528,297
Net income (stumpage) per hectare $61,430
Net income (stumpage) per hectare per year of $2,507
Net income (stumpage) per tonne of $67.63
Kevin credits a lot of this successful result and "stress-free harvesting" to PF Olsen and "the specialised marketing division based in Rotorua who have access to a number of competing overseas buyers of our logs."