Productivity Measurements of Two Waratah 234 Hydraulic Tree Harvesters in Radiata Pine in New Zealand
Authors
T. Evanson
New Zealand Logging Industry, Research Organization (LIRO), Rotorua, New Zealand
M. McConchie
New Zealand Logging Industry, Research Organization (LIRO), Rotorua, New Zealand
Abstract
Two Waratah 234 single-grip harvester heads were assessed for productivity and log-processing accuracy while working in radiata pine clearfell operations in New Zealand forests.
Estimated productivity, processing stockpiled trees into logs on a landing in a ground-based operation, was 77 m3 per productive machine hour (PMH) in an average tree size of 1.63 m3.
In a yarder-based trial, processing trees into logs on a landing, productivity was 77 m3 / PMH in an average tree size of 3.1 m3.
Length-measuring accuracy in a later trial was shown to be within ± 5 cm for 93% of logs.
In a second ground-based trial, estimated productivity for an average extracted tree size of 1.95m3 was:
- 51 trees/PMH (100m3) for felling, tree-length delimbing and bunching.
- 73 trees/PMH (143m3) for tree-length delimbing (butt-first) and bunching of manually felled trees.
