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Walnut market still hot??

Hardwood11

Hardwood11

It is going to be a good fall!
Is the market for black walnut still hot? I was thinking about some timber harvest on my farm. How about oak and hickory?

Any feedback would be appreciated? Thanks
 
I believe hardwoods in general have come down slightly, but are still pretty high relatively speaking. Should be a great time for a select cut.
 
....speaking of which. Who are you guys dealing with is SC Iowa? Looking for foresters who can get competitive bids, not individual timber buyers.

... anyone know of people buying pallet wood? Yes I realize not worth much, but I have a lot of big cotton wood I would like gone.
 
Last I checked it had softened some but I'll let some others chime in. I believe 6-8 months ago it was at record highs. I'm going to imagine it also softened like any "commodities" have even though Iowa walnut is somewhat unique.
My 2 cents to timber SELLERS- get a forester who is very conservation minded with help selecting trees. As a rule of thumb for myself- I will only take veneer walnuts 26 dbh minimum but usually it's 28" dbh. That's veneer. On the "lumber grade" (u need to know ur stuff) - I would take any sellable tree and also do all I could to have junk walnuts and especially any junk tree period sold. Lumber grade walnuts generally start getting sold at 18-19" dbh on average and I'm ok with those going as long as I am not touching veneer any bit close to that size and plenty of other walnuts to take their place.
I personally would sell any hickory, ash, elm, that's of decent size IF they are logging already. Otherwise I would not as logging can damage your future good trees. There's always a market for junk but sometimes its close to having to give them away but I'm guessing .05-.10 cents a board foot on junk. Which can be ok. Walnut can go from $1-2 on lumber grade (I forget, maybe a $1 seems like recent figure but I have not kept up) while veneer walnut can be $5-8 per board foot. There's a great article from Iowa dnr forester if someone wants me to post I could find it.... Holding on to veneer until mature while selling off lumber & junk when able.
Last- after u have conservative forester to help- get BIDS!!! Make competition and free market work. I've done conservative but medium to large timber sales where I got 10 bids... Lowest on one bid was $15k, highest bid was $62k and almost every figure in between for the same logs. Every logger out there "pays top price" according to them but it's biggest example of that not being true I can find. Have them compete!
 
Skip nailed it ^^. I can corroborate that timber prices have softened a little over the past 6 months, but not terribly. #1 thing...like Skip said...manage your own timber harvest by either getting bids yourself(and that assumes you know what you are doing, because if you don't, the sharpies will spot you coming like 10' tall bright orange owl :D) OR hiring someone qualified to manage it for you.

Do not just hire a logger and stand back...you have then put yourself in a position that may, on the best day, work out OK for you OR much more likely, you will get skinned one way of the other and have major regrets "missing" trees that you thought would stay and opportunity lost, etc.

Agree on specific trees that cannot, or can, be harvested...or you may return to your woods someday and find that the #1 oak that you have had a stand in for years is GONE. I know people that have this happen...and the common denominator is letting the logger be in control. I am not saying all loggers are bad, but even with a good outfit, there can be miscommunications that lead to "stumps". :D Stumps that could make you cry when you see them!
 
The market has come down some since this past winter. We just finished a unscheduled cut in some tornado damaged trees. Most of these were blown down with roots attached. On the logs we sold in March we averaged around 6 bucks a board foot on the veneer and mid 2 on the lumber grade walnut. This cut finished yesterday our best veneer log paid 4.15 and averaged 1.50 on the lumber grade. The white oak sold well averaging 1.00 . Red oak was poor on the last 2 sales.
These were prices paid for logs on the landing.
 
The timber market is always flooded this time of year. Logs can not sit around this time of year and have to be milled in two weeks to a month.

Get a forester to mark and help get bids out to loggers. DO NOT let a logger choose what is getting cut. You will get screwed every time. I know the state foresters down in Central Iowa and they are good.
 
hans1 said:
The market has come down some since this past winter. We just finished a unscheduled cut in some tornado damaged trees. Most of these were blown down with roots attached. On the logs we sold in March we averaged around 6 bucks a board foot on the veneer and mid 2 on the lumber grade walnut. This cut finished yesterday our best veneer log paid 4.15 and averaged 1.50 on the lumber grade. The white oak sold well averaging 1.00 . Red oak was poor on the last 2 sales.
These were prices paid for logs on the landing.
Click to expand...

Landing? can you elaborate? ....just trying to learn something.
 
This is a bad time to cut and market timber I think very best is late fall early winter. Most don't cut then do to hunting season. "Landing" in the above post refers to the area the logs Are skidded to whole then cut or bucked into pieces.
Hiring a consulting forester is the best course of action if you are not familiar with the process. Make sure the person that you hire is very clear on your goals and willing to listen .
If long term forest health is the goal then the plan should reflect that.
A really great site is Forestry Forum good people with a wealth of knowledge who will offer advice.
 
To answer the question in your post. Right now Walnut is going to be higher than most other species. It is the hot item on the market and has been for sometime.
 
hans1 said:
This is a bad time to cut and market timber I think very best is late fall early winter. Most don't cut then do to hunting season. "Landing" in the above post refers to the area the logs Are skidded to whole then cut or bucked into pieces.
Hiring a consulting forester is the best course of action if you are not familiar with the process. Make sure the person that you hire is very clear on your goals and willing to listen .
If long term forest health is the goal then the plan should reflect that.
A really great site is Forestry Forum good people with a wealth of knowledge who will offer advice.
Click to expand...

I am looking at winter. If I do it at all, my farm is not flush with big timber, but I do have some good oak and enough walnut (some leaning over the creek etc...) that I may lose anyway.
 
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