Click on “Download PDF” for the PDF version or on the title for the HTML version.

If you are not an ASABE member or if your employer has not arranged for access to the full-text, Click here for options.

LOG manufacturing (bucking) of second-growth trees at the landing in steep terrain needs careful evaluation. Two alternatives are bucking at the stump and bucking at a central log-processing yard. We made a stump-to-mill economic comparison, using 3 types of yarding machines on 4 sites. Yarding production was based on computer simulation. The economic evaluation included harvesting costs, value recovered from timber, and lost fiber production from large landing areas. Computer-aided bucking at the stump was the preferred alternative. Research was based on New Zealand costs and production but provides valuable insight into future harvesting options in the U.S.