The trials, part of the EU funded project TWECOM ‘Towards Eco-Energetic Communities’ project, aim to test different machinery options and harvesting methods, assessing the costs, time and fuel involved, and their practicality. These trials are the first in the UK to assess the feasibility of extracting timber from hedgerows for the woodfuel market using large-scale machinery.
Three machinery options were trialled: Manual fell and a tractor-mounted single circular both provided by PJ & MJ Ward Contracting and a Gierkink felling grapple GMT 035 with integrated chainsaw mounted on a Wacker Newson 5.5tonne excavator provided by Marshall Agricultural Engineering.
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