High fuel cost and wood

[TIMMYDUCK]

Charging 350 USD per cord plus delivery .

I am up 100 USD per cord since Nov 2021 .

Not one of my customers has complained yet .

 

[sea2summit]

I help neighbors out when they want to try their hand at "home butchering", usually they start out small with a pig (cow farmers 'round here will buy one or two a year for themselves and family) - usually only needs overnight in cool spot before butchering.

If they don't want bone-in cow I'll help with that too (I don't have a cow/meat bandsaw, yet ). One neighbor found a chiller type ocean container that was reasonable and had the elec co-op hook it up. A lot of us 'round here will often rent space during deer season - help him out with elec costs, but he'll turn it on if folk want to butcher a cow if they help with elec costs. He's been talking about getting a bandsaw to help him & his family and has said he'll rent the whole area out to any if us that would like to use it. Please don't get me wrong, he isn't gouging any of us. $5-10 a day for chiller and probably 1/3 - 1/2 the cost of a new bandsaw blade - typically you can get 5-10+ cows out of a blade "if you know what you are doing" (the shop I volunteer at gets around 25-30 before the blade is resharpened, but they are carbide tipped $$$$$) - I told him to expect to break, bend, destroy a blade every 2-3 cows to begin with and blades (non-carbide) are ~$25 ea, so $8-12 for the use of the bandsaw. He already had an A-frame and HF winch for stripping off hide, etc. Best guess it "should" cost his neighbors/friends about $45-80 for a 7 day rest (depend on elec rates - more cows, same price, split by # if cows/people) with them supplying vac sealer, bags (or butcher paper) and rifle/bullet to kill the cow. Vultures/critters will take care of the hide, pick bones clean (if they don't make stock) and any part of the head not kept so he doesn't have to worry about the caustic lime and paying for it to be hauled away (it will be transported to the back fourty they don't use for cows) - BTW, smoked pig jewels, better than bacon! Cow cheeks, really good fajita meat.

Most of us already have a smoker for our deer (old fridges make the best ones!) And one of the best spice companies is right in our backyard (Townsends) so making jerkey, sausage or ham, etc shouldn't be a problem for most of us.

For those that don't want to mess with it, I introduce them to the "real" butcher I volunteer with. Butcher is happy, doesn't mind me sharing his recipes with other folk (with the condition they don't turn in to competition e.g., open a butcher shop), so all are happy.

Country life the way its supposed to be!

Wish I could hang anything overnight here. Hogs especially get broken down quick because it’s 80 here…when it’s cool.

 

[tractortroof]

I don’t want to be political but at least our government is focusing on important things like gender confusion training, you must have priorities. Food supply and energy are definitely not as important. We are proudly and importantly about to appoint a Supreme Court justice that cannot explain what it means to be a woman and I think that is great, nay, historic.

 

[Citydude]

I don’t want to be political but at least our government is focusing on important things like gender confusion training, you must have priorities. Food supply and energy are definitely not as important. We are proudly and importantly about to appoint a Supreme Court justice that cannot explain what it means to be a woman and I think that is great, nay, historic.

God help my grandchildren.....

 

[BnRidge]

Everyone is seeing rocketing fuel costs I guess. Here diesel has gone to $ 2.10 per litre Canadian. That translates to $6.72 per US gallon if I am right on my calculation. Highest ever seen.
My necessary work I will just have to absorb the cost. But I also produce a modest amount of firewood I sell to the neighbourhood. I will have to jack my price but hate to. Been checking the market and so far no one is moving from last year price which has been steady for a few years. And we don't know if the fuel cost will return back down soon.
Just wondering how everyone is handling these times and how price is affecting you. Wood or anytinng else.

$4.50 heating oil, $14cent electric, $2.50 LP all equate to around $500/cord. Locally, cordwood goes for about $300/cord. We use wood as a primary source for heat here. The few gallons of fuel used to process it doesn't amount to much cost wise - good luck jacking the price a bit based on that - there is always someone out there who will undercut it because labor is the main cost driver. However, in 2014 when LP prices spiked, I thought it was interesting how many people had wood on their porches, in horse trailers by the front door, stacked up on the front lawn, just about everyone had wood to burn and just about every class A or brick chimney was smoking away.

 

[Muhammad]

I don’t want to be political but at least our government is focusing on important things like gender confusion training, you must have priorities. Food supply and energy are definitely not as important. We are proudly and importantly about to appoint a Supreme Court justice that cannot explain what it means to be a woman and I think that is great, nay, historic.

Please take the political discussion to the front porch forum: https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/the-front-porch/

 

[bdhsfz6]

$4.50 heating oil, $14cent electric, $2.50 LP all equate to around $500/cord. Locally, cordwood goes for about $300/cord. We use wood as a primary source for heat here. The few gallons of fuel used to process it doesn't amount to much cost wise - good luck jacking the price a bit based on that - there is always someone out there who will undercut it because labor is the main cost driver. However, in 2014 when LP prices spiked, I thought it was interesting how many people had wood on their porches, in horse trailers by the front door, stacked up on the front lawn, just about everyone had wood to burn and just about every class A or brick chimney was smoking away.

These numbers will vary by location. I live in the Anthracite coal region of PA where a ton now cost $290. Cordwood is going for $300+ right now and it takes 1.4 cords to equal 1 ton of Anthracite. Around here, coal is the better buy and has been for many years. YMMV.

 

[OzarkChris]

Wish I could hang anything overnight here. Hogs especially get broken down quick because it’s 80 here…when it’s cool.

If you dont do it during winter, pigs are usually small enough to fit in a stripped out fridge (no shelves, etc). Most folks have an old one hanging around somewhere they can plug in overnight.

Even on that liberal coast of GA, you should have cooler days/nights in winter time.

 

[51allis]

Charging 350 USD per cord plus delivery .

I am up 100 USD per cord since Nov 2021 .

Not one of my customers has complained yet .

Last year I paid $110 a full cord for mixed hardwood, but again the logger/driver said had to buy whole truck load at that price...thankfully, it ended up being 20 or 21 full cord load and smaller logs not big ones, usually only split once per piece. That load of firewood should last us a minimum of 6 years. We just checked on price again and we could get it for $140 a full cord plus fuel surcharge and big load this time, 24 to 25 cord on the MI "heavy" log truck. The price always fluctuates because we have a local paper mill that buys most logs, but they are adding a "Brown Packaging paper making machine" soon and that will increase their capacity, meaning its going to either raise the price of firewood or make a shortage in it. Im sure around your area, your wood is fairly priced and part of that is the expected substantial rise in price coming this fall/winter for propane etc. Timberrrrrrrrr!

 

[51allis]

$4.50 heating oil, $14cent electric, $2.50 LP all equate to around $500/cord. Locally, cordwood goes for about $300/cord. We use wood as a primary source for heat here. The few gallons of fuel used to process it doesn't amount to much cost wise - good luck jacking the price a bit based on that - there is always someone out there who will undercut it because labor is the main cost driver. However, in 2014 when LP prices spiked, I thought it was interesting how many people had wood on their porches, in horse trailers by the front door, stacked up on the front lawn, just about everyone had wood to burn and just about every class A or brick chimney was smoking away.

In 2014 when it was real cold here and the prices spiked for LP...I was lucky I had that wood boiler I made as it saved me a ton of money. Matter of fact, we burned wood for 11 years at our other house, the amount I saved over LP to heat the house was enough to buy a new basic Polaris Ranger UTV, Im cheap that way, I always save for the predicted cost of LP for the winter and buy wood instead and any left over funds from that I save for other things and this adds up per year especially what I saved in 2014.