2017 International Forest Industries Magazines June July 2017 | Page 64

The 1470G harvester
The new
beaujolais vintage
The French region of Beaujolais, located north of Lyon, is famous for producing quality wine. There are
more than 4,000 vineyard owners in Beaujolais and the region has one of the highest vine density ratio
of any major, worldwide wine region with anywhere from 9,000 to 13,000 vines per hectare. But the
Beaujolais region doesn’t only produce wine. A huge number of resinous trees, predominantly conifer
and often mature Douglas, cover the landscape.
TEXT AND PHOTOS:
STEPHANE AUGRIS
B
oucaud Frères is a company
that has been with the
Timberjack and John Deere
brand and its place
in the forest industry for 30
years. The two brothers started out
felling trees manually, skidding the
wood with a 548 grapple skidder.
Today, they own a 1210E forwarder,
a 1470G harvester and a 548G3
skidder. The company currently
processes 30,000 m3 of wood
per year, two-thirds of which is
58 International Forest Industries | JUNE / JULY 2017
obtained from conifer trees – fir,
spruce and pine.
The company mainly operates
in logging sites dotted along
the midmountain regions, sites
that are, on average, less than 2
hectares in size. These logging
sites feature straight, 50- or
70-year-old resinous trees that
produce 3 to 4 m3 per stem. The
best machine for harvesting these
sites is one that is both compact
and powerful. The 1470G is exactly
that. At 7,945 mm long and no
more than 3,000 mm wide, it can
access all routes. Thierry Boucaud,
the head of the company adds that
the model can also comfortably
tackle a slope gradient of up to 24
degrees. The tracks in front and
tyre ballasts in rear tyres ensure
better stability and weigh down
the harvester. This machine really
does have everything and is fully
adapted to its working conditions.
And apparently he’s not the only