Pitts is vice president of Truitt & Pitts Logging, which operates one logging crew within about a 50-mile radius of its home base in Yatesville, Georgia. One skidder drags logs to a landing, where a John Deere 2054 Swing Machine fitted with the Waratah head processes logs and pulpwood.

In 2006, when the company first bought the processor, they used it more for pulpwood. “Now, we mostly cut “chip-n-saw” logs, which are smaller saw logs with a minimum 10-inch butt and a 6-inch top,” says Pitts. “We also cut super pulp logs, which have less than a 10-inch butt and a 4- or 5-inch top.”

Because the Waratah head can quickly and efficiently separate smaller saw logs from the pulpwood, Truitt & Pitts finds that its yield of saw logs has risen dramatically. No more are logs sorted by eyesight only; the Waratah’s computerized processing head is more accurate. That means more money in the bank for Truitt & Pitts – and more revenue for timber tract owners, who now seek out Truitt & Pitts Logging.

“When we put this processor out to work, our saw log volumes jumped considerably,” says Pitts. “When we judged logs by eyesight, we were conservative. Now, when we get a 10-1/4-inch tree it goes into the chip-n-saw pile – what I call the money pile. Before, we might have judged it to be pulpwood. If the computer says it’s a 10-inch tree, it’s 10 inches.”

Recently, for example, a consulting forester estimated that one 100-acre tract only contained “a load or two of chip-n-saw logs,” says Pitts. The consultant expected much of the tract to consist of pulpwood and super pulp wood. “Instead, we got 33 percent chip-n-saw logs,” says Pitts.

Much of the yield increase came from the fact that the processor could cut shorter saw logs out of trees that did not meet the 25-foot minimum for tree-length timber. Instead of sorting an entire 25-foot tree onto the pulpwood pile, the processor would drop back to a 12 or 16-foot length for a saw log, and put the top length on the pulpwood pile.

Ease of maintenance What’s more, Pitts says the Waratah head is relatively simple to maintain. “I was nervous about the computer at first, and unsure about whether I could work on the processor,” says Pitts. “I found the computer easy to work on, and the Waratah man, Mike Gillis, has been good at helping us. We’ve had no major problems with the processor.

Pitts says the John Deere 2054 Swing Machine is the first piece of Deere equipment he’s owned. He’s pleased with the Deere machine and with the service from his Deere dealer, Metrac, of Macon, Georgia. “They usually have the parts I need – or can get them overnight – and they’re good to come when I call them,” says Pitts. “And Metrac also has a mechanic who is trained on the Waratah head.”

“Overall we’ve been very happy with the machine and processor,” says Pitts. “Faced with the same decision again, I’d buy it in a heartbeat.”