With 33 years of timber felling under his belt, Tony Davis has come a long way from where he started out on the ground with a chainsaw in hand.

Having driven his first harvester in 1990, Tony joined forces with Aidan Larke in 1998 to form Larke & Davis Timber, a contract harvesting business based in Moygownagh, Ballina. Aidan later moved on, with Tony taking over the complete business.

Tony explained that at one stage back in the late 1990s/early 2000s the business consisted of four harvesters and four forwarders working across the country but as labour became hard to come by and the long distance being travelled he made the decision to scale back to one harvester and one forwarder. Tony doesn’t regret moving back to one harvester and one forwarder as his overheads are lower and his work is closer to home.

Modern machinery

Most of Tony’s work is harvesting Coillte-owned forestry. He is currently in a five-year contract harvesting at a number of their sites in Co Mayo. It involves a mix of thinning and clearfell work, cutting between 25,000m3 and 30,000m3 annually. The business has two full-time employees along with Tony, who spends his time assessing upcoming sites as well as relief driving either machine at night or during the weekend.

Tony has owned many brands of machines. Never being set on any particular brand, he always opted to buy the machine he was fond of at the time which came at the best value. From 2017 up until June 2019, Tony had operated an Eco log harvester and a Ponsse Wisent forwarder. Under the agreement with Coillte, the machines have to be under five years of age at any time during the contract.

Late last year, the time came around to buy a new forwarder. He opted for Ponsse for a number of reasons – it offered a a lightweight, high-powered machine that was well suited to thinning sites but also well capable at clearfell. This and a good relationship with Ponsse over the years, including visiting the factory to see how machines are made, played a big part in Tony’s decision. He explained how he can easily contact the owner of Ponsse in Finland, which is unique to a company of such scale.

When looking to acquire the new forwarder, he was offered a deal to buy Ponsse’s relaunched Cobra harvester, the first of its kind in the country. Having a good secondhand harvester to trade, he made the decision to buy the two new machines. He said the Wisent and the Cobra are made to go hand in hand, with the same footprint, which is ideal for thinning work in tight areas.

Ponsse Cobra

The machines arrived in June 2019 and the Cobra harvester has just over 1,060 hours clocked up since. A typical year sees anywhere from 2,500-3,000 hours clocked up on both machines. The Cobra appealed to Tony over the Scorpion (which has the crane mounted over the cab) for a few reasons. He said having the cab separate to the crane suited his work better. When at the end of a line he can easily travel backward without having to manoeuvre the crane and cab unit, and the fixed cab has more space. The downside of having the crane located up front leaves a blind spot, although a camera helps with this on Tony’s machine.

Engine, hydraulics and cab

The Cobra is fitted with a 286hp six-cylinder Mercedes Stage V-compliant engine. Tony is impressed with the power of the harvester, noting that it is averaging 13l/hr on fuel. The diesel tank has a capacity of 380l, which lasts for almost three days, he said.

The Cobra is fitted with Bosch Rexroth hydraulics with a capacity of 210cm3 and hydrostatic transmission. The eight-wheel-drive chassis is fitted with 26.5in tyres which during the winter have tracks fitted for increased traction.

The spacious cab is fitted with an optional self-levelling seat, fridge and cooker. Tony said the cab is a lot more comfortable compared to his previous machine. The machine is fitted with a full LED lighting package which shows a great even spread of light, Tony noted. The machines are both fitted with night heaters which, once set, heat the engine, cabin and hydraulics before operation, for both comfort and protection of the machines’ engines and hydraulics.

All the machine data, including engine rpm, fuel level and productivity, can be monitored from Tony’s phone.

Crane/head

Tony’s Cobra is fitted with the firm’s 10m C44+ crane, which he noted as a standout feature of the harvester. Both the power and stability at full reach is unrivalled, with serious slew power. The crane can turn 250°. Although only fitted with a single hydraulic pump, Tony says the speed and accuracy of the head is serious.

The H7 head weighs in at 1,150kg. Tony said it is fitted with faster feed rollers for more speed in thinnings. It has a feed force of 25kN (2.5t) at a feed speed of 6m/s. Tony noted it has an optional feature not very common in Ireland which is the ability to spray mark each log to indicate its size leaving collection easier for the forwarder driver.

The spec

Engine: Six-cylinder Mercedes Stage V compliant

Horsepower: 286hp

Torque: 1200 Nm (1200-1600 rpm)

Tractive force: 195KN

Transmission: hydrostatic

Hydraulics: 210cm3

Weight: 20,900kg

Fuel tank: 380l

List price:€410,000 plus VAT