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March 2007 - The Logging and Sawmilling Journal

CONTRACTOR PROFILE

SEIZING OPPORTUNITY

BC Interior contractor Dave Neufeld has seized the day when it comes to opportunities, and it has brought growth and development for his company DNT Contracting, including a separate processing outfit.

By Jim Stirling

The word “opportunity” crops up frequently when Dave Neufeld chats about his 30-odd years of experience in the forest industry in central British Columbia. The opportunities usually apply to the options identified and grasped: the kind leading to switches in fortune and direction, mostly good, some less so. But they have all, in their fashion, contributed to growth and development.

Now, as external factors more than ever shape the way logging contractors conduct their business, Neufeld still seeks the allure of opportunity and the chances to contribute further to the success of his family-owned and run business.

Neufeld is principal in DNT Contracting Ltd, based in Vanderhoof, where he was born and raised. He and wife, Sue, brought up their five children in the placid Nechako River valley district.

Their three sons, twins Rich and Cliff, and Wes, are all active in the log contracting business along with a son-in law. DNT is a stump-to-dump contractor primarily on a forest licence held by Vanderhoof Specialty Wood Products Ltd, and for Canadian Forest Products Ltd’s Plateau Division.

The company name DNT stands for Dave Neufeld Trucking, reflecting its origins. It was in 1977 when Neufeld took the ownership plunge. “I was familiar with trucking and had done it earlier, working for another contractor. The opportunity came up and I’d always had a vision to own my own equipment,” he recalls.

Those early days weren’t all joy and laughter, by any means. “There were days when I wondered just what I was doing,” he says with a smile. There were cutbacks and lay-offs, but it helped that many people involved in forestry were, like him, long-term residents of the Vanderhoof area. “We managed to hang in there and learned how to adapt.”

Neufeld ran his logging truck and was partner in a second for a short time, until 1986. Then the industry structure shifted. Instead of working for the mill, the truckers had to sub-contract to logging contractors and Neufeld was out in the cold. “Then I had an opportunity to go and operate a wheel loader,” and Neufeld was off and running again.

A Madill 2250B feller buncher at work for DNT Contracting (above) at a block south of Fort St James in the central Interior of BC. Operators say they appreciate the 360 degree rotation of the Quadco head on the Madill machine.

“I’ve no idea what happened next,” he explains only half jokingly. “It’s all a bit of a blur.”

One thing that happened is DNT Contracting found ways to grow and pick up volumes to harvest under BC’s old small business enterprise program.

A turning point was the opportunity to become allied with Vanderhoof Specialty Wood Products as it sought and eventually acquired a measure of tenure security to begin developing its niche in the local scene. There’s always some risk involved with a brand new company but there was the opportunity of secure work and good people to work with, says Neufeld.

It’s worked out well. In 2005, DNT harvested about 100,000 cubic metres from Vanderhoof Specialty’s licence. The wood is delivered to Canfor’s mill which supplies blocks and other fibre to support Vanderhoof Specialty’s fingerjoint line and other wood products manufacturing. In all, DNT harvested about 170,000 cubic metres.

Things were shaping up a little differently in 2006. Hot, dry, summer weather had the BC Interior on perpetual fire watch. Stumpage and market changes influenced harvesting plans in the region’s mountain pine beetle-infested forests.

“We’re hoping there will be more opportunities with Plateau and we are looking for additional wood,” says Neufeld. He’s made some adjustments to his equipment fleet to give the mills the fibre they want from the available resource.

During a recent visit to DNT’s operation, the logging crews were working a block of Vanderhoof Specialty’s licence off the Stuart Forest Service road south of Fort St James. It contained beetle wood—of course—but was unusual in that pockets of seemingly green wood remained.

Two feller bunchers, a Madill 2250B and a Timberjack 850, were at work. Neufeld notes the operators appreciate the 360 degree rotation on the Quadco head on the Madill machine. Two Cat skidders, a 535 and a 525B, delivered the tree-length stems to roadside. Awaiting them there was a Cat 320 clam machine for decking.

Until fairly recently, the skidder operators would build their own decks prior to roadside processing. “We’ve shifted to the decking machine to help eliminate breakage and waste,” explains Neufeld. The 320 clam brings versatility with it. If their Cat 325 butt ‘n top went out of commission, the 320 could substitute the logging truck loading function. He says it also builds clean brush piles for burning after logging and its boom can be fitted with a variety of attachments for other jobs.

Other upsides to the apparent negative of having an additional machine on the block include improved cycle times for the skidders, building better decks with less small pieces embedded which in turn makes life easier for the processor operators and adds the potential for productivity gains.

The delimber/processors working the claim were a Komatsu 200 and a Hitachi Zaxis 200 forester, both equipped with Waratah 622B heads. The processors represent a departure from the other equipment. The processing functions have been spunoff into a new company, N Three Contracting Ltd. It’s owned by Cliff and Rich Neudorf and their dad, Dave. “My boys have always been interested in forestry and worked for me. I wanted the ones interested to get some investment in ownership,” explains the senior Neudorf.

The processing functions have been spun off into a new company, N Three Contracting Ltd. It’s owned by Dave Neufeld and sons Cliff and Rich. “My boys have always been interested in forestry,” says Dave.

The investment took tangible shape with the acquisition of the new Hitachi processor. Asked what the boys wanted from a new processor, Dave replied that they liked the Hitachi’s fuel economy, the machine itself “and the price was right.” And the machine is living up to expectations.

The processors were making two basic long and short sorts and separating out the tops for hauling out on hayrack trailer configurations.

Neufeld says DNT Contracting runs six of its own tridem logging trucks, five Kenworths and a Western Star. Ancillary logging equipment includes a Cat D5 hightrack—which Neufeld describes as a good bull cook machine—and a D8. “We do pretty conventional stump-to-dump contract logging,” summarizes Neufeld.

And that may come to serve DNT well in the future. Neufeld says he’s heard talk around the industry that indicates conventional length logs may have advantages compared to those harvested in a cut-to-length system. The theory goes that the exposed butts on shorter length pieces can speed up the rate of checking and the width of the checks in the dry fibre the longer the beetle-infested wood remains standing. It’s the extent and type of checking in the dessicated wood that can lead to sawmilling challenges and reduce its value for commodity lumber production.

A developing issue for log harvesting contractors of all sizes is accommodating new levels of safety standards and operating procedures in the bush. DNT is keeping on top of the evolution.

It includes basic things, like ensuring employees have valid first aid and transportation endorsements and having a Level Three first aid person on site. Neufeld says safety checks are a regular part of each machine’s operation. For example, they are built in to turnaround times for the company’s logging trucks. DNT is obliged to comply with Canfor’s standards, as a contractor for the licensee. Similarly, DNT must meet the standards specified by the Ministry of Forests and Range to participate in its timber sales program.

“We’re trying to be in compliance with all the regulations,” says Neufeld. “And we create a paper trail to show that we follow up. It helps remind everyone on the job to be careful.”

This page last modified on Monday, August 06, 2007