Harvesting short rotation woody crops with a shear

A time and motion study was performed on a skid steer equipped with a 14-inch tree shear attachment. The machine was used to install initial coppice harvesting treatments on three stands across the south. The study included one willow and two cottonwood sites. The stands averaged from 2 to 4 years old. Approximately 200 trees were shear harvested from each of the stands. This paper examines the operational characteristics for the felling operation.