[Forestry 101] Transporting & Selling Wood via Trailer or Container

Welcome to your next “Forestry 101” lesson of the Farming Simulator Academy! Today, we’re focusing on transporting and selling chopped trees and wood chips. 

Related tutorials: If you're not looking to transport high quantities of logs outside the forest, but single logs within the forest, check out the following tutorials.

• How to transport logs with winches (Platinum Expansion Feature)
• How to transport logs with yarders (Platinum Expansion Feature)

Selling Wood or Wood Chips?

You can sell logs of wood or wood chips - but how should you sell your chopped trees, now? The answer to this question depends on the kind of tree you’ve grown.

Deciduous trees should be processed into wood chips. Conifer trees, on the other hand, are best for timber - so, you sell the unprocessed logs. You can learn more about the differences of trees in our introduction to forestry.

Transporting Wood Chips

You need a tractor and a trailer to transport wood chips to the selling point. We chose the following machines.

Equipment Selection (recommendation) 

• Tractor: John Deere 7810
• Trailer: Rudolph TDK 301 RP

Tip! Keep the height of the wood chipper in mind! If your trailer is higher than the chipper, you won't be able to overload the wood chips.

Step 1: Overloading

After you produced chips in the wood chipper and the tank is full, you have to transfer the freshly obtained wood chips to the trailer. To do so, you have to position your trailer next to the side to discharge and switch into the wood chipper. Press the respective button to unload. The wood chips will be automatically discharged until the trailer is completely filled. 

Step 2: Transport 

When the trailer is full, take a look at the price tab and search for the best selling point. You can either sell your wood chips to the Farmer's Market or the Biogas Plant. Once you have selected the selling point, drive over there and unload the wood chips in the designated area. 

Transporting Logs Via Trailer

Note! You have the choice between transporting logs via trailer or container. If you want to use containers instead of trailers, scroll down to the next section of this tutorial!

For transport via trailer, you need a tractor and a log loader to transport the wooden logs to their destination. We chose the following equipment. 

Equipment Selection (recommendation) 

• Tractor: John Deere 7810
• Log Loader: Anderson Group M160

Tip! Choose the loader depending on the preferred length of your cut logs or cut them accordingly to your chosen loader - otherwise, transport may be tricky and unsafe.

Step 1: Loading and Securing Trunks

Connect the loader to your tractor. Position the log loader parallel to the previously cut logs. Raise the crane and position it over the center of the log. Open the claw and grab the trunk. Close it again and lift the log. Move the crane with the log over the loading area. Make sure that the log is as straight as possible and close to the driver's cab. 

Repeat this procedure until you picked up all logs. After that, secure your logs with tension belts. You can do that by pressing the respective button or get out of the vehicle and secure it manually.

Step 2: Transport and Selling

When the trailer is full, take a look at the price tab and search for the best selling point. You can either sell your wood at the Carpentry, the Sawmill, or the Biogas Plant. Once you have selected the appropriate selling point, transport the filled and secured loader to the respective area to unload the wood.

Transporting Logs Via Container

Please Note! The machines used to transport containers are part of the Platinum Expansion for Farming Simulator 22. You must purchase either the Platinum Edition of the game (including the base game + expansion) or the Platinum Expansion if you already own the base game!

For transport via container, you need a truck with a low loader, a container, an excavator (or similar machine), and a wheel loader. We chose the following equipment for this task.

Equipment Selection (recommendation) 

• Truck: Volvo F16 Globetrotter
• Low Loader: Schwarzmüller Low Loader 3A
• Excavator: Volvo EC250DL + Grapple
• Wheel Loader: Volvo L180H + Palletfork
• Container: Lizard container (choose your size)

Step 1: Choose containers

Containers come in three different sizes: 12 meters (40 ft), 9 meters (30 ft) and 6 meters (20 ft) long. The choice is yours, but you have to harvest trees accordingly by choosing the cutting length when operating the harvester.

Don't forget: the longer the logs, the more profitable they are when you sell them. The length of the logs should also be as close as possible to the length of the container. Too long, they won't fit. Too short, you will gain less money and waste space. 

Step 2: Load up the containers with logs

Using an excavator, you load the containers up by lifting the logs and driving them to the opened side of the container. One by one, you fill up the container with logs.

Step 3: Prepare the low loader

Get the truck and the low loader. Depending on the container size, you can extend the length of the truck bed accordingly by pressing the designated button while operating the truck with the low loader attached. This way, you can transport longer containers. 

Step 4: Load containers onto truck or train

To load the containers onto the low loader, you use a powerful wheel loader with a pallet fork. Just like you would load a pallet onto a smaller truck, you pick up the containers with the fork and put them carefully on the truck. Now, you can deliver them to selling points, production plants or construction sites like the rollercoaster in Silverrun Forest.

Well done!

Congratulations, you have successfully finished another lesson! Keep at it, and you'll be a top-notch virtual farmer in no time with Farming Simulator Academy!