We have a wood plantation of about 2ha. The trees, around 400, mainly French and American oak, are about 30 years old. Up to about 6 years ago it was possible to keep the areas around the trees open but since then they have grown and so the plantation has now turned into a wood. Our neighbour who specialises in log production has said that the only value is the agricultural land value i.e. not much. Where can we go for independent advice and a valuation?
Thanks, great info. We are looking into the official price and we are aware that we will not get a good value from our neighbour so we have had a valuer over who will give us a range of prices. His immediate advice is to thin it out and then put in a load of chickens to pick everything out at ground level and leave it for another 10 years, not that we plan to be here for that long having been in residence for the last 10. The American Oaks he agrees would be worth a fair amount as they are and by removing every other one, would enable the others to obtain their full size. We have talked to a younger friend of ours who wields a chainsaw for a living about him thinning out the wood and we split (!) it for his and our usage. Professional loggers are around €50 euros an hour so using their services would not make economic sense.
Get somebody to thin it out taking the weakest trees for firewood. Woodland needs to be managed. The underbrush could probably do with reducing. However if you give the remaining trees more space by thinning they should eventually shade things out.
There will be lots who will buy it as it stands. Sounds like your neighbour is trying it on! Find out what the going rate for firewood is & divide by 3. That's normally the price you'll get. Alternatively the wood feller will give you 1/3. If you want someone to manage the woods maybe you can come to an arrangement with as amenable person , wood for labour. Don't give it away, it's a valuable commodity. I wish I had it :-)