North Georgia Firewood

By Russ Lumpkin

Gary Haynes grew up on a dairy farm in the Appalachian foothills just north of Gainsville, GA. Hayne’s father began farming in 1963 and operated the dairy for 25 years. In 1988, because of a dwindling profit margin, the Haynes had to cease dairy farming. “I enjoyed the farming and I still raise a few calves,” stated Haynes. “But it was a lot of hard work for a limited return.”

Prior to closing the dairy farm, Haynes sought other business opportunities. In 1986, he began building swimming pools. That same year, he started a firewood business, North Georgia Firewood (NGF). The two ventures rarely interfere with the other as each is seasonal; the pool business is heaviest in the summer and the NGF occupies a large portion of the rest of the year.

For several years, NGF supplied residential firewood to its customers. Haynes explained that they would harvest trees from his father’s land, cut it, split it, deliver it and stack it at the purchaser’s house. The work was labor intensive and did not fully utilize the potential of the operation.

In 1993, a friend of Haynes who works with Kangaroo convenience stores told Haynes that the chain’s usual supplier of packaged firewood was unable to meet the demand. He asked if NGF could fill the void. That first year, NGF sold in the neighborhood of 1,000 bundles of packaged firewood. In 1994, NGF sales tripled to 3,000 bundles. Last year, NGF sales ballooned to 40,000 bundles. Haynes expects his company to eclipse the 60,000-bundle mark this year.

The reason for the growth has been good service, which has led to the addition of other stores. Haynes stated that his company’s good standing with Kangaroo had enabled NGF to land supplying contracts with other convenience store chains: “With Kangaroo on our resume, we have been able to supply firewood to BP and Texaco marts.”

Starting this fall, Haynes will be selling NGF through club food stores in the Atlanta area. He explained that contracts with grocery stores are not as immediately accessible as they are with convenience stores. Similar to the springboard Kangaroo provided to other convenience stores, he hopes Club Foods will open doors to greater markets. “One of the advantages with grocery stores is that they have warehouses and distribution centers. With the convenience stores, you have to deliver to each store and stack it,” he related. “If we provide good service to Club Foods like I know we can, that will bode well for us in the future.”

The company has grown to the point that Haynes needs more wood than his father’s land can supply. Though he has to buy some wood from local loggers, he clears land for homebuilders in the early summer and stockpiles the wood until they start packaging in the late summer. All the hardwoods go to NGF; the pine and poplar he sells to local mills. The rapid and exponential growth has cause Haynes to shift the focus of NGF. “The money potential is greater with the packaged firewood that with the residential firewood.” Haynes said. “I would like for things to progress to where this is all I do.”

The shift in focus brought with it an emphasis toward streamlining the operation. Until January of this year, Haynes utilized chainsaws and a large crew of employees to cut the trees into 18” logs. Using one of several small hydraulic splitters, the crew split the small logs into package able pieces. Three employees manning three wrapping stations wrapped the wood, placed a label with a bar code in the package and taped a handle onto the package for easy carrying.

Back in January, Haynes installed a Multitek diesel powered firewood processor. The Multitek enabled Haynes to cut his payroll dramatically. “I like being able to provide jobs for folks, but I have to make my business as viable as possible,” he asserted.

The Multitek has also enabled NGF to meet the growing demand of its product. “It was all eight or ten guys could do to keep up with the three fellows wrapping,” he emphasized. “The Multitek has enabled us to easily meet our current demand and gives the potential to grow.” With five employees and his current equipment, Haynes feels his operation can process and wrap upwards to 100,000 bundles. Other than a conveyor leading from the processor to the wrapping tables and a shed under which to store logs, Haynes has no plans to invest more capital. He related that 100,000 bundles is the standard he hopes to attain and maintain.

Prior to purchasing the Multitek processor, Haynes looked at several others. The John Deere engine used to power the processor was one of the Multitek’s main assets. “The John Deere engine sold me. All the tractors we ever used on our farm were John Deere. The folks at Multitek are very knowledgeable,” he said.

Haynes cited the simplicity in operation and maintenance as reasons why he is glad he settled on the Multitek. The processor also has proven to be durable. “We’ve been running it off and on since January, and other than regular maintenance, we’ve had only about 10 minutes of down time,” he said. According to Haynes, the packaged firewood sells best in metro areas. Eighty-five to ninety percent of NGF goes to Atlanta, which is only about an hour from Gainsville. Closer to Gainsville, packaged firewood sells well around some of North Georgia’s tourist spots like Lake Lanier and in the town of Helen. Some of the wood is trucked as far south as Macon and Savannah.

Haynes insists he is still learning the business and that the rapid growth has not come without its trial and error. He explained that he tried bagging the firewood, but that until they started moving the greater volume, the price for the bags is prohibitive. “The price of the bags added about 15 cents to each bundle; I just couldn’t compete,” he made clear. “I do things here the best I know how,” he added. The fact that NGF has grown 60 percent in three years and the uses he has found for the sawdust that accumulates proves that he has learned something.

Haynes uses the sawdust that comes from NGF in bedding for his calves and his mother uses some in her garden. Perhaps most unique, he adds sawdust to his worm beds. “I raise hybrids,” he said. “They are kind of like red wigglers except fatter.”

Forest Products Equipment Magazine November 1996
Copyright 1996 Contact Publisher for permission to use.