Wood chipping enterprises are few and far between across the country. We travelled to Co Kerry to catch up with Edwin Stryker, a Dutch native who farms 140,000 chickens alongside his woodchip business, North Kerry Woodchip.

In 1977, at the age of 16, Edwin travelled from the Netherlands to Ireland with his mother, father and two siblings in search of a suitable farming enterprise.

“My father made the decision to sell our poultry farm and move to Ireland. Running a farm in Holland at that time was like running a farm in Ireland today. There was too much paperwork involved. My father wasn’t a fan of the paperwork and saw an opportunity to farm in Ireland. After searching the country, we settled in north Kerry in 1982 where we took on a 10-year lease of an existing poultry farm. Eight years later, my brother and I bought out the holding,” explains Edwin.

The business

Edwin and his brother Freddy continued to grow the poultry holding. The brother’s accountant advised them to look into a pension scheme. Instead of handing over their money to a pension fund, Edwin decided to investigate where such firms were investing people’s money.

“These firms were either buying hotels in Spain or land for forestry plantations in Ireland. We decided to give this a go. Upon making the initial investment and planting the trees, the premiums then covered the repayments. It worked out very well.”

When the first thinnings were coming on stream, the brothers looked at selling the timber. However, they felt the farmer wasn’t being paid enough, so Edwin decided to set up a business himself.

He says woodchip for biomass and renewable energy was gaining some traction at the time. There was also a grant-aided drive to convert buildings from oil-derived heat to woodchip-powered boilers. The brothers saw an opportunity.

Chipper

In 2008, they purchased a two-year-old Heizohack HM 10 400 wood chipper from a Tipperary contractor. The modelling was based on the fact the machine had 10 knives and could handles logs with a diameter of up to 400mm. Edwin originally used 30mm screens, but later changed to a 50mm screen, which was favourable for both the boilers and livestock bedding.

Chopping in the region of 4,500t of timber each year with the German-built machine, Edwin has been very happy with its performance to date.

“We typically go through four sets of knives each year. The knives are double-sided and we edge them every three weeks. Each set is edged twice before being replaced. Our running costs have averaged approximately €2,000 per year, equating to around €2.25/t chipped,” he said.

A Valtra T170 had been used to power the chipper until a T194 was recently purchased. The T170 had a typical fuel consumption of 27l/hr when chipping.

Botex trailer

When Edwin entered the woodchip game, he also bought a Valtra Valmet 6400 and a Kronos 8t forestry timber trailer.

“The Kronos trailers are manufactured in a section of the Valtra factory in Finland. Meanwhile, the decision to go Valtra was easy. We are located just up the road from a dealer and I was able to turn the seat around to work the trailer. The tractors have served us well over the years. We have a great relationship with our local dealer and he never sees us stuck,” says Edwin.

In recent weeks, Edwin upgraded both the 12,000-hour Valtra 6400 and the Kronos trailer for a new Scottish-built Botex XL PRO-14 timber trailer. The trailer is a 4t capacity upgrade on the previous trailer and features a rear extension. It also has the capacity to carry two rows of 3m cuts; the older trailer could only carry one row of such lengths.

The new trailer comes fitted with a steering drawbar, allowing easier turning on narrow lanes. It’s equipped with four-wheel hydraulic braking as standard. Shod on 500/50 R17 flotation tyres, it also has air brakes and LED lights. Most of what Edwin carts is from stacks within the yard to the chipper. However, the trailer is also used to collect thinnings from nearby forests.

The trailer is fitted with a heavy-duty 570c Botex crane with a 6m reach. When close to a load, it can lift 2,000kg and when fully extended, it can lift up to 700kg. The crane is controlled using electronic joysticks which are fitted to the tractor’s armrests. The crane has its own on-board hydraulic system, which is powered by the tractor’s PTO.

The tractor runs just a little past ticking over to power the crane. The high-spec trailer cost €30,000 plus VAT.

The trailer is powered by a 2006 Valtra T170, which Edwin purchased in 2007. The tractor has accumulated over 11,000 hours and has stood the test of time. Edwin says the only trouble it gave was backend-related and caused by a lack of reservoir capacity for tipping a large trailer for an extended period – the typical protocol when delivering woodchip into conveyers.

Delivery of woodchip

At present, the chipper and 24ft tri-axle Broughan trailer are powered and pulled by a 2016-built Valtra T194, which was purchased last year. Edwin also took delivery of a new 24ft Broughan trailer in recent weeks.

It is custom built, with 7ft sides and a steering axle. A hatch within the main rear door is hydraulically operated from the back right to allow a constant flow of chip from the trailer into the loading conveyers.

Likewise, the trailer body can also be tipped or dropped from this valve chest. Edwin noted that the trailer is capable of holding 14t of fresh timber or 8t of dried timber.

Edwin says most of his clients are within a 50km radius.

However, he explains: “If someone from outside this area calls for a load of chip, I’m not going to turn them down. We do have a handful of clients up to 120km away. Typically, we cover Cork, Kerry, Clare and Tipperary.”

This was backed up by the Valtra’s telematics for the past 12 days, which showed it had covered a huge 1,600km.

Market

Despite a relatively low number of boilers having been initially installed in the region, Edwin didn’t give up on the woodchip business.

He says: “Many of the planned biomass boilers in the area never actually materialised. We have some nearby clients such as Kerry County Council, a nursing home and some other premises which take woodchip on a regular basis.

“Over the course of the past three years, we have begun selling more and more to farmers for animal bedding. This has been driven by increasing straw prices.

“Today, our business is split 50-50 between biomass boilers and animal bedding. Woodchip for boilers is seasoned for approximately a year and a half while bedding chip is seasoned for nine months.”

Looking to the future, Edwin says all timber is sourced from his own forest and from local farmers, so supply won’t be an issue anytime in the near future.

As regards markets, he feels that the recently introduced SSRH grant will bring a renewed interest to biomass boilers.

He has applied for a grant for two boilers to heat his own poultry houses and hopes other will follow.

Profile

Company: North Kerry Woodchip

Location: Knocknagoshel, Tralee, Co Kerry.

Owner: Edwin Stryker

Tractors: Valtra T194 and T170.

Kit: Heizohack HM 10 400 wood chipper, Botex XL PRO-14 timber trailer, 24ft tri axle Broughan trailer, 24ft tri-axle Smyth trailer and a JCB 520-50.