A Skidder is a type of Forestry machine that is used for hauling Trees around. When the Feller Buncher has cut down the
tree, the Skidder comes in to haul it away!
Skidders come in a few variations; A Wheeled Skidder is mainly based off of a Wheeled Feller Buncher (but with the
cab facing towards the engine), whilst a Crawler Skidder is based on a Crawler Dozer.
Skidders either have a cable or a grapple attached to a small
boom. Cable Skidders need the operator to get out of the
cab and tie the cables to the
tree, whilst Grapple Skidders can remotely
hook up to the logs and close the grapple arms.
Once the Skidder has hooked up to the fallen trees, it brings them to the loading zone, where either a Delimber will be there waiting to shave the branches off the logs, or they will be ready for the
Log Loader to place them on the Logging Trucks.