LE SILLON

A John Deere Publication

A John Deere 853MH Tracked Harvester with a Waratah H425X Harvesting Head harvests trees while the snow falls in a softwood pine forest.

TN Nadeau Harvesting’s John Deere 853MH Tracked Harvester with a Waratah H425X Harvesting Head harvests trees in a softwood pine forest near Houlton, Maine.

Spring 2023

Starting at Mile One

Logger Tony Nadeau’s road to success began in Fort Kent, Maine

STORY: Kevin Orfield | PHOTOGRAPHY: David Lee Mjolsness

A granite monument in Fort Kent, Maine, commemorates “America’s First Mile,” the starting point of U.S. Route 1. The highway runs 2,360 miles all the way to Key West, which is the southernmost point of the continental United States. Fort Kent isn’t quite the northernmost point, that distinction belongs to Angle Inlet, Minnesota, but it’s pretty far north, located along the Canadian border in northern Maine.

With a population of just over 4,000, the small town was a great place to grow up, according to Tony Nadeau, owner of TN Nadeau Harvesting. “During the summer I would bike, camp, and ATV,” he remembers. “In the winter I’d skate, ski, and snowmobile. Maine has beautiful scenery, wildlife, and woods. It’s very quiet and relaxing up here.”

TN Nadeau Harvesting is working about a two-hour drive south on U.S. Route 1 near the town of Houlton, not far from the company’s local John Deere dealership, United Construction & Forestry. “It’s a pure stand of softwood,” says Nadeau. “It’s beautiful. Really nice.”

The company runs a John Deere 853MH Tracked Harvester with a Waratah H425x Harvesting Head. “They’re perfect together,” says Nadeau. “The combination is productive, reliable, fast, and fuel efficient. It checks all my boxes. It’s everything I ever wanted.”

Nadeau also depends on the hard work of his two operators, who each work 12-hour shifts. “They are awesome. I’m so proud of them taking this operation to the next level. It’s hard to find good operators, so I’m very fortunate.”

Mechanically inclined

Nadeau’s father was a diesel mechanic who worked on excavators, dozers, and some John Deere forestry machines, including processors and skidders. “When I was young, I’d help him out on weekends, cleaning parts and getting tools for him,” he recalls. “I loved seeing the equipment after he fixed it. He taught me a lot. Being a mechanic was something I always wanted to do.”

At the age of 22, Nadeau began running a feller buncher for a logging contractor. “I’ve been in the woods ever since,” he says. Nadeau spent more time out of the machine fixing things than in it, so the company made him a full-time mechanic.

“I did that for about 15 years,” he says. “I had my own service truck and a lot of experience turning wrenches and repairing equipment out in the field, so I thought, ‘I’m going to have a go at this myself.’” So in 2015, Nadeau started working on his own.

Around the clock

Today TN Nadeau Harvesting works for Irving Woodlands, a Canadian company that manages over 3.2 million acres of forestland, including extensive holdings in Maine. “They manage over a million acres in Maine, so they’re a big company up here,” says Nadeau.

With a firm commitment to sustainability, Irving Woodlands plans 80 years ahead to ensure healthy forests, biodiversity, and bodies of water on the land it owns or manages. This generational commitment includes growing more wood than it harvests. Since 1957, the company has planted over one billion trees. In 2022, across New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Maine, the company planted 19 million trees.

Irving Woodlands prides itself on innovation, investing in the latest best practices for sustainable forest management. To harvest wood, the company contracts with numerous independent contractors like TN Nadeau Harvesting that run the latest machines and technology.

To keep up with demand, TN Nadeau Harvesting runs its 853MH 24 hours a day, five days a week. “It just runs, all day, every day. The machine is durable and easy to service. I’ve been a mechanic most of my life, and it is awesome to work on. Everything is very accessible.”

The H425x Harvesting Head is perfect for softwood and mixed-stand harvesting. “It’s phenomenal,” says Nadeau. “It’s fast and durable. At the end of a 12-hour shift, you want to see a productive outcome, and this head really delivers.”

United Construction & Forestry helps keep the 853MH going. “When we are working around the clock, we can’t afford to have downtime,” says Nadeau. “It’s a huge expense. The parts support and service we receive from our local dealer are critical. If we have an issue, we’re usually never down for very long.”

Using JDLink™, both TN Nadeau Harvesting and the dealer can monitor the machine. Nadeau receives immediate alerts about machine issues on his phone. Remote diagnostics and programming enable United Construction & Forestry to minimize the time and cost associated with sending out a technician.

“I can call a service technician with the code, and often they can walk me through the steps of repair on the phone,” says Nadeau. “They can also remotely diagnose the machine. If a part is needed, I know they’ll send someone out with the right one the first time.”

JDLink sends Nadeau reminders about periodic scheduled maintenance. It also allows him to track machine location, utilization, idle time, and fuel consumption on his phone. “It helps me to see if everything is running efficiently,” he says. “Fuel cost is another big expense, so seeing that alone is worth a lot.”

Nadeau switched from his old Waratah 622B Harvesting Head to the new H425x, while using the same carrier. “The fuel efficiency from this setup is amazing,” he says.

The forestry market is looking good in Maine, but Nadeau doesn’t have plans to expand. “It’s booming right now, but I’d like to keep my operation to one machine only,” he says. “Operators are hard to come by, so we’ve been making it work. We have a machine and operators we can depend on. It’s been great.”

TN Nadeau Harvesting Inc. is serviced by United Construction & Forestry, Houlton Maine.

Clockwise from left to right. John Deere 853MH Tracked Harvester Operator Randy Herbert and Tony Nadeau stand at the cab door and review the landing site. TN Nadeau Harvesting utilizes a John Deere 853MH Tracked Harvester with a Waratah H425X Harvesting Head to harvest trees in a forest near Houlton, Maine. Snow gathers on a stack of logs ready to be hauled out of the landing site. TN Nadeau Harvesting Owner Tony Nadeau is flanked by United Construction & Forestry’s Sales Representative Cole McLaughlin and General Manager Nicholas Skehan as they walk toward the landing site.