More work is it worth it?

[Asthepotthickens]

Syrup is a hobby for us, I give my neighbors a bottle as a favor plus they put up with the noise of our ATVs running in an otherwise quiet environment. One of my close neighbors offered me a deal,
75 to 100 hard maples in a bush that has been neglected for 20 years.
Clean up the bush, fallen trees, scrub brush and fallen trees. Give him 25% of the syrup

Worth it or not?

[red maples]

No and here is why,

First of all having 250 taps with a 2x4 flat pan and preheater (I assume flat pans ) You would need to upgrade to at least a 2x6 with a flue pan.

second the going rate of renting a sugarbush, granted its negotiable, is 75¢ to $1 per tap which would work out to$100 or 1.5 to 2 gallons of syrup at retail market value.

If your potential is 1 quart per tap at 100 taps then its 25 quarts or 6.25 gallons. based on the price per gallon retail of about $52 ( its $75+ if you include all the smaller containers for the pricing structure) this guy is going to get over $300 worth of syrup or 3 times as much as a leased sugarbush should get!!!

third you also have to clean out the woods, thats alot of work right there!!! so yes you would get some wood out of it but at the same time your now probably up to 5 or 6 times what a basic lease is for the woods!!!

So again for mefrom an economical stand point no it wouldn't be worth it to me, too much loss. yes you are gonna have an extra "potential" 18.75 gallons of syrup after its all said and done. but you also have to consider the money investments of tubing or buckets, wood needed, time to boil, sap storage, filters, syrup storage, and evaporator up grades.

if you could talk him down the first year to 0 to 10% plus cleaning the woods for the first year and then 15% after that that would be alot more reasonable. ( not that I know but I would assume having a chunk of woods cleaned up would cost a quite a bit of money).

One last thing get it in writing if you do go with it.

[lpakiz]

Some details are missing. Is the 25% just a one-time fee or is it payable every year? How many years would this privilege continue? If only one year, forget it. Who gets the wood, and at what price? How about future cull wood? If you do go forward, a written agreement would be advisable.

[Asthepotthickens]

Some details are missing. Is the 25% just a one-time fee or is it payable every year? How many years would this privilege continue? If only one year, forget it. Who gets the wood, and at what price? How about future cull wood? If you do go forward, a written agreement would be advisable.

I get the wood and it is a yearly fee, from what Brad just told me it is not a good deal. Thank you

[wiam]

Way too expensive

[gmcooper]

Definately expensive but maybe negotiable? Maybe the land owner just does not know what the market is? Worth checking on a bit more if there is any potential with some really good trees.

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

One of my close neighbors offered me a deal,

This is how I see it, I can't argue with the math of how this deal is much more expensive than the going rate, but I say that since this is a close neighbor I would try hard to work something out. What if you to have to give him a little extra for the convenience of the location. One question I have is can you run pipeline, and can that run direct to your sugarhouse location? To me, not having to truck it has value and we aren't talking about 2000 taps, rather 100 and you get an extra 15-20 gal more syrup annually. or more depending on the trees and several other factors. I would explain to your neighbor the going rate of .75 to $1, offer to do the wood over time and would like to be able to release the good maples over time. Free wood isn't something to cry about for many people. And likely free hard wood. I am a believer that there is always a middle ground. It will not feel good to look at those trees in the future if you aren't putting a tap in em, it would be even worse to see it leased to someone else. Offer .85 per tap or 2 gal of syrup no matter production annually and meet in the middle. Try to get a 7-10 year lease with option to renue, the cost and hard work is in the first couple years. You need those extra to recoop and profit. good luck