October 2023
UNION, South Carolina – Some of us work to make a living. Chad Barfield, 52, has worked to make a life—a good life, not just for himself, but for his employees and especially for his son, Conner, as well. Having started working in the woods when he was still a kid himself, Barfield as an adult has focused on his own kid, working toward his goal of building a multigenerational family business for Conner to take over when he’s ready.
Inside This Issue
COVER: South Carolina’s Chad Barfield Juggles Work, Parenthood
UNION, South Carolina – Some of us work to make a living. Chad Barfield, 52, has worked to make a life—a good life, not just for himself, but for his employees and especially for his son, Conner, as well. Having started working in the woods when he was still a kid himself, Barfield as an adult has focused on his own kid, working toward his goal of building a multigenerational family business for Conner to take over when he’s ready.
Article by David Abbott, Managing Editor, Southern Loggin’ Times
SOUTHERN STUMPIN': Tomorrow’s Trucking Tech, Today
You don’t need me to tell you that trucking in general has long been tricky for many businesses operating in the forest products supply chain. The cost of owning and operating your own rigs or gambling on reliability with available contractors, the maintenance, the potential lawsuits, the difficulty with finding and keeping qualified and insurable drivers, and the expense of insurance—it’s all a headache to a lot of people who just need to transport their logs or pulpwood to the mills.
Article by David Abbott, Managing Editor, Southern Loggin’ Times
FROM THE BACKWOODS PEW: Morale Will Drop When The Dr. Pepper Runs Out
Having spent many a day in the smoke, there are definitely times when you begin to fixate on relief, on finding a place out of the heat, a place where you can have a cold, refreshing drink. In life, sometimes we are required to go into the heat. It isn’t pleasant; it isn’t something we signed up for even. What we know without doubt is that it is uncomfortable and draining.
Excerpted from Reflections on Rebellion and Redemption, Bradley Antill, author
INDUSTRY NEWS ROUNDUP
- Georgia-Pacific Announces Closure Of Pulp Mill
- Georgia-Pacific Is On Board With Fire Department
- Enviva Initiatives Make Headway
- As We See It: Inconsistent Federal Transportation Policy
- Sawmill Accident Kills Child Worker
SAFETY FOCUS
Driver Injured By Side Mirror Impact With Oncoming Truck
South Carolina’s Chad Barfield Juggles Work, Parenthood
Article by David Abbott, Managing Editor, Southern Loggin’ Times
UNION, South Carolina – Some of us work to make a living. Chad Barfield, 52, has worked to make a life—a good life, not just for himself, but for his employees and especially for his son, Conner, as well. Having started working in the woods when he was still a kid himself, Barfield as an adult has focused on his own kid, working toward his goal of building a multigenerational family business for Conner to take over when he’s ready.
Barfield wasn’t born into logging, but he has spent much of his life directly in or indirectly connected to it. Today he owns two successful companies fielding multiple logging and road building crews with combined inventory of more than 50 pieces of equipment.
But Barfield didn’t get here overnight. He had no family roots in the industry; his dad, Freddie, worked on the railroad for 40 years. Not having the benefit of an existing family business to step into, Chad’s only option was to pull himself up by his own bootstraps. He started working when he was just 13 years old, helping out logger Raymond Crawford. His mom would drop him off in the woods after school if the crew was working close enough; he’d work with them till dark and then they’d bring him home. On that first job Barfield learned to farm, bush hog, and drive a skidder. Later, he became foreman of one of Crawford’s crews.
Soon after finishing high school, he started his first company, Chad Barfield Logging, in 1994. He was successful, growing a little too big a little too quick. In over his head on insurance, he decided to switch gears in 2000, shutting down Chad Barfield Logging in favor of a new enterprise, Barfield Bulldozing, LLC, building roads for loggers and big timber companies like Weyerhaeuser, Greenwood Resources and John Hancock.
Ever the entrepreneur, Barfield seized a new opportunity to get back in logging with another company, Barfield’s Timber, LLC, early in 2016 (which, believe it or not, was nearly eight years ago). Since then he has continued to run both Barfield Bulldozing and Barfield’s Timber, both of which have two crews each.
From left: James Cockrell, Jamison Moss, Marshall Worthy, Chad Barfield, Josh Addis
The shop crew restored Barfield’s favorite truck this year and he couldn’t be more pleased with the end results.
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