Photos courtesy of McFarlane’s Bark
Innovation has been key to the success of McFarlane’s Bark since Clara and Fred McFarlane established the company in 1932 in Milwaukie, Ore.
Initially, the McFarlanes delivered sawdust from nearby sawmills to local homeowners who used it for heating fuel. In 1965, area yard debris was used to produce some of the area’s first compost. From there, a plea for help from a local landfill that was using at least 25 percent of its space for wood debris led the McFarlanes to begin recycling wood.
Now, third- and fourth-generation family members continue the McFarlane family legacy, providing bark, compost, rock and soil products, as well as portable grinding and screening services through their Milwaukie and Vancouver, Wash., sites.
“In the late 1980s we started hauling wood waste to our location to grind it,” says Kathleen McFarlane, a third-generation owner-manager. “Over time, we found it was more economical to bring our grinder to the waste site, especially as we took on larger recycling projects.”
Rian Strong, McFarlane’s grinding services manager, joined the company in 2001, overseeing the development of this new segment of McFarlane’s. In those first years, they produced about 28,000 tons of products each season with a horizontal grinder.
But the company made an equipment investment that upped its production.
“We [switched] to a Morbark 6600 Wood Hog,” Strong says. “At the time, it was the largest grinder available. The Morbark gave us 1050 hp, compared to 860 hp [before]. We used our first Morbark at our business location. When we purchased our second Morbark, we started taking it to the grinding site.
“Between the two machines, we currently produce 76,500 tons of ground material each year.”
The 6600 Wood Hog is designed to be an aggressive, productive grinder that’s ideal for processing wood waste, clearing land and converting debris into marketable products. Its 66-in. x 50-in. in-feed opening allows McFarlane’s to easily process large material with plenty of horsepower.
grinding services manager; Ann McFarlane, who handles administration
and is an owner-manager; Dan McFarlane, another owner-manager who
handles production and maintenance; Kathleen McFarlane, an owner-
manager who handles the company’s sales and public relations; and
Maureen Draves, an owner-manager responsible for accounts payable.
“We also use a rock separator and screener to separate dirt and rock from bark to produce a clean bark product,” Strong says. “These are Construction Equipment Co. (CEC) 6-ft. x 15-ft. deck screens. In addition to cleaning product, we use the screens to size product on site.”
A FloCait rock/wood separator provides a water bath with a jet aerations system to separate wood from rock, which is then either crushed to smaller specs or sold as is.
“Some of our wood products are used as fuel in paper mills, other wood is used in compost or bark application,” Strong says. “Our screens and the FloCait rock/wood separator are mostly used at sawmill locations to clean up log yards.
“We also use the equipment at construction sites to screen debris out of topsoil and dirt strips. Using our equipment for all these applications in the wood and rock/dirt industries is a good overlap that keeps our equipment busy and maximizes its efficiency. The equipment also allows us to offer a full scope of services, with the capability of clearing land and property and then producing a separated product that can be used for a variety of purposes.”
Among the supplemental equipment McFarlane’s uses for portable grinding services is a Kenworth tractor that tows a 50-ton Trail King lowboy. A John Deere 2154D Road Builder on tracks and a John Deere 644 loader work in tandem with the company’s two 6600 Wood Hogs.
In addition to clearing land, McFarlane’s partners with demolition companies to take down large buildings such as warehouses and other wood structures like docks. Wood salvaged from these projects goes into the company’s wood product line. Among its recycled wood customers is Georgia Pacific, a company that manufactures an array of building materials, including plywood, OSB, gypsum boards and lumber for residential and commercial use.
“They use the wood product to produce steam power for their facilities and electricity for some of their paper machine driers,” Strong says. “A significant amount of product we produce at remote sites goes to other businesses rather than being transported back to us.”
High standards
Binder, a heavy equipment operator who represents the company’s
fourth generation, Kathleen McFarlane and Rian Strong.
While McFarlane’s Bark has always focused on working efficiently, it strives to offer customers the best possible products throughout the company. This philosophy led to the start of testing compost and wood products in 1988, in order to comply with developing local, regional and national product safety requirements.
“Around 1988-89, our metro services began implementing precautionary measures to make sure composters here were using healthy products,” McFarlane says. “It was their Earth Wise program. We worked with them to verify the safety of our products through testing. Several years later we began working with the U.S. Composting Council to obtain their Seal of Testing Assurance (STA).
“In recent years we took our testing one step further, sending product samples to Pacific Agricultural Lab to verify our products are safe for growing food. We post all testing results on our website and test for a range of 15 different chemicals that could cause serious issues if they’re used in the food industry.”
Over the years, McFarlane’s has cooperated with its metropolitan services to promote the first local yard debris recycling activities. The company has taken it upon itself to go beyond compost industry quality requirements, McFarlane’s representatives say. Its willingness to offer customers quality service and products has strengthened its local business profile.
“We started testing at Pacific Ag Lab because we had mothers asking how safe our compost was for growing food,” McFarlane says. “Because of the testing, we know it’s safe. Over the years, more and more customers are looking for that kind of quality. With more people growing gardens and expanding garden spaces we see increasing demand for quality garden products.”
Current legislative regulations make it difficult to develop a new facility like McFarlane’s in Oregon, the company says. Because of that, the family expects their business will continue to grow and evolve to meet customer needs and market growth.
“We’ve been providing service to residential neighborhoods and commercial customers for many years,” McFarlane says. “We take pride in being one of the first recycling companies in Oregon, one our state can be proud of. That awareness permeates our company, from every member of the McFarlane family through every level of our employees. Because it’s something we focus on all day every day, recycling and environmental sustainability is a philosophy that flows into all of our everyday lives.
“My daughter recently left a marketing position in a medical facility to come back to the family business because she believes we are providing a great service,” McFarlane adds. “When we go home after a hard day’s work we know we’re doing many things to support environmental sustainability and quality. Even though we face many challenges in the process, we are happy for this opportunity.”