2018 International Forest Industries IFI April May 2018 Digital | Page 54
From generation to generation
Four generations of Sykes loggers. (L-R) Bill, Cooper, Cam, Marvin and Colton
– Samantha Paul
BTB spoke with Marvin
Thomas Sykes, owner
of M.T. Sykes Logging
and twenty-seven-year-
old son Colton Sykes to
learn more about their
all-Tigercat harvesting
operations
S
ALEM, Alabama – Passion
for working in the woods is
contagious and continues to
be passed down from generation
to generation in the Sykes family.
M.T. Sykes Logging started with
Marvin’s father, Bill Sykes in 1974.
Marvin took over the business in
1999 when his father decided to
retire. Today the company runs a
thinning crew and a clear fell crew
and both are all Tigercat.
Four generations
Running equipment starts young in
the Sykes family. “I started running
equipment when I was twelve-
years-old,” says Marvin. “I would
get on the skidder when they were
eating lunch and pull a drag. It
would take me about the whole
lunch break to get one drag to the
landing,” he laughs.
Just like Marvin, his son
Colton grew up watching logging
equipment run throughout his
childhood. Colton worked with his
father every chance he could: over
Christmas break, on weekends and
all through the summer. He started
full-time after high school at age
seventeen.
Marvin’s grandchildren,
seven-year-old Cam and six-year-
old Cooper, can’t wait to start
52 International Forest Industries | APRIL / MAY 2018
operating.
“We want to work in the woods
with Daddy and Big Daddy,” they
both say. At Christmas, the boys
love unwrapping a new Tigercat
die cast model. They hope to get
the newest 724G feller buncher
this year.
Marvin’s nephew, Edd
Willingham runs the thinning crew
and the clear fell crew is run by
Colton. Marvin’s wife, Christie,
handles the books and Marvin
himself fi lls in wherever he is
needed. One day Marvin will be
running the bulldozer building
roads. The next day he might hop
on the loader or drive a truck. M.T.
Sykes owns seven trucks in total.
Marvin owns six and Colton now
owns one, purchasing his fi rst log
truck from his father two years ago.
In addition, the company contracts
three trucks from Marvin’s brother
Wayne, who owns a trucking
business.
The iron
The thinning crew consists of a
724E drive-to-tree feller buncher, a
month-old 620E skidder and a 234
loader. The larger clear fell crew
has a 620E skidder, an older 620D
skidder, a 724G feller buncher, a
234 loader and a 250 loader.
Marvin was introduced to
Tigercat in 2001 when the company
purchased two Tigercat 240
loaders. Next came a Tigercat feller
buncher in 2002. And in 2011, the
company fi nally purchased its fi
rst Tigercat skidder. “To be honest
it took me a while to get into the
Tigercat skidders because of the
price. But as competitor models
increased in price, I recognized the
true value in the Tigercat skidders.
Once I tried one I liked it and they
hold up a lot better,” explains
Marvin.
Marvin’s son Colton runs the
newest 724G feller buncher. “I have
run them all but we like Tigercat
the best,” he says. He loves having
all the controls on the joystick
versus having the arm control on
the foot pedal like the 724E. “It is
still just as strong and powerful as
the older model but the upgrades
to the cab are really nice. The seat
is so comfortable,” Colton adds.
All Tigercat equipment has
been purchased through long-time
Tigercat dealer Forestry 21. Marvin
and 21 owner Ricky McConnell go
back over twenty years. “I knew
Ricky when he was a logger with
his brother, before he started
selling equipment.