TractorByNet.com - View Single Post - Clearing 2 acres

EddieWalker · 05-09-2008, 10:48 AM

Two acres is a good size to handle on your own. The best tool for taking out trees is a excavator with a thumb. It's specialized and you don't have enough land to justify it. Next would be a backhoe. It's selective and doesn't destroy what you want to keep. I can take out any sized tree with mine, from saplings to massive oaks.

After you take out the trees and brush, getting rid of them is where the real work starts. I use a chain and drag them to the burn pile. It's physical labor and it's very slow, but two acres isn't going to be too bad.

Just about any sized CUT with a backhoe will work for this.

A Front End Loader will also work to some degree for taking out trees, but it's hard on the machine and not very effective. Remember, taking out a tree with the root attached is ten times easier then cutting it down and digging out the stump. Never dig stumps if you can take out the entire tree.

Hiring a dozer will create more mess then it's worth. I have a dozer and have cleared quite a bit of land with it. Cleaning up the mess that the dozer makes is a HUGE task. Pushing trees and brush to a burn pile with a dozer also moves allot of dirt. Getting rid of that burn pile after it's done is always a nightmare.

Hiring a guy with a mulcher is probably the best way to clear land. They are pricey at $100 an hour or more, but when they are done, it's all done. For your land, you are looking at an easy one day job. For less then a grand, you could have your place looking like a park almost instantly.

Then after they are done, you can selectively take out the bigger trees that you need to remove for your house. For this, I'd either rent a full sized backhoe, or hire it out. Again, a backhoe operator can easily take out several big trees in an hour. Not knowing your land, but knowing backhoes, I'd guess you could have an area for your house cleared in half a day. Figure $50 to $60 an hour.

Taking out trees and clearing land is very destructive and damaging to equipment. You don't want to spend $15,000 or more on a new tractor, just to destroy it the first month that you have it.

Once the dangerous and dificult work is done, you can still spend hundreds of hours on a new tractor cleaning it up and maintaining it.

You will be money ahead hiring it out.

Congratulations on your land and good luck with your project.
Eddie

05-09-2008, 10:48 AM	#8 (permalink)
EddieWalker Super Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Tyler, Texas Posts: 7,948	Re: What tractor/attachments for clearing 2 acres of land Two acres is a good size to handle on your own. The best tool for taking out trees is a excavator with a thumb. It's specialized and you don't have enough land to justify it. Next would be a backhoe. It's selective and doesn't destroy what you want to keep. I can take out any sized tree with mine, from saplings to massive oaks. After you take out the trees and brush, getting rid of them is where the real work starts. I use a chain and drag them to the burn pile. It's physical labor and it's very slow, but two acres isn't going to be too bad. Just about any sized CUT with a backhoe will work for this. A Front End Loader will also work to some degree for taking out trees, but it's hard on the machine and not very effective. Remember, taking out a tree with the root attached is ten times easier then cutting it down and digging out the stump. Never dig stumps if you can take out the entire tree. Hiring a dozer will create more mess then it's worth. I have a dozer and have cleared quite a bit of land with it. Cleaning up the mess that the dozer makes is a HUGE task. Pushing trees and brush to a burn pile with a dozer also moves allot of dirt. Getting rid of that burn pile after it's done is always a nightmare. Hiring a guy with a mulcher is probably the best way to clear land. They are pricey at $100 an hour or more, but when they are done, it's all done. For your land, you are looking at an easy one day job. For less then a grand, you could have your place looking like a park almost instantly. Then after they are done, you can selectively take out the bigger trees that you need to remove for your house. For this, I'd either rent a full sized backhoe, or hire it out. Again, a backhoe operator can easily take out several big trees in an hour. Not knowing your land, but knowing backhoes, I'd guess you could have an area for your house cleared in half a day. Figure $50 to $60 an hour. Taking out trees and clearing land is very destructive and damaging to equipment. You don't want to spend $15,000 or more on a new tractor, just to destroy it the first month that you have it. Once the dangerous and dificult work is done, you can still spend hundreds of hours on a new tractor cleaning it up and maintaining it. You will be money ahead hiring it out. Congratulations on your land and good luck with your project. Eddie __________________ My Goals for 2008 1. Fishing and Hunting with my kids. 2. Build my storage Shed. 3. Put my outside access bathroom together. 4. Fence in a quarter acre for Turkeys. 5. Build my gazebo for my front pasture. 6. Finish back pasture and plant it in Bermuda. 7. Start my food plots. 8. Build a comfortable deer stand for two. 9. Build a wood burning fireplace in my home. 10. New flooring in my home. 11. Build a pasture sprayer. 12. Get my old jeep running.