Ive got 23 acres in central Texas (Caldwell county, near Lockhart) and I've got two big jobs that need done on it. The dirt in the area is about 18" of sandy loam over maybe 15' of hard yellow clay. No rocks.
1) Theres a ~6 acre old hay field on it that hasn't been worked/cultivated in maybe 15 years and is infested with lots of sprangly 3'-10' mesquites. I want to clear this part of my land such that it can easily be cultivated with my ~34 hp tractor and 5' disc (for planting hay initially and thereafter anything else I want). As far as I can tell this will require some kind of root plow/rake/rippers to remove the living mesquites and stumps. Yes yes, I know I can spray the mesquites, but I need them out of the field anyway so I don't see the point of spraying them and then clearing them when clearing and burning them will kill them just as dead. yes, i know they'll still grow back but I can more easily take care of small mesquites that grow back or from buried seeds with my smaller Kubota tractor.
2) There's an old tank/pond thats way too shallow and small for my needs and I need to expand and deepen it so it will hold more water, can be stocked with fish and have less of a chance of drying up in a drought. Its probably a little more than a quarter acre right now and I'd like to at least double it and make it much deeper.
Dozer operators in my area want anywhere from $75-$120/hr. depending on the size of machine and move-in/out fees of up to $400, which seems pretty **** crazy to me, so I'm definitely looking at renting... but I need to know what will give me the best bang for the buck. This seems like a job that will cost me a lot less to do on my own, even if I'm slower than a professional operator. I plan on taking a week off from work during some paid holiday time to do this.
One problem is that nobody in my area as far as I can tell will rent me a dozer big enough to run a root plow that actually comes with a root plow. Most of the rental places will only rent JD 450s and 550s. This place will rent me a JD 550J with rippers (hydrostat, so its easier for a novice like me to operate it) for only $1050/wk plus $100 dropoff/pickup:
Dozers for rent, Equipment Rental from Austin tx to San Antonio tx from Longhorn Equipment Rental
Alternatively, they'll rent a Takeuchi TB 135 or W-N 3503 mini excavator with a straight push blade for $570/week and $100 dropoff/pickup:
Mini Excavators for rent, Equipment Rental from Austin tx to San Antonio tx from Longhorn Equipment Rental
http://www.longhornequipment.net/Wacker-Neuson_Compact_Excavator.html
Which do you think would do the job better? I can see the mini excavator being better for digging out the tank, but can it also tackle 10' mesquites, especially when its only 48hp and doesn't have a thumb?
The JD 550J can probably push over those mesquites, but I don't know if the rippers will do a good enough job pulling up the stumps compared to a real horizontal blade root plow or a root rake. Digging out the pond seems straight forward enough with the dozer, but it seems that the excavator might be able to make it deeper more easily, especially in the hard yellow clay.
I've considered using a forestry mulcher/hydro-axe, but nobody I know of in my area rents those due to liability concerns, plus they leave lots of mulched up trash on the ground that prevents grass from growing... and still leave stumps and roots in the ground. In short, not an option.
My budget is going to be a $2,000 hard maximum for both jobs using a max of one week of my free labor plus rental equipment (this includes the pittance I get from the USDA/NRCS EQIP program grant, BTW).
Thanks in advance.
1) Theres a ~6 acre old hay field on it that hasn't been worked/cultivated in maybe 15 years and is infested with lots of sprangly 3'-10' mesquites. I want to clear this part of my land such that it can easily be cultivated with my ~34 hp tractor and 5' disc (for planting hay initially and thereafter anything else I want). As far as I can tell this will require some kind of root plow/rake/rippers to remove the living mesquites and stumps. Yes yes, I know I can spray the mesquites, but I need them out of the field anyway so I don't see the point of spraying them and then clearing them when clearing and burning them will kill them just as dead. yes, i know they'll still grow back but I can more easily take care of small mesquites that grow back or from buried seeds with my smaller Kubota tractor.
2) There's an old tank/pond thats way too shallow and small for my needs and I need to expand and deepen it so it will hold more water, can be stocked with fish and have less of a chance of drying up in a drought. Its probably a little more than a quarter acre right now and I'd like to at least double it and make it much deeper.
Dozer operators in my area want anywhere from $75-$120/hr. depending on the size of machine and move-in/out fees of up to $400, which seems pretty **** crazy to me, so I'm definitely looking at renting... but I need to know what will give me the best bang for the buck. This seems like a job that will cost me a lot less to do on my own, even if I'm slower than a professional operator. I plan on taking a week off from work during some paid holiday time to do this.
One problem is that nobody in my area as far as I can tell will rent me a dozer big enough to run a root plow that actually comes with a root plow. Most of the rental places will only rent JD 450s and 550s. This place will rent me a JD 550J with rippers (hydrostat, so its easier for a novice like me to operate it) for only $1050/wk plus $100 dropoff/pickup:
Dozers for rent, Equipment Rental from Austin tx to San Antonio tx from Longhorn Equipment Rental
Alternatively, they'll rent a Takeuchi TB 135 or W-N 3503 mini excavator with a straight push blade for $570/week and $100 dropoff/pickup:
Mini Excavators for rent, Equipment Rental from Austin tx to San Antonio tx from Longhorn Equipment Rental
http://www.longhornequipment.net/Wacker-Neuson_Compact_Excavator.html
Which do you think would do the job better? I can see the mini excavator being better for digging out the tank, but can it also tackle 10' mesquites, especially when its only 48hp and doesn't have a thumb?
The JD 550J can probably push over those mesquites, but I don't know if the rippers will do a good enough job pulling up the stumps compared to a real horizontal blade root plow or a root rake. Digging out the pond seems straight forward enough with the dozer, but it seems that the excavator might be able to make it deeper more easily, especially in the hard yellow clay.
I've considered using a forestry mulcher/hydro-axe, but nobody I know of in my area rents those due to liability concerns, plus they leave lots of mulched up trash on the ground that prevents grass from growing... and still leave stumps and roots in the ground. In short, not an option.
My budget is going to be a $2,000 hard maximum for both jobs using a max of one week of my free labor plus rental equipment (this includes the pittance I get from the USDA/NRCS EQIP program grant, BTW).
Thanks in advance.
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