Anyone in Georgia who has a forestry mulcher? Questions about clearing land

[gdk771]

I posted this question on the Bobcat forum also but just realized this is probably the more appropriate forum to ask this. I have 104 acres that were clear cut 6-7 years ago and need about 60-65 acres of it thinned from around 2000 trees/acre to 600 trees/acre. This was originally a loblolly pine farm but I now have a mixture of these and other trees including sweet gum, privet hedge and other junk. I am also including pictures of my land to show how dense the trees are. I am wondering if I can use my Brown Tree cutter adapted to a Bobcat to clear this with or if I should consider hiring someone to mulch it and/or rent a mulcher. I have a neighbor who will let me borrow his Bobcat S250 to use but I don't know if it is too small for this type of use or not or if I should consider renting a larger unit. It has standard flow hydraulics unfortunately. Here is my original post..

I have a Brown Tree Cutter that I tried to use with a Ford 5000 tractor but when I backed into the trees, I could only go about 10-15 feet before the pine trees "bunched up" behind the cutter and it created enough drag to cause my tractor wheels to spin. It was suggested to me today that I perhaps use a Bobcat to 3 point hitch adapter with a hydraulic motor to allow the use of the Brown Tree Cutter on the front of the Bobcat. I found one adapter here from searching the forum

3 PT. Hitch Adaptor without Hyraulic Unit

but don't know if it is beefy enough to support this tree cutter. This thing is pretty heavy and is quite a load for my Ford 5000. If I could get it high enough off the ground so I could move it up and down to mulch the pines and keep it level at the same time it might just work however. I can supposedly cut up to 5 inch trees with this thing but don't want to try that. It mows down the small pines just fine but after they start bunching up I can't go any further. I don't know how big of a hydraulic motor it would take to drive this thing also or if my standard flow would run it. Here is a picture of the tree cutter. It is an older model from the late 90's I was told by Brown (90 hp gearbox). The newer units have 165 hp gearboxes. Most of the pines I want to remove are in the 2-3 inch range. Anything larger than that I would like to save.

 

[PsRumors]

I'll send my brother a link to your post. He has an erosion control company and some wicked cutter on a big Bobcat that should do the job, problem is he ain't cheap.

 

[cat 297c]

I'll send my brother a link to your post. He has an erosion control company and some wicked cutter on a big Bobcat that should do the job, problem is he ain't cheap.

No one running a decent brush cutting/mulching business is going to be cheap we burn tons of fuel, all the hyd. fluild grease, teeth on a small mulcher will run $3000.00 easy, wear an tear on the machine due to just running the machine wide open all day long 10 plus hrs a day. Just to name a few

 

[MarkV]

Have you talked to the Ga. Forestry Service about a controlled burn. It looks like it would be beneficial for at least part of your property.

MarkV

 

[Jim Schuermann]

I posted this question on the Bobcat forum also but just realized this is probably the more appropriate forum to ask this. I have 104 acres that were clear cut 6-7 years ago and need about 60-65 acres of it thinned from around 2000 trees/acre to 600 trees/acre. This was originally a loblolly pine farm but I now have a mixture of these and other trees including sweet gum, privet hedge and other junk. I am also including pictures of my land to show how dense the trees are. I am wondering if I can use my Brown Tree cutter adapted to a Bobcat to clear this with or if I should consider hiring someone to mulch it and/or rent a mulcher. I have a neighbor who will let me borrow his Bobcat S250 to use but I don't know if it is too small for this type of use or not or if I should consider renting a larger unit. It has standard flow hydraulics unfortunately. Here is my original post..

I have a Brown Tree Cutter that I tried to use with a Ford 5000 tractor but when I backed into the trees, I could only go about 10-15 feet before the pine trees "bunched up" behind the cutter and it created enough drag to cause my tractor wheels to spin. It was suggested to me today that I perhaps use a Bobcat to 3 point hitch adapter with a hydraulic motor to allow the use of the Brown Tree Cutter on the front of the Bobcat. I found one adapter here from searching the forum

3 PT. Hitch Adaptor without Hyraulic Unit

but don't know if it is beefy enough to support this tree cutter. This thing is pretty heavy and is quite a load for my Ford 5000. If I could get it high enough off the ground so I could move it up and down to mulch the pines and keep it level at the same time it might just work however. I can supposedly cut up to 5 inch trees with this thing but don't want to try that. It mows down the small pines just fine but after they start bunching up I can't go any further. I don't know how big of a hydraulic motor it would take to drive this thing also or if my standard flow would run it. Here is a picture of the tree cutter. It is an older model from the late 90's I was told by Brown (90 hp gearbox). The newer units have 165 hp gearboxes. Most of the pines I want to remove are in the 2-3 inch range. Anything larger than that I would like to save.

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Your neigbors Bobcat will run a mulcher if it has high flow hydaulic ( 30GPM @3000PSI or more) and it must have a Lexan winshield for operator protection. 3-5 inch is ideal for a mulcher on a skid steer. New mulchers run in the mid $25,000 range. I have a refurbished one for approx. $15,000. Give me a call--if a mulcher does not make sense I beleive I could hook you up with a contarctor in your area. 513-284-8990 thanks Jim

 

[fishfactor]

We just finished 45 acres that looked a lot like yours, except we cleared everything and the landowner started over, planting pines. Mulching will give you a good result, but you will pull your hair out in a skid steer on that many acres. We could only do 2-3 acres/day with our T320, but did 8-9/day with the gyro trac. A larger machine may cost a lot more per hour, but will be more economical overall. Another option would be manually. Around here, there are crews of guys that come in with brush saws and just cut and let the trees fall. It looks horrible, but things eventually rot.
There is a good chance we will be about 30 miles from you this weekend if you would like for us to come by and give a estimate.

 

[gdk771]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'll touch base with fishfactor and Jim. Thanks cat297c also for your help and advice. Unfortunately the Bobcat is a standard flow hydraulic unit. MarkV I have been in touch with GA forestry, great bunch of folks. My district forester came down and prepared for me a detailed land use plan along with maps. He said if I thin the pines to around 500-600/acre the ones left will really take off and make a fine stand of trees. He suggested controlled burning after thinning. I really wish the previous owner had taken better care of this land but he ran into money problems and just stripped the timber before selling it.

 

[cat 297c]

No problem

 

[nappytn]

I think you need a bigger tractor, to run over the trees, I run a brown on a 130hp Massey or a ts110 Ford. run over the trees in forward only problem is it is ruff on tires. it will leave some small stumps that are ruff on tires..

 

[Degolyerent]

You might try removing the tail wheel assembly to cut down on the weight and shorten the top link to get it up higher.