clearing land

[Bison]

I have an unused half section bush on my ranch i want to clear and use for grazing.
I wonder what the best and cheapest aproach would be to remove the bush.
The growth varies from heavy timber(mostly white and black and balsam poplar up to 40" in dia) to willow and shrub with thickets of spruce in places.
There is a paper mill in the area i could sell the timber to but these contractors usually leave a big mess with foot high stumps and huge piles of bark and chips and walk over anything to small to harvest. By the time the roots are rotted enough to rip them up 3-5 years down the road the regrowth is 8' high and thicker than hairs on a dog
Buy a D7 or D8 cat and cut and pile and burn?
buy an excavator with a thumb and remove the trees with the roots, pile and burn?
Have it custom done?

What do you think?

 

[brin]

Bison...I've had land cleared a few times over the years and you are right ...they leave the stumps about a foot high , if that, and all the tops and branches...what a mess....but the biggest problem is the stumps...I have often wondered why a land owner could not buy a small Dozier or track loader and make a deal with a timber company to let you or your hired hand push each tree over and they would branch it and cut off the stump...they would get more of the fat part of each tree and you would have an easy time pushing the stumps and tops into a burn pile....If I do it again...I will try and sell that idea to the timber fellas...what do you think ?

 

[mikehaugen]

Bison...I've had land cleared a few times over the years and you are right ...they leave the stumps about a foot high , if that, and all the tops and branches...what a mess....but the biggest problem is the stumps...I have often wondered why a land owner could not buy a small Dozier or track loader and make a deal with a timber company to let you or your hired hand push each tree over and they would branch it and cut off the stump...they would get more of the fat part of each tree and you would have an easy time pushing the stumps and tops into a burn pile....If I do it again...I will try and sell that idea to the timber fellas...what do you think ?

You probably could do that yourself (or hire it) then just have a bunch of logs laying around for the logging company to pick up... maybe they would even give you more for it?

 

[chickenman]

I have a 12,000 lb ram hydraulic wench I have been thinking of mounting on the 3pt hitch with spades that will dig into the soil to pull out trees

with a couple blocks that 12000 could be multiplied.

For the trees I have been able to pull out I use a chain fed through a piece of pipe around the tree and hooked to the end closest to the tractor to form a noose.

 

[chickenman]

for grazing the stumps you can't pull out I'd leave then at least 5' high

 

[rustyshakelford]

Have it logged. Hire a d9 with a shear come thru and plow all the stumps out. Buy a Dozer to pile and burn the stumps and slash. If you have a half section that's a bunch of acres. Depending on contractor you might be able to get a fair price to shear it all. Sell Dozer when done or keep it

Brett

 

[Bison]

Bison...I've had land cleared a few times over the years and you are right ...they leave the stumps about a foot high , if that, and all the tops and branches...what a mess....but the biggest problem is the stumps...I have often wondered why a land owner could not buy a small Dozier or track loader and make a deal with a timber company to let you or your hired hand push each tree over and they would branch it and cut off the stump...they would get more of the fat part of each tree and you would have an easy time pushing the stumps and tops into a burn pile....If I do it again...I will try and sell that idea to the timber fellas...what do you think ?

These timber fellas come in with a feller buncher(s) to cut them down and run them trees trough a de-limber faster than you can swing a stick at it,..they are not about to wait for some slowpoke with a cat to push each tree over...time is money!.
Besides, pushing a 40" dia 120+ feet tall tree over takes at least a D8 if not larger.
I had a guy plow me a fenceline with a D7, these big trees just laughed at him, i had to knock them down with the chain saw.

 

[Bison]

Have it logged. Hire a d9 with a shear come thru and plow all the stumps out. Buy a Dozer to pile and burn the stumps and slash. If you have a half section that's a bunch of acres. Depending on contractor you might be able to get a fair price to shear it all. Sell Dozer when done or keep it

Brett

been thinking about that,..problem is finding someone with a D9 and experience in land clearing and decent pricing,..everybody works for the oil companies in my parts and are used to the big dollars

 

[Redbug]

I have wondered about opening up land, also.

Maybe using a grapple to move most of the slash into piles to burn. Then a tractor rear mounted stump grinder on the stumps. Some of these stump grinders go down a foot into the ground. That would be deep enough to use a disk to smooth the dirt out and bush hog. The stumps left in the ground would rot away in maybe 4 years more or less depending on size.

 

[mikehaugen]

Call me ignorant, but what is a "half section"? Is that a technical measurement? Otherwise how much land are we talking?