Land clearing newbie needs help-pics. included

[Piston]

Robbie,
When I look up subsoiler all I seem to find are the ones that are basically like a ripper that you hook to your 3 pt hitch but have a small "blade" on the bottom of them. Could you post a link to what you are referring to? You've peaked my interest

[tonyoz]

Robbie,
When I look up subsoiler all I seem to find are the ones that are basically like a ripper that you hook to your 3 pt hitch but have a small "blade" on the bottom of them. Could you post a link to what you are referring to? You've peaked my interest

I think what Robbie is refering to is what FAE and AHWI call a Stone Crusher

[cowski]

it does not look too thick from the photo.anyway it is just 4.5 acres.bush hog what you can.then take a chain saw and cut the trees down.then drag them into a pile to burn.then with a hand sprayer spray remedy on the regrowth.this would be the way to do it yourself .you are going to need a chainsaw,tractor and bush hog anyway.

[foreman Etexas]

I would get someone with small dozer come in for a days worth of work and just get the trees down(so know stumps) and pushed to far end in piles(so you can burn it later date out of the way. Then shred the other and when it starts to come back up hit it with a Remedy/2-4d mix,then will probaly have to repeat.

[boggen]

looking at satilite image, and judging trees near the houses vs what you have circled. it looks like all small size trees, that would be to small. to do much with. exception might be, cutting the trees up to turn them into wooden fence posts. assuming you can get enough straight length. and the trees could make good fence posts.

not sure if it would be worth while to really "cut" and if need be split the wood for "fire wood" and then sale off the firewood.

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as far as making the area ready for field work. i would say, get the roots out now. there are multi ways to take trees down and get the roots out. but you have so many trees, that it no longer becomes what you have, but rather what would take least amount of time. and do a good job at it.

the other issue, is re-grading area were trees were, and dealing with any swamping areas / rutted up areas. and in that moving dirt in to fill holes were tree roots were. to getting good run off water drainage on the field. so you do not end up with major wash outs, within the years to come.

with above said, my vote would be dozer work. dozer can push the smaller trees down and get the tree roots at same time. then go back over the areas and push dirt back into holes and regrading everything. so you end up with nice smooth transitions on any hilly areas. or perhaps flatten things out better for you.

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if you already have a good size tractor, you could get a 3pt hitch with subframe backhoe for tractor. and remove trees that way fairly easily. and then use FEL (front end loader with heavy duty bucket), and 3pt hitch box blade with rippers, to regrade and level things out as well.

the backhoe, with FEL, and box blade for say 50 to 60 HP tractor. with R1 / AG tires on it. could have long term benefit for you. for other projects on the farm. from grading dirt and gravely driveways, to dealing with trenches, to pulling old fence posts, if your state laws allow for it on your property to possibly dig a hole and bury a dead horse / cow / other live stock deep enough and properly. and tractor could possibly be re-used, to pull plow, disc, harrow, planter possibly. (depends) some times it can be better to have a tractor setup for just field work vs jack of trades tractor that does a little bit of everything.

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not knowing other stuff (all acrage you have, and any other tractors you might have). i would say get a tractor with backhoe, were you can move a lever and swivel the seat 180 degrees to operate backhoe. and make sure you can remove backhoe. so you can use other 3pt implements. this rules out good amount of "industrial" TLB (tractor loader backhoes) that you might see city workers using. and as a result puts you more in utility class tractors. that are built more directly for a backhoe operation.

you can place a 3pt backhoe with subframe on nearly every tractor with some modifications to subframe possibly. but this normally requires hoping off of tractor and then going around and hoping on backhoe seat to operate backhoe. this can be rather time consuming, more so when digging a trench, but can work.

if you are going to rent a backhoe or rather a "excavator" for a few days or a couple weeks to clear the trees, you would more likely be better off renting a dozer. or just paying someone to do the dozer work.

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some tree roots. "spread out" over a large area. while other trees, tend to go straight down into the ground. you may want to dig up around some of the trees. to help remove some of the larger size roots. so plow does not get hung up on the larger size roots.

[Robbie Hegwood]

Fae Usa - PTO/Tractor Soil Stabilizers

This what I was talking about. It is the only thing I know of that will cut the stumps down enough and make it safe for cattle/horses. I think if you find a larger mulcher they might can get down low enough to get your desired results.

I have a buddy who works for FAE it you need his number.

[WestshoreConstruction]

Subsoiler is the best but not cheapest it will go up to 18" into the ground. Dozer, pile and burn probably cheapest. Disc after, seed and spray if needed.

[Piston]

Fae Usa - PTO/Tractor Soil Stabilizers

This what I was talking about. It is the only thing I know of that will cut the stumps down enough and make it safe for cattle/horses. I think if you find a larger mulcher they might can get down low enough to get your desired results.

I have a buddy who works for FAE it you need his number.

That is amazing. I would love to run one of those for a while!

[PatasColo]

...
Approximately 4.5 acres have been sitting fallow for the last 15-20 years and are overgrown. I have included an satellite view of this segment of the property and some pictures of the growth for all to see. I would like to turn this acreage into useable hay field ...



...As someone new to this I will appreciate all of the advice that you all can give me.

tmac196

Look at that photo again....
I say "Forget the extra 4.5 acres of hay. You've already got what looks like a couple of fairways there, complete with plenty of "rough"... Put up a sign and let the golfing begin!"

(Probably a lot more money in that anyway, and you could buy another adjacent hayfield with the proceeds. )

Well, I'm not going to require that you "appreciate all of the advice" we can give you.
-Mitch

[tmac196]

Thanks, everyone, for the sage advice.

PatasCol - The yield on the "fairways" has been skimpy because the soil has not been tested nor improved over the years. Approx 8 acres yielded 190 bales (small square - 60-70 pounds) this year on first cutting. I would like to produce 1500 bales per year and since I'm paying property taxes on this land I intend to put it to work.

TripleR - You make very good points. I have no experience with heavy equipment and I would be inefficient with time and fuel because of this. It makes good sense to consider getting professional help for these reasons alone.

Schweiser - Goats! Who knew? No, it's not fenced and it's loaded with coyotes who I fear would pick off the goats, but maybe it would be the other way around, eh?

foreman Etexas - your ideas, shared here in principle by several others, make the most sense to me. Keep reading.

boggen - levelling and grading the ground properly after the clearing process to prevent the washouts and the ruts is something else I never considered. Good points. Thanks.

Rio Grande - Good idea about roots left behind during a "superficial only" clearing process. I raised this issue with my local extension agent (regrowth of natural flora would compete with growth of hay if roots are not removed) and he tended to downplay it suggesting that after a few cuttings of hay, the roots left behind would use up all of their stored growth energy and wither away. Hmmm...

Tonyoz - That machine would be perfect, but it is a proprietary system the likes of which are not available for local rental and, I fear, as TripleR has suggested, that without much seat time in an excavator I would muck about without much effectiveness.

Dozer - Your idea appeals to me and incorporates the suggestions of others most completely. Should I rent a decent sized dozer with rippers in the back and doze it into piles to burn, while simultaneously ripping out the roots? I can then burn the piles and later have the property disced and subsequently seeded.

Could a guy like me whose only experience with a blade is scores of hours in a snowplow effectively operate a dozer with rippers and do this job or would the best use of my hard earned dollars be spent on a professional to do the job?