Buying 25 acres of woods....

[IslandTractor]

I'd agree that renting a Billy Goat for a week would be a good investment. I own a DR mower (13hp) and I can tell you that while these things are quite effective at smallish brush, it does take a long time to clear meaningful amounts of land. No way would you want to do anything more than use it to scope out the situation before you move on to a tractor. The minimum I would actually buy would be a tractor with a loader strong enough to mount a light duty grapple (which weights about 400lbs) and still have effective lift capacity remaining (so at least 1000lb lift capacity to start) and a 4 or 5 ft bush hog. Bigger is generally better when clearing land but you can do the work with a small heavy tractor and a good loader.

 

[msjwebb]

Well.....we rented the Billy Goat for a DAY and took it back. It kept getting stuck on everything and it had to be picked up to get it off of whatever. (tree branch or out of a rut) It weighs 350lbs so NOT FUN! We gave up on it after about an hour. So now I am looking at tractors and skid steers. Not sure which would be best...the skid steer looks like it would be better for the current application and a tractor for long term use. After the crap this weekend I really like the looks of the turbo saw! I do not think it would work well on a tractor.

 

[IslandTractor]

I cannot speak directly about skidsteers as I haven't used one but while they certainly can do the type of work you are describing in land clearing, a properly set up skidsteer for land clearing is a very expensive tool. Hydraulic cutters are multi thousands for starters. I'd imagine something in the range of $40-50K for a properly set up skidsteer. You could get the same work done, perhaps slower, with no more than 15K in a sub30hp tractor with rotary cutter and bucket grapple. The other issue with skidsteers is that they use one implement at a time while a CUT can have a flail or rotary cutter on the back PTO and still have a grapple/grapple bucket etc on the FEL simultaneously which is very convenient.

 

[msjwebb]

I see. We will for sure not go with a tractor less then 34 hp and not bigger than a 45 hp 4wd. As everyone is we have a budget so we will be shopping around and looking for a good deal. Thanks guys.

 

[IslandTractor]

I see. We will for sure not go with a tractor less then 34 hp and not bigger than a 45 hp 4wd..

This is my 41hp Kioti DK40se set up with grapple and flail mower. Does a great job in clearing land. Kubota, JD, NH, Mahindra all have equivalent machines. In that size machine look for loader strength (minimum 2000lbs lift) as well as HP as you will be doing a lot of lifting and ripping in addition to mowing. The smaller tractors also work but if you have a good loader in this size range you can do a lot directly with the loader/grapple that you'd otherwise need to spend several times as much effort on.

 

[newbury]

I see. We will for sure not go with a tractor less then 34 hp and not bigger than a 45 hp 4wd. As everyone is we have a budget so we will be shopping around and looking for a good deal. Thanks guys.

Too bad the walk behind didn't work out, but I walked behind one for years and it was a poor substitute for a tractor.
Check out the main dealers on the Tractors for sale tab, if you go to the home page here.
Barlow is very well respected here and often they deliver for a modest price if they have a shipment going your way.
I spent a lot of time looking for my ride and probably could have spent only a little more with a lot less stress by buying from Barlow's.

 

[CurlyDave]

My own general rule of thumb is:

small wheels = small obstacles, smooth surfaces

big wheels = bigger obstacles, rougher surfaces.

I know skid steers can be set up for land clearing, but I think a tractor can cross bigger ruts and drive over ditches that would stop a skid steer cold.

 

[Scooby074]

I see you butted horns with a Billy Goat Ive been there. Had the same issues with hang ups on the back of the deck. The BG also doesnt ster worth a darn. IMHO its the worst Rough mower out there.

Unfortunately i just saw this thread, or i would have told you to save your money and look for a different brand (like a DR or a BCS)

Youve also learned that a walk behind can be a work out. You need a heavy machine (heaver than the BG) to push over larger trees. Some other brands are heavier and have actual steering Like a BCS for example.But id never consider one for a large acerage. 2 acres would be about max. Of course this depends on what your cutting. If its light , woody growth like thorn bushes or weeds, than you could go alot more.

A tractor is the ideal and easiest solution. But not quite as flexable as the walk behind for narrow paths or under trees.

Some of the older 2wd tractors could be a cheap brush cutter as they can be found for well under 10000. Typically i see them locally for around 5.

If your planning on putting in a veg garden, a BCS still might work out for both brush cutting and garden tilling. They really have quite a reputation for being an amazing tiller.

Tiller | Rototiller | Roto Tiller | Snow Blower | SnowBlower | Chipper | Mower | Sickle Bar | Sicklebar| Walk Behind Tractor | BCS America | The Best Selling Brand Of Walk Behind Equipment For The Landscape Professional

 

[MarkV]

Congratulations on the new property. It is an exciting time when you start planning and working on your own piece of land.

You ask earlier and tractors do not have titles. If you are interested in a light weight tractor/loader/backhoe,TLB, check out the Kubota B26 or L39. These are tractors that are designed for commercial work, are extremely strong for their size and are more geared to backhoe work if that is your primary need.

I find it interesting how sensitive your soil must be for them to tell you a tractor can not drive across the area where your septic field will be. Unless they were referring to much larger equipment used for logging and clearing. I don't think I have ever seen a field that a TLB or larger wasn't used to put in the system. It sounds as if you have a lot of sand and I generally think of that as perking without much trouble. Actually I would not be surprised if a horse's hoof would not apply more psi of compaction than a compact tractor. It may be worth checking into that more before doing a great deal of hand work. We drove over fields set in basically Florida sand for years without problem.

MarkV

 

[msjwebb]

We have 2 areas plated out for septic tanks and pretty much know the areas where we could get a septic tank and those areas do not have the heavy underbrush. The soils are 1-3 inches of top soil, 2-3 feet of a sandy soil, and then clay. What they do not want is the top soil to get mixed with the sandy soil because then it will make it look like it is a poorer quality soil then it is. It currently looks a tan color but the next soil color down has streakes of gray in it, so if the top soil gets mixed in with the sandy stuff it will look like the less perkable soil, therefore voiding my soil study that I paid a large amount for.
I found this tractor on CL today. It looks like it comes with everything we need for the time being (we will not need the backhoe as much as we thought as the city will now not allow us to put in our own septic tanks and have them inspected). Here is the tractor what do you guys think? 2007 45hp Branson Tractor I googled them and the used ones were showing up as 20-25k for the same size tractor with out all of the toys and more hours.