clearing land

[FarmGeek]

I've cleared several patches of Tarzan's Back Yard before and the easiest way I found to do it was with a track loader with a 4-in-1 bucket.

I've been lucky to have friends and neighbors that let me use their equipment so the cost wasn't anything other than fuel and cleaning /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif.

As suggested, leave the trunks about four feet long. Open the combination bucket up on the loader and grab the trunk close to the top. Rock the rig back and forth a couple of times and start to raise the bucket arms. Pine stumps will JUMP out of the ground and stack themselves!!! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif (ok, not really) /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Stripping the stump out of the ground that way doesn't make such a big root ball hole to fill back in and usually gets most of the bigger roots too. You are on your own for the smaller ones though.

I currently use my bobcat with grapple bucket to do the same thing but on much smaller stumps. The best I can do is about 6” for pine and 4-5” for Sweet Gum – IF the Sweet Gum wants itself to be removed, that is. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

I’ve use a backhoe to do this and would only consider it again as a last resort. Way too much time and work. The track hoe is a wonderful machine and I’ve put one on my Santa list (but I don’t think he’s reading my mail anymore).

Good luck and SEND PICTURES!

 

[Cityboyfarmer]

Here is how I did my clean up after I had my land logged in THIS THREAD

I will be planting horse pasture as well. I had a contractor with a loader and an excavator. A skilled loader operator can do the entire job by himself. Adding the excavator speeds up the job significantly.

Just make sure you get a firm price per acre for exactly what you want the contractor to accomplish. You need to be sure to get the dirt out of the roots so they will burn. Check out the photos of how clean the roots are in my burn piles. That is what you need to shoot for.

Right now, I'm harrowing around the burn piles until the burn ban here is lifted in October. We have had no rain in three weeks and it is like a dust bowl here. After burning I'll have a lime and fertilizer truck come in. I've already got the soil samples done. I plan to plant ryegrass this fall and common bermuda in the spring.

Good luck with your project! Keep us updated and post some photos of your progress.

 

[4hotshoes]

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions, it's a great help! I looked through your earlier thread, CityBoyFarmer, and your pictures are awesome and convincing. My area is about the same size, so I can see that this is going to take a lot longer and be a lot more expensive than I'd expected. Oh, well, gotta be done! I can also see that it will be next spring before I can plant pasture, but maybe I can get down some ryegrass for the winter if they hurry with the clearing. I'm gonna meet with an excavator on Saturday, then maybe I'll have a better plan. I'll post a "before" picture tonight so you can see what I'm dealing with.

 

[4hotshoes]

I met with an excavation contractor last weekend. He estimated that it would take a week to clear the land using a track loader @ $80/hour. I measured the acreage involved with my GPS, and it's about 5 acres. I've attached a picture...some of the woods are not quite as thick as this. I'm going to save some of the larger hardwoods for shade, and take or give away the remaining hardwood for firewood. The remainder will be piled and burned. He recommended letting it settle over the winter and planting pasture in April. I'll post some "after" pictures when he's done. Thanks for the help!

 

[Highbeam]

So if you assume a 40 hour week then he is at 3200$ for 5 acres. That is 6-700$ per acre and is too good to be true in my area. I would expect about triple that. So I will warn you to be sure that his estimate includes clearing, grubbing, stumping, burning, etc. the whole deal. If he intends to leave you with clean ground ready for cultivating then I would jump on that deal.

 

[4hotshoes]

Well, here's what we discussed: he will uproot the trees... either as they stand now, or the hardwoods may be cut and left with chest-high stumps so that the loader can grab them. He'll shake the dirt from the roots, pile everything for burning, and burn over the winter (we're having the driest September on record right now). He'll grade and fill the stump holes. He said there would be some settling over the winter, so it would be best to wait until spring to cultivate and plant. I'm not really expecting him to finish in 40 hours, although that would be a nice surprise /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif! Most of the trees aren't very big. The contractor has a good reputation for his work, and he's got jobs lined up waiting. He was happy to hear that I'd given up on the idea of planting this fall, because I don't think he's going to get to this job before the weather turns cold.

 

[Highbeam]

Sounds like a good plan. I awould agree that 40 hours is pretty lean but the right machine and operator can be amazing.

 

[rozett]

I agree with High..... I had four acres cleared two years ago. It was a mix of species from white pine (shallow, but large roots) to oak (deep and large). The trees were anywhere from 4 to 36" in diameter. It cost me $3000 an acre to have it cleared and the stumps buried.

Now there 1000 christmas trees on half of it. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[BadDog]

I'd get him to agree to a total cost of job. Pay 1/2 up front (only when his equipment is parked on your site) and 1/2 when the job is done. Get the agreement in writing, with both of your signatures on it.

Let him work at his own pace, around the weather. Leave him be... he'll be motivated enough to get the job finished so he can get the other 1/2 of the payment and go on to the next job.

Hourly rates will bite you in the backside... the hours will just pile up and pile up... $3-4K/acre is the going rate around here for that type of work, it shouldn't be too much different anywhere else, as the fuel cost and equipment payments don't really change too much around the country, and they account for the lion's share of the bill.

 

[DKinWA]

It's amazing how cheap some folks will work. I looked at a 10 acre clearing job which involved a bunch of leveling (1000-3000 yards). As I walked the area with the owner, I was thinking lots of big stumps, lots of dirt to move (D7 and 320 for equipment). I was also thinking know way for less than $20,000 and probably a weeks work.

The landowner then told me he had a bid for $5,000 and the contractor figured two days /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif I told him with a bid like that, I couldn't compete and would be significantly higher and take more time. I told him I wouldn't waste anymore of his and my time looking the place over and we parted company. When I drove by recently, it was still grown over and nothing had been done.