Equipment Advice for Clearing Land for Pasture

[fivestring]

Like Richard said, that does sound high.

How many acres are you wanting to clear?

Like already posted, find out how much to just bury stumps/trees if you cut them down yourself.

Or, I like the idea of buying a dozer, then selling it when finished.

 

[SteveH_CT]

I know a few folks who drop trees - clear lots, etc. Their company gets $250 an hour. The upside is with the equipment they have they are able to drop and clear out trees much faster than your average homeowner (me ). It's something I'm considering since I have a large area to clear as well. I'll likely be batting clean-up with my 4310 once the big equipment has cleared out the large items.

 

[Smithla]

I agree that the price was way high. Last April I had a guy come in with a Catapillar, big machine, cleared 4.5 acres in less than two days, and cost me $2200. Piled it up in wind rows for burning. I also call several companies and got quotes first, and several quotes were over double that amount.

Good Luck, and let the bigger machine do the work.

 

[Todd_Kihnley]

I just got through talking with a salesman at Beverage Tractor in VA and he confirmed what you all have said. He said I would end up breaking the tractor and implements if I were to try it myself with anything other than commercial grade equipment.

He recommended an operator who told me that they get about 90 to 120 an hour depending on the type of equipment they would bring out and that an acre would take about a day at about 1600. I can rent equipment for about 275 a day and if I place an order for a tractor they will work with me better on the rental of the commercial equipment.

I'm going to get some pics of the property soon. We've got some snow on the ground so it might not be real soon. But I think my property would be a pretty easy job of it with the right equipment and operator. I should probably get someone out there to actually look at it and then give me a quote.

Thanks again everyone.

 

[kensfarm]

One thing to consider beforehand.. county & state laws may require special permits for clearing the land. You usually can clear up to a specific size(sqft)/per year before a permit is required.

 

[mountain_man]

Just to give you an idea of pricing in my neck of the woods, this dozer with a very experienced operator cost $125/hour (during last year's snowstorm of the century when most everyone elses equipment had broken down).

 

[tawilson]

I didn't see where you said what your timeframe was. If you're in a hurry, you'll probably need to hire it done. I started a similar project last fall. Right now I am clearing land for a road to some lakefront that I want to put a camp on. I'm using a 40hp tractor, Farmi winch and a Valby chipper mostly. Because I want to take advantage of the frost in the ground, I'm skipping the chipping part for now and pushing the branches into piles for now. I'm hauling out anything over 6" to sell for firewood later on. If you are going to end up with a tractor anyways, why don't you go ahead and get it and start with your project? You might be surprised how much you can do with it. You also might be surprised how big a tree you can push over with your front end loader. Do all you can yourself and then have someone come in with the big equipment when you need them. If you have a lot of big stumps and it's just going to be pasture, I wouldn't dig them out. Rent a stumpgrinder and level them off.

 

[Old_Hickory]

Check these out: Felon brush grinder
Stump and brush grinders

 

[Todd_Kihnley]

Realistically, I'm not in a REAL big hurry. But I wouldn't want to take any longer than the end of the summer.

I guess my biggest concerns are removing the brush, which is not thick, and the associated roots and taking care of the stumps. I think the stumps are fairly level to the ground now but I just thought that to do a decent quality pasture, the stumps would have to come out. Am I wrong in this assumption? I was told that the stumps, if ground, would decay in several years time, and in that sense, I am in more of a hurry to get the pasture setup.

I have to get some pics posted up so you all can see what I have to deal with. I really don't have any standing trees to take down. They were all timbered a couple of years ago.

As far as the Fecon?? and other equipment that was posted, it appears that equipment needs some serious HP? Is that correct?

Thanks again everyone! I'm learning but I need to read A LOT more! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Todd_Kihnley]

I did check with the county and they DO require permits and other things as well. They started throwing around terms like Resource Protection Areas and Responsible Land Disturbers and permit applications and agreements in leu of plans or something! /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif More reading! I down loaded the certification package to become a Responsible Land Disturber so maybe I can be my own watchdog...probably not though...

Todd