Equipment Advice for Clearing Land for Pasture

[rozett]

Todd, I am in the midst of doing the same work. I did a timber harvest this past summer under the direction of a licensed forester. I clearcut about 8 acres for crops and pasture. My woodlands were a mixture of white pine, hemlock, and hardwoods that ranged from 6-24" trunks. The logger cut the trees and I was paid for the value of the timber. So I am left with the stumps.

I agree with the others that you should outsource the stumping operation. And the quote you got is right in the ballpark for this area of the country. I hired an excavator to pull and bury stumps from 4.5 acres. Thats costing me $8400 and he said it was about 90 hours of work. I got two other bids and both were higher, up to $10K.

I have a Cub 7360 which is a little heavier, wider stance, and longer wheelbase than any of the other colors. And it was no contest! The stumps won. The white pines have a shallow root system and I did make some headway on those. But the oaks and maples have a much deeper root system. Given enough time, I could get about half the stumps out, but I would spend a lot more than the 90 hours. A big excavator or dozer will do a much better job.

You would be better off spending your time doing other things and let the expert, with the right equipment, do the work.

 

[riptides]

Welcome Todd,

I am up the road from you in Hartwood. Do the dozer. I am in the process of clearing a few hundred feet for a horse ring.
I have been banging my B7800 up against some BIG trees and stumps. I have been banging myself up, too, in the process.

While it may seem expensive, I think you can lower it if you get some more estimates, have you thought of renting a dozer yourself and doing it?

With all the snow on the ground you have plenty of time to think about it.....

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif edited for spelling /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[frank_f15]

WELCOME TO THE FORUM: hire out the inital cleaing project and get a tractor that is able to do what u want the rest of the time.

 

[bebster]

You could hire it out, but then again you can probably clear it yourself at the rate of about 40 hours per acre given a mid-sized 35 HP tractor. How many of the 45 acres do you want to clear? If you clear 10 of them, that's not that much time, and besides you'll have a lot of fun doing it. You can always hire out the rest later if you get bored or if it feels like it is too slow. But I doubt you will. However, if you need to clear most of the 45 acres in short order, then you should get it done with big equipment, too big to buy and overkill for maintenance of your land longer-term.

 

[jay_ch28]

Well to give you an idea of how my parents are clearing thier land. Well..."managing" the forest. We have 40 acres of wooded property and are getting it thinned for future growth. We hired a forestry company to come in and to the work. They work in conjunction with a cord wood guy. They are taking out just over 87000 board feet of lumber and then the cord wood guy comes in about a year later and takes the rest (if you can wait that long). We are getting about $20K out of the deal. We have alot of Pine and red oak. But the trees we have are various in size (some are REALLY BIG).

 

[WJones]

Todd, in our part of Virginia. about 120 miles SW of you, land clearing costs are about $1,000-$1200 per acre. Even doing it yourself with a large (cat 977) dozer your costs will still be about $700 per acre. Do not forget that after the big equipment leaves there still is a lot of work picking up rocks and small roots (at least here it is) to make the land smooth enough to maintain with out tearing up your equipment.

The final decision will be based upon what you have more of, time or money. If you have the time then rent an excavator with a "thumb" to dig out the roots and pile them. Do dig a hole to push the leftover debris from burning. You will need a tractor large enough to pull an offset disc to get your final grade before seeding and burying small debris. A midsize CUT with 4wd will pull a 6' to 7' disc. W. Jones Gladys, Va.

 

[cowboydoc]

Todd,

I would definitely get all of the stumps out. I don't think grinding them off is the answer. It will take quite a few years for them to decay in the ground. Whenever you run a ground engaging implement you run the risk of tearing up your machinery.

 

[Todd_Kihnley]

Well, I went back to the property today and walked around a bit and took some pics. It is amazing how easily I brainwashed myself into thinking that the land would be a breeze to clear. I said in earlier posts that the pine were very very small...wrong...7 feet tall; the stumps were flush with the ground and 6-8"...wrong...they are not flush with the ground and many are closer to 1'1/2 round; oh well, that IS a lot of work! I will attach some pics so that you can see some of the property. Most of the big hardwoods are on the property lines or along the creek.

Todd

 

[Todd_Kihnley]

Here is another pic showing the size of the pine.

 

[Todd_Kihnley]

And another pic...facing back up to the road.