Most efficient way to clear land

[RobertDuPuis]

I have about 2 acres on the back of my land that I wish to clear. Long before me I believe it was pasture that was neglected and now grown up. My intention is to clear and stump to the point I can put in a food plot. The land currently has about 30 to 40 Virginia pines that range from 16 to 20 inches in diameter. There are a handful of larger poplars and oaks that I intend to leave, and bunches of small secondary growth stuff, sweet gum sourwood, red cedar and such.

I own: an 88 horsepower high flow skid steer with over tire tracks and following relevant attachments:

disc forestry mulcher (rut 60 in)
Stump bucket with grapple
60 in root grapple
Buckets (smooth and toothed)
3 point high flow adaptor
Land plane

I also have a 47 hp 4wd tractor with fel and cat 2 3 point hitch (oversized but relevant to the attachments)
3 point stump grinder (woodland mills)
Box scrape
Two bottom turn plow
Huge disc harrow (9 feet)
Huge rototiller (8 foot howard selectatilth)

Chainsaw

My skid steer implements are new, the stump grinder is new, the 3 point stuff is ancient and inherited. My tractor will just barely pick up the tiller and is essentially unsteerable with it on. The skid steer runs it fine on an adaptor.

My time is valuable, I still work full time and have young kids at home so time spent in the woods takes me away from family time, though I do enjoy it.

I've currently got a 7500 pound mini ex and a dump trailer on rent for the week that I used for another project as I'm out with covid (asymptomatic).

There is a landfill less than a mile away that will accept clearing debris for $40 per dump load.



What is the most efficient use of my available tools here?

the small stuff is a no brainer. The disc mulcher does a bang up job for anything less than a foot across.

the mini ex is 25 hp and doesn't have the guts to dig the stumps very effectively. It'll do it but slowly and with lots of leverage from a tall stump.

My thought was to drop the larger trees with either a chainsaw or the mulcher (notching and felling), pick them up with the mini ex and cut into 10 foot logs. Load the logs into the trailer and haul to the dump. Cut the stumps to ground level with the mulcher then use the stump grinder to take below grade. Grade the land with the box scrape/ skid bucket or land leveler then till and plant with the skid. The tree tops are piled up to be mulched or burned.

I could also use the grapple on the skid to move the logs (more lift capacity), but climbing in and out of the skid is hard with my arthritis.

I could dig around the stumps to get room to take them down with the disc mulcher and avoid the need for the stump grinder.

No one around rents a track loader though that would be awesome for pushing trees over intact. I've considered renting a bulldozer or larger ex for pushing trees over intact. No experience with a dozer or a midi or full size ex so I'm not sure it would be worth it.

Quotes for someone to clear the land ranged from 15 to 25k, and I'm not doing that.

I could probably convince my 15 year old to run the chainsaw to buck the logs while I lift them but he's in school during the day so I'm on my own while i have the mini ex.

Essentially, it's too much work for one person in the next 48 hours before I have to go back to work, but I'd like to put a dent in it while I can. If I still test positive my work requires me to be out longer, so maybe I'll have more time, though I don't get paid if I'm not at work so mixed blessing there.

Anything I'm missing to make this easier/ faster?

You have more and bigger equipment I use to clear my land and friend's. Th EX is perfect for doing so much I use don't laugh JD4200 with a backhoe and dig out the front of the tree's roots where I am going to push them over from. Some times hard wood tree's I have to also do sides roots, but the hard part is my reach so I sometimes I can only push them so far get them started to go the direction I want to go. I sometimes have to fill in the whole a little bit but once down pick up by the stump and shake it the cut off the stump and fill in whole and start the next one. The biggest that little tractor did was 24" or so white oak, pine are easy done 30" for sure if not slightly bigger. Remember look up make sure looks good healthy up above you before the pushing idea dead trees go back the old fashion way chain saw and rope wire pulling. Good luck

 

[mikester]

Mostly agree with that.
Also if the OP uses his small stuff, he risks breaking/bending/excessive wear on it.

I’d do that job with a 20” saw and a 15 ton rented trackhoe.

30-40 pines is a 2 day job.

My recent experience is 15-20 minutes to dig out 24" pine stumps with a 10 ton excavator, 1-2 minutes with a 30 ton. Probably 30-45 minutes with my M59 and a ripper and a lot of wear and tear on my machine. The big difference is I have to dig around the stump with the small machines, the big machine takes it out in 1 scoop.

If you have a lot to do, the bigger machine cost more per hour but you get way more done with it in much shorter time. Due the time difference in work performed the small machine rental ends up costing the same as hiring a guy with a large machine. Hiring a guy with a large machine means he worries about fuel, greasing, breakage, etc and frees you up to get other work done like hauling away the stumps and clean up.

Doing it on my own machine seams cheaper initially but that ignores wear and tear, service intervals, fuel, R&M, operator time. For the odd stump it's fine but I wouldn't kill my machine clearing acreage unless I planned on selling the machine right after getting the job done.

 

[MSU 21]

If you are making a food plot take all the trees out. They will suck a lot of moisture from the plot

 

[Dukeisok]

Thanks for all the advice.

Working around family obligations, I got about 7 hours on it today.

there were two standing dead trees that i felled with a chainsaw for safety.

4 that were already windblown and tangled up. I used the ex to push them down to the ground and then bucked them.

22 or so that were standing normally. I tried digging one side and pushing. Worked but cumbersome and slow. I felled with the forestry mulcher at about 8 feet up leaving the rest for leverage. The ex was still slow on this. Ultimately I settled on felling with the mulcher leaving about 2 feet up. At full speed the mulcher had enough retained momentum to take the stumps down to ground level in one pass from 2 feet up. I took them all to ground level this way and stopped there to save my cutters. I prefer felling with the mulcher because I can't run away from the falling tree like i used to and trees this size can be pushed where i want them with the skid.

i then used the ex to lift the logs up and buck them with a saw (I'm not hunching to cut a tree), then stack them in a pile for later collection. I piled the slash seperately.

Once i had cleared enough to get the truck and trailer up there i started hauling logs off.

I worked until i ran the ex low on fuel then spent a full tank of fuel in the skid mulching the slash pile. I quit to get the kids from school.

All the trees are now down and cut into logs. The slash is 75% mulched.

I can probably finish it tomorrow but it will take a while to level the ruts from the skid (it has significantly more ground pressure than the ex, especially with the mulcher on it).

I'm thinking i may just leave the stumps where they are, about an inch below ground. Alternatively, I can pay my 15 year old to use the 3 point stump grinder on the tractor to take tge biggest of them 8 inches below grade. For a food plot/forest clearing I'm not sure it matters much. I haven't decided yet. I know for a fact the tiller doesn't care if it hits a stump, all the tines were redneck upgraded to 3/8 in angle probably before I was born and it's a gear drive unit that is fairly indestructible.

A few takeaways:

1. My timeline is arbitrary and self imposed. I have equipment on rent and i wanted to minimize cost if it would be helpful, but realistically, if i walked away for a month nothing bad would happen.

2. I need a smaller chainsaw. My only running saw currently is a stihl 661 with a 25 inch bar. It works but it will work you for small stuff like this.

3. I could use a bigger transfer tank. I have a 30 gallon one I lift in and out of the truck as needed, I had to fill it twice today. I don't do this enough to change anything but this was a pain.

4. I'm glad I don't do this for a living. It's hard work and I enjoy it while doing it but I've got to go back to work to get some rest.