Best way to clear unwanted trees from pasture

[Ed27]

Hi all,

I just bought 50 acres, about 35 pasture and 15 woods. Land is flat. Pasture has been neglected for many years and has hundreds of trees in it that need to be cleared. Most are Bradford pears and cedar trees, about 5-6 inches in diameter and about 20 feet tall. I want to make a wide open pasture of it all. After the trees are cleared, I will keep it cleared with a bush hog. I will move 6 horses on it. I am not in a big hurry, but I want to get it done as soon as reasonably possible. I don't want to tear up the pasture land more than necessary, but will do what I need to get the job done.

Here are some ways to get the job done. Please tell me which way you think is the best way to go and your experiences.

Forestry mulcher: Wow, what could be more awesome than a forestry mulcher?!
Clevinger Forest Services- Forestry Mulcher Land Clearing - YouTube
I can rent one (tracked Bobcat T770 with forestry mulcher) for about $3,000 per week. Pros: Turns trees into mulch, grinds them down to the ground, does not tear up other pasture, and no burning required. Negative: Renting a Bobcat is still pricey, and it may take many weeks to complete.

Bulldozer: Hire someone to push them over, shove them in a pile, and set them on fire. Pros: Fast, probably cheapest method too. Negatives: Will tear up a lot of ground because many stumps will come out and make holes so ground will need to be graded too.

Tree saw and stump grinder for tractor PTO: TurboSaw quickly cuts each tree.
Tractor Mounted Tree Saw
Use grapple to put in a pile and burn them. Take saw off tractor and attach stump grinder.
Stump Grinder Videos | Woodland Mills USA
Pros: Should go pretty quickly. Can go at my own pace, depending on how much time I have each day. The saw and grinder will cost about $8,000 total, but I will be able to use them later too when I cut some trails through the woods. Negatives: Not sure, but may take the most time.

Your thoughts? Thanks for playing along!

Ed

 

[big bubba]

best way? get rid of the horses.....(all in good fun)
you have a task ahead, best regards

 

[Overtaxed]

Well.. How big a tractor you have available? If you want to do it yourself, and you have enough HP (75-100), I'd buy something like this:

BaumaLight - Brush Fire Mulchers

And sell it when you're done. A mulcher rental, as you've already found, is real pricey, so, if you need it for say 2 months, you're coming real close to buying the mulch head. Also, be aware, I've looked at this before, and all the rental ops near me call a "week" 40 hours of machine time. You can go through that real quick.

I think that mulcher is in the 20K range, if you used it for a few months, I'd have to believe you'd have little/no trouble selling it for 12-15K when you finished. And then you don't have to rush. I have a Baumalight Brushcutt, I've never seen their mulcher, but, if the cheaper Brushcutt is any indication, they make a fantastic machine.

The tree saw + grapple, IDK. For me that would be unacceptable. It would take forever to do that much land for me, but I have a lot of smaller trees.

Push it into a pile and burn it, seems reasonable. You know how to run a bulldozer? If so, that'll rent much cheaper than a mulcher, but, as you said, it'll tear the ground up good.

Might want to get a price to hire it done. If you have anyone in your area with a big dedicated mulch carrier, they might be interested in that job. Those machines are huge, so you can't have them come and cut "a few trails". But level 30 acres, that'll get them interested. It would probably take them less than a day to turn the entire thing into mulch with a 300-400HP carrier. It's quite an operation to watch, I've seen them do it in ROW's around here. It's amazing, it'll take down everything in it's path basically at full speed (5MPH or so). And the heads are big. I've never looked at hiring one because my land and needs aren't suitable, but.. Maybe 3-4K a day? That's a WAG (wild *** guess), but, given the cost of other heavy equip rental with an operator, seems like it should land in that zip code.

 

[Ed27]

Big bubba. Lol! My wife and girls own the horses. They love me very much but might kick me to the curb before they got rid of the horses. I will not ask them who is more important because I don't want to know the answer!

Overtaxed. Good suggestions. My pasture has more trees in it than is shown on Google Earth. Image must be several years old. My son owns a drone. I am going to ask him to take some good overhead video, then show it to some contractors with the big boy mulchers and ask how much they will charge. As for the tractor, I am going to buy a new Kubota M7060.

 

[kthompson]

If you have cedar trees like the ones we have the stumps will rot very very slow, they need to come out. If I were going to mulch the trees would certainly get pricing on hiring it done.

Some other options since not in big hurry. Chain saw or say a mid size or larger excavator with thumb to pull the trees and pile right away. The holes left will not be bad at all and if they need filling have some dirt hauled in and use a blade to pull the dirt into the hauls. No grading needed.

 

[big bubba]

Big bubba. Lol! My wife and girls own the horses. They love me very much but might kick me to the curb before they got rid of the horses. I will not ask them who is more important because I don't want to know the answer! ED27

absolutely...follow those dreams. been doing it myself on an Ozark mt top for decades.
can't beat the M7060, had a 7040 for a while myself. M series utility tractors rule. will you just pasture or try to grow Bermuda/alfalfa for hay?

 

[Redlands Okie]

Stump bucket on a tractor that size will work well. Just another suggestion.

Personally of the 3 choices you listed to pick from the 3rd and last one would be my choice. I am a fan of having something long term to show for my money.

 

[Overtaxed]

Well, that M will carry and run a Brushcutter good. The other option, without getting too crazy, that I considered. Buy a used skid steer mulch head, put it on the front of your tractor (on the skid steer quick attach) and get a PTO power pack to send the fluid up to the head. Then you're working in front of you, you can buy "any mulch head" (not just a PTO one, which is rare and will be harder to resell), and then resell the machine (and PTO power pack, if you have no use for it) afterwards. Depending on the size of your trees, your MIGHT be able to get away doing a PTO power pack and an open rotary cutter, something like this:

Virnig Rotary Brush Cutter - Open Front Deck Attachment | Skid Steer Solutions

They make them that can take up to about 8" trees, not sure if that'll do it for you, but, if it will, that might be the cheapest way to get it done. A heavy duty skid steer rotary cutter will be pretty easy to sell (maybe lose 2-3K on the resale, worst case), and the PTO power pack, not so easy to sell, but, even if you sell it for 1/2, they're not that expensive. Again, big advantage here is you've got all day to work on it, and, this will be much cheaper to own and run than a real mulcher. It's basically what my Brushcutt is, which is also a good option for you, but those configuration don't go below ground level. I can flush cut a tree, but not below the soil. Your trees are a little too big for my machine, I think it's rated to 4", but, if you can get away with it, that's a really cheap way to get it done (5K for the machine or so). Also, one final option, a Brown Tree Cutter:

https://www.brownmanufacturing.us/sites/default/files/2000 Treecutter Web.pdf

That's what I was going to buy until I found the Brushcutt, the Brown is a bigger/badder version of what I have. They are rated to 8" trees, IIRC. Might be a little big for your tractor, but, if you go slow, should do what you want. Just have to do it in reverse, which does get tiring. I usually only run mine for 3-4 hours before I've had it. But, given that there's no rush, it's not that bad. I could probably clear 1/2 to 1 acre in a few hours with my machine of scrub to 2-3" (10-20' tall) trees. Goes pretty quick.

Here's some video of me using the Brushcutt, 60HP tractor:

Brushcutt CP56 clearing some land - YouTube

Brushcutt CP56 working on some smaller trees - YouTube

 

[PineBrookFarm]

If you really don't want to disturb the topsoil much I think a larger forestry mulcher is the way to go for 50 acres. Doing that with skid steer mounted mulcher will take hundreds of hours. Likely 1-200 hours in ideal conditions. If conditions are poor much longer.

It would also be reasonable to do it with a 20 ton excavator and then stack and burn everything you can't use but again 50 acres is going to take much more than a large mulcher and you then have to deal with a HUGE amount of trees to chip, burn or truck off.

 

[My Gym]

I have owned the Turbosaw for about 4 years. I had about 20 acres of Eastern Red Cedar that I wanted to clear. I did a lot of research at the time and bought the Turbosaw. It will cut the stumps at ground level (slightly below if you let the saw settle in by going back and forth) and you do not need the stump grinder. On level ground it works great On uneven ground not so much. If trees are very tall, since you cannot control the direction of fall. It can be dangerous. I have cut several thousand trees with it over the years. I worked on a neighbors field this spring and with trees under 12 feet and 2-6" diameter I could cut about 200 trees per hour. Tractor is a John Deere 3038e. If you have any questions, just ask.

 

[Ed27]

I have owned the Turbosaw for about 4 years. I had about 20 acres of Eastern Red Cedar that I wanted to clear. I did a lot of research at the time and bought the Turbosaw. It will cut the stumps at ground level (slightly below if you let the saw settle in by going back and forth) and you do not need the stump grinder. On level ground it works great On uneven ground not so much. If trees are very tall, since you cannot control the direction of fall. It can be dangerous. I have cut several thousand trees with it over the years. I worked on a neighbors field this spring and with trees under 12 feet and 2-6" diameter I could cut about 200 trees per hour. Tractor is a John Deere 3038e. If you have any questions, just ask.

My land is flat, 5-7 degree slope in some areas. So it sounds like you recommend the TurboSaw. What did you do with all trees after you cut them?

 

[BLSXJ]

another option... If your willing to entertain grinding the stumps.

buy a wood chipper WC88 8″ PTO Wood Chipper, Wood Chipper | Woodland Mills Canada

then buy a stump grinder WG24 Stump Grinder, Stump Grinder | Woodland Mills Canada

I assume you own a chain saw and a brush hog.

Cut the tree down, chip as much of it as you can (keep or sell the chips) then grind the stumps.

 

[widefat]

Reminds me of a naive man I once new.
(OP - not saying at all you are naive - read on.)

We were looking for land. I had never really been exposed to logging, land clearing, or site development. My wife, however, grew up on a farm.
We would look at a nice piece of land; covered with trees. I would stand with a determined look on my face and tell my wife "Yeah, I'll clear 5 acres here. It should'nt be that hard." The first couple of times I said it, she would start laughing. Eventually, she just said "Yes, Dear", and patted me gently on the arm.

Well, I have been working on and off for a couple of years on a one acre patch. I reckon I'll finish one of these days.

 

[EddieWalker]

In my opinion, the best way to take out trees is with an excavator. If that's not an option, then a backhoe, which is what I have. For small trees like you described, most of the time I can just push them over by putting the bottom of the hoe bucket against the base of the tree and working my way up, while pushing it over. If that doesn't work, then a little digging on either side and they come right out. For smaller saplings I use the teeth of the bucket to push the tree over and pin it to the ground, then I move the bucket sideways a few inches an pull the bucket back towards me. This creates a hook in the tree where it's bending and I can quickly pull it out of the ground. I did this with hundreds of trees over the last weekend while clearing an area for a new fence.

I would not use a dozer. I own a pretty good sized dozer that's 40,000 pounds and 170hp. It pushes most trees over alright, except when the tree snaps off and leaves a stump. Then that's a big mess. The big problem with a dozer is getting the trees to where you want to burn them. Even with a rake you will end up with tons of dirt in your burn pile.

My neighbor has had a lot of his land mulched. The day its done, it's really nice. But nothing grows there for awhile and you cannot plant anything in all of the chips until they rot away. In six months it's all weeds. A year later it looks worse then before it was mulched!!! You really have to spend a lot of time working the ground after it's done to have nice results. In my opinion, it's a lot of extra effort to accomplish this.

Getting the trees out is the easy part. Getting them to the burn pile is where you will spend all of your time and energy. Dragging them creates ruts and it's very VERY SLOW. A grapple is by far your best friend. Nothing is faster, cleaner or easier then picking them up and carrying them to the pile. I modified my backhoe front bucket to be a Quick Attach so I could remove the bucket and put on the grapple. Now I can remove the trees with the hoe, and then turn around and use the grapple to clean up my mess. A quarter of my time over the weekend was removing the trees, the other 75 percent of the time was picking them up and hauling them to the burn pile.

 

[nybirdman]

We cleared about ten acres two years ago;this after ten years of do-it-your-self stuff.Hired a Skid Steer with a Fecon head,left the bigger trees for fire wood(cut the following winter) then hired a excavator to pull stumps.We cleared all the debris with tractors(grapple).
This was solid brush and second growth junk trees.Best money ever spent.Planted into food plots and they are doing well.

 

[oosik]

I have 80 acres in an area known as the Channeled Scablands of NE WA state. Every spring I thin my Ponderosa pine stands. The pines I cut ( chainsaw ) are from 1" to 6" on the butt. I will cut/chip anywhere from 900 to a max of 1200 young pines every spring.

I have a heavy duty grapple on my Kubota M6040. There is no way that this tractor/grapple is of ANY use, what-so-ever, in this annual thinning project. After I have gone into a stand and chainsawed the trees - it resembles a gigantic game of "Pick Up Sticks". There is simply no way of weaving any size tractor in and around the remaining, standing trees. Removal of the cut trees and piling them is all manual.

The dragging & piling is, far and away, the most difficult part of this annual project. As a matter of fact, it's a REAL PITA. Chipping is the fun part. The dragging involves lifting, dragging a 20 foot pine over and around all the other fallen pines. I will usually fall a couple times during this operation. I've become quite proficient at falling and not really getting hurt.

However - if I wanted to fell and chip ALL the trees in a stand. Then the tractor and grapple would be FANTASTIC. It would be very easy to corral and pile the pines with the grapple.

I cut the young pines at or near ground level and they are totally rotted out within four years.

I don't know about your trees( Bradford pears & Cedars) but a 6" Ponderosa pine is just right at the max limit that I can drag out and pile. It's also at the max limit for my Wallenstein BX62S chipper.

 

[IndyIan]

I have removed 20' white cedar trees just with the loader. I had the bucket edge sharpened up abit with the angle grinder, which helped shear the roots and grip the tree. Basically all I did was cut into the roots on one side of the tree about a foot or two from the trunk by putting the loader into the ground and giving it a wiggle to cut through. Then back up and push on the tree about 4' up till the front axle gets near the up rooted stump, then back up and scoop the stump at ground level leaving most of the soil. Loamy soil in spring helped of course but it was surprisingly easy and the intact side root let me just push most of the trees straight ahead into the fence line.

 

[Rmart30]

If you really don't want to disturb the topsoil much I think a larger forestry mulcher is the way to go for 50 acres. Doing that with skid steer mounted mulcher will take hundreds of hours. Likely 1-200 hours in ideal conditions. If conditions are poor much longer.

It would also be reasonable to do it with a 20 ton excavator and then stack and burn everything you can't use but again 50 acres is going to take much more than a large mulcher and you then have to deal with a HUGE amount of trees to chip, burn or truck off.

Agreed. They did acreage for me with one. Stumps are ground right to about ground level. If you arent going to be tilling the soil I wouldnt worry about digging stumps up. Lots of time involved there.
These are who did mine. they are probably a couple of hours from you.
i have access to trackhoes and dozers and can run them myself but I choose them to come mulch it instead.

Home - North Alabama Land Clearing and Forestry Mulching

 

[showcattle]

An excavator with a proficient operator would probably be the fastest

 

[My Gym]

My land is flat, 5-7 degree slope in some areas. So it sounds like you recommend the TurboSaw. What did you do with all trees after you cut them?

Eastern Red Cedar will burn green. I piled them and burned them.
This is actually a 2 part problem. The first is cutting or removing the trees. The second is disposal of the trees.
The right decision for you depends upon you importance of time, money, speed, and final use of the land. Leaving stumps in the ground is the easiest and fastest. This will limit your use of the land until the stumps rot. The trees will have to be piled if you burn, mulch or ship out. The only option of piling is a large mulching head, but will cover the fields in a heavy layer of mulch. This will ****** grass growth. Burning the trees will require the trees to dry for about a year. Are there burning restrictions in your area? Is there a market for mulch in our area? Is there a demand for free firewood in your area? Are the trees desirable for relocating by a nursery?

Any method that removes stumps, will be expensive, labor intensive, and require leveling work after. My neighbor has an excavating company.

I have seen the results of excavator, bulldozer, skidsteer with mulching head/saw, tree puller, chainsaw,and turbosaw. They have different costs with good and bad points.