Maplechuck
New member
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2021
- Messages
- 21
- Tractor
- Kubota M7060 HD12
Did you consider buying a PTO mulchers for one of your tractors, instead of the skid-steer route? I’m curious as it looks like youve got some burly M-series plus that hoss of a Massey-Ferguson that should handle a PTO mulcher well.I took out mostly 2-4” autumn olive, Russian olive & sweet gum. Sometimes I would work around a 6-8” cherry or sweet gum, then once the brush was cleared around it, take it down.
We also dropped a few large hardwood trees and the property owners land manager would saw them up for firewood. Used my 24” Makita (Sachs Dolmar) for that.
I remember 1 or 2 were about 40’ tall and 8-9” at the base. That was the biggest with the machine.
I have a similar project on 224 acres I just bought (obviously not looking to mulch it all lol). There are a lot of softwoods that were heavily logged (basically clear cut.. ~40-50 acres in total) that I’d like to either clean up to replant or a establish a combination of food plots and pasture.
My plan is to buy a PTO mulcher for my 7060 this spring/summer and spend the year working with that in combination with a root grapple. If it’s too frustrating/doesn’t work out my contingency is to sell the mulcher, then hire out a professional next year to get it done. I like the idea of owning and then slowly working on this over the next 3-5 years.
The cost of the PTO mulcher (I’m looking at Seppi) is $22K plus tax, while hiring it out would be $1,600/day for a skid steer unit who said he can do about an acre a day under good conditions.... so I’d be looking at at least a $15,000 bill for hiring out the bare-minimum amount of work i need done.
Theres also a rental place about 25 minutes away from me that rents high-flow Takeuchi skid steers with FAE heads. They said “we don’t rent to homeowners” ... well I’m not a ”homeowner”, I have a small scale forestry operation with skid steer experience, so i imagine I could talk them into it (but I don’t have a goose neck and a truck that can pull the 15,000-18,000 lb weight of the equipment, and I’m not sure if they’re willing to deliver it). The cost is only around $3,800 for 45 machine hours (one week) which is quite affordable IMO compared to the other options, but I just don’t like rental equipment. Renting is the least-preffered of the three options, but still something I’m keeping in the back of my mind.
I’d love to hear feedback from others who found themselves in a similar situation.