8 Acres to clear...... Smart or crazy

[dstig1]

There's another point that may or may not apply to your situation - if you bring in a dozer and want to save the 12" and bigger trees, that means the dozer will have to dance around them. You'll end up killing them with accidental scrapes and ground compaction from the dozer. You can be a lot more surgical with a tractor and some patience.

If you're going to get the tractor anyways, then I'd go for it. Grapple would be an excellent addition to the mix for that, so make sure you get a 3rd function valve with the tractor. I cleared 2 acres of heavy forest by myself last summer, and that included lots of chainsaw time and trees from saplings to 32" dbh Oaks. Had a friend help with the felling. The tractor helped a ton in cleanup.

 

[Ranger Rick]

now very over grown. It is mostly brush, thorns and small trees (pine). We are wanting to clear out the underbrush of about 8 acres, which to us means leaving trees about 1 ft in diameter and larger.

Since it is mostly brush I think that you should start with the tractor and a good brush cutter. I had many area on our 40 acres that were overgrown and I have a 3940 and 6foot land pride brush cutter. Cut what you can a couple of times and see what you need to have after that. I had locust trees that were 3 inches in diameter that I would back over with the mower and chop up into little pieces. Many of the small stumps rot away pretty quickly. And you will need the tractor to keep it mowed to keep the brush from coming back.
So get the tractor and start mowing. You will get plenty of seat time.
Rick

 

[Soundguy]

if just clearing sapplings and brush.. stuff you can drive over.. then by all means.. get a good tracgtor and hd mower and box blade and go for it.

if removing stuff bigger than 2" green.. .. well.. tractors ain't bull dozers.. and they don't do stumps real well.. in that case for 1-time work.. hireing it done is usually best.. unless you got plenty of time to do this and like the feel and sound of a chainsaw and plan to fell a couple a week, and burn the stumps out as you go over a few year period..

soundguy

 

[milkman636]

I had good luck clearing four acres with my John Deere 5210, loader, bush hog, box blade, and chainsaw. There were some stumps left that needed to be dug out, but I found a good local guy that would dig them out with his backhoe for $65 an hour. He was able to dig up to about 3' diameter stumps with his hoe. I was able to rock smaller trees up to about 8" in diameter over with the loader and get the entire root ball out of the ground. You'll be surprised by what a 50hp tractor can do when you get the hang of it. The whole project was done during the couse of one summer.

 

[SamtheEagle]

Hello everyone, I'm the new cherry around here as this is my first post and I have yet to buy a tractor. I think this is a terrific site, I've learned a good deal from these threads already.

My situation is pretty much the same as Andyz171. I have 11 acres that was clear cut in November that I want to turn into horse pasture. Right now I'm at the stage where I need at least get the brush off the ground so the guys at Southern States can do their thing with lime and fertilizer. I don't want to pay $10-15K to have a bulldozer guy clear the land or deal with mounds of tangled stumps/brush/dirt. I'll need a tractor anyway so I figure I'll just put that dough toward a tractor and clear it myself. I'm planning on grinding the stumps with either a rental unit or an attachment (any thoughts or experience on stump grinder attachments?) and piling the brush up in a corner for now. I also plan on putting up my own fence and doing some work in the woods improving trails, light logging etc. so I'm thinking a 4x4 is a must and something in the range of 40 hp? Honestly, I'm not even sure what questions to ask because I'm such a cherry, but I'm hoping someone else's experience can save me some misery and $$$.

Out of the gate, I've got about $25K to dedicate to the tractor and attachments. I know a lot about the value of cars, motorcycles and guns etc., but I have no idea what is a fair deal on tractors and attachments. Anything anyone can help with would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Western]

Samtheeagle,

Welcome, we like cherries here!!:laughing:

I have rented a walk behind stump grinder, you can get ALLOT done in eight hours. Allot of times it's cheaper to rent things you'll seldom use to validate a purchase, something to consider.

Looking and buying a tractor is almost as fun as having one, You need to read through the various brand threads and start going to dealers. If I where you I would post Brand specific questions in the proper location so you get feedback from owners and dealers of those brands.


One other thing, You should start a new thread, you will get more specific attention and can chronicle your adventures with "LOTS OF PHOTO'S" , where suckers for pictures, but they are worth a 1000 words sometimes.

Good luck.

 

[andyz171]

So here are a couple pics, once again I'm just going after the small trees and under brush, not certain with what to do with the house. Anything the tractor with the bicket or grapple/root rake can't budge will stay. It's an old horse farm, I'm not making it a horse farm so all horse concerns are appreciated but I'm not going that route. I've found a Kubota L5240 HST 4x4 (2008 - 400 hours) with quick detach loader that I'm really leaning towards right now.

 

[radioman]

From the pics it looks like a FEL and bushhog is all you need. Plus seat time:thumbsup:.

Just start by cleaning up the trash around the house and bushhog around the bushes and trees to get a better idea what it really looks like around there. Chances are you will have a better idea what to do with it then. I really don't think you need a dozer from the pics you posted. Thee smaller bushes can be simply mowed down with the bush hog.

 

[moored4]

Here is a thought! :2cents: Go rent several different brands of :tractor: that you might consider buying and try each one out for a day! Tell each dealer what you are doing and he will probable apply the rental fee to the purchase price of a new one if you end up buying from him!

This will give you a chance to see what a tractor and brush hog will do for clearing the land and give you a feel of what size tractor might be best for your conditions,:thumbsup:

 

[charlz]

It's an old horse farm, I'm not making it a horse farm so all horse concerns are appreciated but I'm not going that route.

What is the plan for the place? Anything you clear you are going to have to keep clearing/mowing/whatever if there is nothing there to keep it eaten down. If it is just recreational property Maybe just mow some trails through the 'woods', clear an area around the house and leave it at that.