Brush in gulley - leave it or not?

[JimParker]

Guys, I need some input from you "veterans"... I took "Hoss" (JD 3320, 300CX) out to my new property today, to move some dirt and play (er - work). I moved some old dead trees into a large brush pile in preparation for future chainsaw/wood chipper action (more toys - er - Tools!).

While I was out there, looking at the property from a tractor's eye view, I noticed that in one of the gulleys, the previous owner had dumped a bunch of old dead bushes, trees, and brush. Now I was planning on filling in the gulley, but I got to thinking - I wonder if the brush was put there to slow down the erosion effect of the water running downhill? The gulley is about 4 feet deep, and varies from 4 ft wide to over 12 ft wide in places. There are several living trees right in the middle of it.


So what do you think? Should I leave the brush and downed trees in the gulley? Should I throw dirt in on top of them to fill it in? Should I remove the brush and fill? Suggestions, please. Thanks for your help!

 

[RobJ]

A few thoughts...

If you want to fill the gulley, fill it up with other stuff, then burn it.

If you want to keep it, just keep throwing stuff in there. It will help on the erosion and you can eventully burn it if you like. But look at the area before filling, it may become a gulley again...in no time.

Good Luck,
rob

 

[ICGREEN]

Leave it. Gives a nice place to get rid of brush and great animal cover in the winter.

 

[Champy]

Is there someplace else that you want this gulley to be?

It's probably there for a reason (Mother Nature rules us all).........if you fill it in, the rainwater / runoff will have to go somewhere else, most likely just creating another gulley exactly where you don't want it - or re-cutting the old gulley over again!

Since this is new property for you, I would leave it alone until you have a couple of seasons of watching how this gulley is helping to provide a runoff path (or not) before you get too FEL happy about filling it in.

 

[JimParker]

Thanks, guys. I'm kind of leaning towards leaving it alone, also. My only hesitation is that we're planning to raise goats, and it would be nice to not have to cross-fence both sides of the gulley - I'm afraid the goats would be attracted to the gulley, and get hurt when something they were climbing on shifted.

Anyway, I think I'll leave it alone for now. I've got another 3-4 dead trees that have fallen, and I'm thinking I'll cut them up and drop them in the gulley also.

 

[TomKioti]

Jim,
How about some pics! We love pics. A pictures worth a thousand posts

If it's not too much trouble. Whadya say!

 

[ShookFarm]

We have erosion issues in a couple of places on our property and my uncle has had them on his 180 acre farm in Northern Missouri. Keep putting your biodegradable debris in the gulley, but don't bother trying to fill it in.

Unless you have large boulder size rip-rap to use in slowing down the flow of the water and to aid in stabilizing the banks of the gulley, you won't win this battle using dirt to fill it in. As stated previously, filling it in won't do much good. It's likely there because it's a natural drainage.

Also, there's not much chance a goat will get hurt unless the gulley is extremely deep. I've seen goats in places I wouldn't go with a ladder! With cows, I'd fence them out of it. With goats, I doubt it would be necessary.

 

[GordNovo]

I'm afraid the goats would be attracted to the gulley, and get hurt when something they were climbing ....

Hi Jim, I think I have a solution to your dilemma. Why not just build a bridge over the gulley? But make sure you get at least one bigger billy goat just in case they encounter the troll living in the brush under the bridge.

GN

 

[HillbillyFarmer]

If you really don't know the best thing to do, why not contact your local county extension agent? That's what they're for.
I've always found that it's best to leave things as they are and not try and mess with natural contours etc.

 

[CurlyDave]

I'm afraid the goats would be attracted to the gulley, and get hurt when something they were climbing on shifted.

Any goat that lets that happen needs to turn in his goat ID papers and become a miniature cow or something.

Goats are a lot more nimble than you think.

Unless these are super-expensive show goats or household pets, just turn them loose & see what happens. If one of them gets hurt in there, it goes in the freezer.

Around here goats go for free to about $25. I bet you can replace a lot of goats for the price of a goat-proof fence.