Clearing Brush - Building Pastures

[jdraper]

I am looking for advice on clearing about 10 acres of scrub brush to create a pasture for horses. The land is currently a pine tree plantation (160 acres total). There is a large amount of spacing between trees, maybe 10 feet or so.

I have been bush hogging the scrub (all smaller than a wrist) but this is leaving a huge number of 3 - 5 inch tall stobs that will kill tires of any kind.

How do I remove these stobs? What do I use to then level and smooth the land? I am planning on leaving the existing pines in until later.

I have a Montana 5740 with FEL and a Woods 6' Bush Hog.

I am very new to the whole tractor thing. I will buy whatever tools I need, but want to buy only what I need.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Soundguy]

Looks like you are gonna be doing alot of stumping to me..

Soundguy

 

[Highbeam]

If you have a field of short stumps that are a menace to tires and you don't see them rotting away soon then you need to remove them or destroy them. A dozer with a root rake will go along and pop all of these stumps out to be piled and burned buried or left to rot.

Tere are tow behind devices like heavy discs and choppers that can destroy the stumps in place.

My experience in the northwest is that they will soften and rot away if they were small enough to be mowed.

I would set the mower lower and go over it again. I can dang near shave the ground with my mower.

 

[Coyote]

I've had the exact same scenario in NC. They will be gone for the most part by next year. If you can't wait.... it's dozer time!

I am looking for advice on clearing about 10 acres of scrub brush to create a pasture for horses. The land is currently a pine tree plantation (160 acres total). There is a large amount of spacing between trees, maybe 10 feet or so.

I have been bush hogging the scrub (all smaller than a wrist) but this is leaving a huge number of 3 - 5 inch tall stobs that will kill tires of any kind.

How do I remove these stobs? What do I use to then level and smooth the land? I am planning on leaving the existing pines in until later.

I have a Montana 5740 with FEL and a Woods 6' Bush Hog.

I am very new to the whole tractor thing. I will buy whatever tools I need, but want to buy only what I need.

Thanks for your help.

 

[MFL]

Hello and welcome,

Just my .02, but if you have any trees over 4-5" I'd hire out. Clearing, stumping, grading and leveling is not what your tractor is designed for. Digging out the odd stump here and there is one thing, but by the time you finish 10 acres you'll be ready to be planted on those 10 acres.

Find someone to cruise your land and give you an idea of what the trees are worth. Somebody who cruises timber should also be able to put you in contact with a logger. The logger will buy the timber from you and then you can turn around and use that as stump money. Then find someone with a, oh lets say a Cat D9 with a grubber blade, and give them your stump money and have them pop your stumps, pile them for burning, and maybe do a little grading and leveling. After I found my timber cruiser (great guy), the whole process took three weeks.

Hire out= 6 weeks max, DIY= years, maybe decades of very hard work.

After the dozer pulls out you're done. Except for the burning, and the clean up of the countless bits of broken timber, and the limeing, and the fertilizing, and the seeding, and the fencing, and the mowing, and the.....

Best part of the process for me was getting up early and going out to the land (not a pasture yet) an being able to see from end to end. And the smell. The smell of freshly turned soil on a cool morning is AMAZING!

 

[MFL]

BTW, you might want to fill out your profile. A lot of questions will get better, more precise answers if the other members know where you are. It tells us if you're on sandy (Fl) or rocky (north east) soil, what you might have as native vegetation, etc.

Good luck with the pasture.

 

[firemanpat2910]

get a root rake to put on the FEL, dont sharpen the bushhog blades. You want the tops of the brush shredded,mashed, and beat up looking. Sharp blades leave tire eating spikes, that seem to heal over and create side shoots,where a shreaded end seem to die off and rot quicker.