clearing land

[farmerpsv]

In a previous post I asked about grinding vs BH for clearing land, and have become conviced that bulldozer is probably the smartest, quickest way to open up wooded land. where i am in virginia right now, you find either open or wooded land, but virtually never find a mix. ideally i like to have a 2 to 1 mix (twice the woods as open) i use the open for tillage and the woods for privacy, fuel. am looking at all wooded properties and considering opening acreage in the center, with a total of 30 to 40 acres to play with. that gives me about 10 to 15 acres i want to open. my main concern was leaving the top soil, which some have stated would not be such an issue if the dozer uses a rake. we're talking oak and other hardwoods at 12 to 18 inch diameter, so i have a hard time imagining a rake on that. most oaks i've seen worked with a dozer had to be worked pretty hard, and that was a large dozer at that. anyway, ideas on cost for clearing 10 acres and approach are what i'm looking for now. once the land is clear, i can chisel it and till it to plant pasture and remove smaller roots. as always, any thoughts, advice, info and experience is appreciated.
thanks,
paul

 

[cowboydoc]

The topsoil is really a non-issue. The reason is that a good operator will only take off what is absolutely need to get the trees out. Then you make a burn pile and you burn it all. After that is burned you can take that pile and spread it back out over what was cleared. It's not likeyou strip everything. That really only comes into play when you are grading or leveling ground out. Even then a good operator will first strip the soil and pile it away from what is going to be worked. Then once you have the ground worked down like you want it you bring the topsoil back in and put over the area that was worked. No big deal.

As far as price goes it all depends on the size. For a D-7 and up range look to spend $70-100/hour per machine hour. This means they go by the hours that the dozer is actually working. As far as time goes it all depends on how thick it is. For 10-15 acres I can't see that taking more than two days with a D-7 or bigger. Figure 16-20 hours and you're looking at around $1500-2k for the work.

 

[farmerpsv]

Thanks cowboydoc,
what is the D7 rating you give? also, you believe burning to be the best way of disposal?
paul

 

[Molerj]

D7 is the size of the dozer.

 

[farmerpsv]

yep...what i meant is how large would D-7 be

 

[Gatorboy]

Is there a market for the lumber from your trees?

I wonder if there is someone that you could make a deal with that they could take the trees for lumber -- that way you get your land cleared for little or nothing out of pocket. If there is a local sawyer in your area, you may want to talk to him.

 

[Slamfire]

The D-7 falls in between the D-6 (too small for pushing trees economically) and the D-8 (more than big enough).

 

[Taylortractornut]

Paul Clearing with a rake depends on the type of rake and dozer. If its a D7 or D8 one with a brush blade a rake that is built onto the truninions or Cframe it is possible. If a Pin on rake is used they arent heavy enough. They are only used to rake up roots and small trees with out gettin alot of dirt in it. Usually if Im clearing a spot to farm Ill not mess withe the ttop soil oo much unless there is alot of under brush. What I mean is Ill only disturm the topsoil around the trees Im pushing over when diggin the holes around the bottom to make my ramp to reach higher on the tree. A 7 or 8 you can usually corner an 18 inch oak out with out too much trouble. With alot of under brush Ill get the big stuff then skim the upper layer of soil to a compost pile if the owner wants and in a year the roots and small 1 inch trees will be rotten. Ill leave the lower layers of topsoil.
The other option its to use a pin on rake and rake most off the small roots and brush. Also with skimming or raking a brush hog cutter or small Rome disk or Bush and Bog scalloped bladed disk will take care of the remaining roots sticking up. An excavator is also a nice clearing machine with its tall reach it can push higher on the tree gaining more leverage. A thumb grapple on one helps alot. In your area there maybe a company with a clearing rake on an excavator than can help. For most clearing I prefeer an excavator if its a sensitive area because you can dig a smaller hole around the trees you want to push an they remove stumps quicker.
But for mass clearing a D8 is also good. Ive even used a few track loaders clearing. As an operator ive used alot of methods and they all have pros and cons to each one. THe last lot I cleard off with a D5B I borrowed from work I got the big stuff down then skimmed the little stuff rolling out the trash. then for the remaining roots I have a 9 shank trailer type chisel plow That has a maunal depth change. I chiseled it all and got most of the roots out and then seeded it with wild bird seed and wheat then fertilized and walked it in.
What are you planning to do with the land Pasture or farming it.

 

[ScottAR]

Depends on the model of Dozer. The D6R has the same hp/weight over the older D7s.

Here's a D7F from the late 70's. This is Austraila in the scrub land. The rake is 21ft wide and folds up for transport.

 

[jinman]

Paul, I agree with Cowboydoc that you would not want to remove the timber from your land. Essentially, you would be mining the minerals from your topsoil by removing the trees. I recently watched a complete clearing of about 10 acres that had been heavy oak forrest. Some of the trees had to have 3' trunks at the base. What they used was a huge chipper with a rotating hopper about 12' in diameter. The piles of chips they produced were huge. After the job was completed, they spread the chips back over the ground and turned them into the soil. I'm not suggesting you do that, but you could do a combination of chipping the limbs and burning the larger pieces. The combination of ash and wood chips in your soil will greatly reduce the amount of fertilizer you will have to use to restore the fertility of the topsoil. If you were going to pour concrete and build a shopping center, it would not matter if you removed the timber. Since you want to farm the land, keeping the mineral content of the native forest on your property only makes sense.