clearing trees

[kwright]

Well nuts... it appears that there really isn't an easy way for the average do-it-yourselfer to remove trees.

Either wait for nature to take it's course in some form (chemicals, etc), or hire equipment, such as a dozer or stump grinder to do the removal.

My delema is that I really don't have the time to wait to remove the stumps... or tress for that matter. They are in one corner of my pasture that I want to get out of the reach of my horses.

Horses have the unique ability to always find ways to hurt themselves, and they like nothing better than to use small, broken off sharp trees to rub against. One can guess at the results.

Even if I cut the tress down (a pretty easy job in this case) I can't leave exposed stumps as, sure as shoot'n, the horses will hurt themselves on those.

(Sigh) Maybe I'll just remove the trees myself, and have the stumps removed by a grinder...

*** REAL horses weigh a ton ***

 

[W5FL]

Hate to be a killjoy, but get a big dozer in there and they will be gone completely and pushed into a pile. If you have 20 acres of them, it may take the guy a couple of days. I suspect he will take care of your problem in just a few hours. He will charge you less than the cost of a well dented hood for your tractor.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I have 4 acres that are heavily wooded. The previous owner of the house only cleared what he had to to get the house built. I had a guy come in with a bob-cat and clear out some but the stumps were the killer. I had another guy come in with a crew and a M class Kubota. They did a better job but still it was only about 1.5 acres of clearing. I bought a B2710 with a loader and box blade. I have worked that area over and opened it up a bit. In the process I punctured a tire, crimped the hydro line, and dropped a tree out of the bucket onto the dash. I am very careful now! Drag as much as you can. Pick up as little as possible. And burn anything that won't set the woods ablaze. I found that I could move VERY large stumps if I took my time. Good luck and stay safe.

 

[kwright]

Per someone's suggestion, I decided to have a local guy who does excavating on the side to come in and remove my two groves of Hawthorns. He has both a medium dozer and a good size Ford backhoe. He decided to use the backhoe in my case as the trees were small enough, and it's quicker and easier on the ground.

In any event, in 2 1/2 hours he completely removed the trees, moving them to the tree line and out of the way. In the process, he even did a decent job smoothing the ground and filling in the divits with the bucket on his backhoe.

He charged me $100.00... and probably saved me close to two weekends of dirty, heavy work with my new tractor, shovels and a chainsaw.

As my wife said, for 100 bucks it wasn't even worth getting off the porch. I'd really much rather spend my free time fooling around with my horses than removing trees, anyway.

I'd highly recommend anyone considering removing trees to get someone with the right equipment to quote the job for you. You might be surpirsed...

*** REAL horses weigh a ton ***

 

[gordon]

You got the deal of the day to say the least!!! 100 bucks wow when I had my hoe I would have unloaded for that price and that about all you would have gotten out of me for a hundred.

I very wise investment and you sure saved alot of wear and tear on your tractor as well!/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
Gordon

 

[kwright]

Gordon: There's a bit more to it than it might seem for one advantage I had is he lives only about 1/2 mile down the road from me, so he motored right on over with his backhoe. We live out in the country, on a gravel road, so this was very easily done.

He also does my snow plowing... I have a 400 foot gravel driveway and he charges me only $10.00 per plowing. Dirt cheap. From time to time he does other odds and ends for me also.

On the other hand, I supply him (for free) with all the hay his goats can consume, and once in a while we take his family for a horse-drawn hay ride - on the house or course.

You could say we have a reciprocal arrangement.

*** REAL horses weigh a ton ***

 

[Daniel]

very interesting thread.could have used the info on shopping for the right logger this winter. still waiting on seeing money. the land cleared was left like a bombing range. trees taken that were to be saved. started early spring to clean it up and stump it myself. 3 acres. first lesson on that is I seriously overestimated what a compact(2710) tractor can do in the stumping department. newbies fast find out their limitations pushing/pulling stumps. what I ended up doing is shopping for an inexpensive dozer to buy. found a 1950's international td14 for $500(five hundred!) have $750 into it after 6o plus hours of working it. It is in remarkably good shape, and a blast to operate. some of you with the right situation, such as mine, might want to consider this option. yes, a major breakdown will perhaps mean selling it to the dozer boneyard. in which case they will pay $1000 sight unseen for it. we have 80 acres here, so there is a lot of work it can be used for. not for everyone, but for us it has been great

 

[dmccarty]

Hi Daniel,

Sorry to hear your timber sale was such a disaster.

There is a thread in Rural Living that was last updated 9/15 titled "selling timber" that you might want to read through. Though it might be a bit late for you.

There is a thread "Stumps/Grinders/Pasture in the Attachments forum that I started about clearing stumps that had an update on 9/28 that might be of use.

I'm pointing these two threads out to you and anyone else reading this thread and who might be trying to learn about timber selling and stump clearing. There is a thread under fiberglass ammo boxes that ended up talking about land clearing so there is a wealth of info on this board. Sometimes you find it in suprising places!

Hope This Helps...
Another Daniel

 

[dogtired]

Well nuts... it appears that there really isn't an easy way for the average do-it-yourselfer to remove trees.

Either wait for nature to take it's course in some form (chemicals, etc), or hire equipment, such as a dozer or stump grinder to do the removal.

My delema is that I really don't have the time to wait to remove the stumps... or tress for that matter. They are in one corner of my pasture that I want to get out of the reach of my horses.

Horses have the unique ability to always find ways to hurt themselves, and they like nothing better than to use small, broken off sharp trees to rub against. One can guess at the results.

Even if I cut the tress down (a pretty easy job in this case) I can't leave exposed stumps as, sure as shoot'n, the horses will hurt themselves on those.

(Sigh) Maybe I'll just remove the trees myself, and have the stumps removed by a grinder...

*** REAL horses weigh a ton ***

Aw I do disagree.

Maybe a tractor isn't the best piece of equipment to use. Maybe there are better machines to use, but one uses what he has.
If that is a tractor so be it.

I have used my tractor to push so many trees already it isn't funny.

Common sense means not mean giving up but proceeding slowly .