Cost of Clearing Farm Land of Hedge Trees?

[Anegada12]

I'm in Mercer County, which is south of the Quad Cities, (Rock Island, Moline)...if you know of any sawyers over there let me know, because I'ld have tons of hedge posts if somebody wants them.

I spoke to a John Deere industrial equipment dealer who said they would rent a crawler type for $7,400/month, but probably wouldn't do it to clear hedge as it would come back all scratched up. They would if the trees were already cut down for posts, as then it would just be a matter of grubbing out the rots and pushing the trash off to the side.

 

[altaskier]

My friend owns a brush mower called the Brown Brontosaurus. It eats up anything in its path from brush up to 24" diameter trees and leaves nothing but mulch behind. There are some impressive videos of one working on you tube, just google Brown Brontosaurus. Unfortunately he is in Vermont but maybe someone near you uses one.

 

[KennyV]

from brush up to 24" diameter trees and leaves nothing but mulch behind.

I don't think you are familiar with hedge trees... You can do that to palm or softwood trees... A row of hedge trees will go through a lot of shredding equipment.

They are easy to push over because their roots are just as hard as the rest of the tree, the roots will shatter and break with enough force applied to the tree. I've taken out a lot with a Cat crawler loader. KennyV

 

[schmism]

id think a mid size track hoe would be the ticket with hydraulic thumb.

1) tracked no rubber tires to fill with thorns
2) able to pluck trees out of the ground and stack them in a clean pile for burning
3) can be used for many addtional tasks around the farm more so than a dozer.

 

[spruce Deere]

Welcome anegada12. First, sounds like the trees are big enough they could have some value. Look into logging and selling the timber! help offset clearing expenses. With like sized machines, the dozer with rippers, brush or "root rake" as you call it will hand the excavator its 'counterweight' so to say, at the end of the day for acres cleared. The catch is with an excavator you can knock all of the dirt out of the roots by lifting and dropping stumps, bushes for very clean burn piles. You can kinda roll bush clumps and stumps around with the cat to shake out the dirt, but it is just not the same as dropping them from a few feet in elevation. A person can do a cleaner job with an excavator BUT, a dozer pushing a brush rake sunk into the dirt to catch roots, rocks is working open more soil at the same time, If using rippers to oust stumps you are now sub-soiling. No matter what machine you use, there will be sticks and other smaller things to gather after all clearing and burning is done. Then landscape rakes, rock buckets and such for your tractor will come into play. Its all fun, and takes time. OH, and some money too

 

[flusher]

Hi!!

Just found this site so I may not be posting in the right spot...just let me know.

We have a good size fgrain arm in Western Illinois and have about 100 acres that used to be pasture that is really overgrown with Hedge Trees. We want to start clearing the land and farm it (corn/soybeans). Any idea what it would cost/acre to hire a dozer to clear it?

I am also wanting to find out info on my other option...which is...I have a lot of time on my hands, so I was thinking of buying a dozer, OR leasing a dozer, and clear it myself...maybe 30 acres per year. I know...granted they say a good dozer operator is worth the money...BUT...I have all the time in the world and want to keep the money in my pocket, so even if I am not good at dozing compared to others (after having spent my life running equipment and after doing a 100 acres, I should get some good skills built up).

Being a farmer, I can write off the cost of the lease on my taxes.

What would be the cost to lease a dozer? Do you think a root rake would be the best over a straight blade? What size dozer...D-6...D-7? How long do you think it would take to clear 30acres...or roughly how many acres per hour. These are mature hedge and I need to get them root and all out and can just push them into a ravine and don't have to bury or stack them very well.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!!

Don't know where you're located, but there probably is a heavy equipment auction place (like Ritchie Brothers) in your area. I'd check out the stuff for sale there. My neighbor has an old D-7 Cat that he uses with a laser driven gannon box to level and slope his irrigated alfalfa fields. He used the D-7 and a 4-shank ripper to break up the hardpan before leveling. He could do 10 acres with the ripper in 2-3 days. Don't know how this compares to your land clearing job.

 

[whitedogone]

Big hedge will need a large excavator AND a big dozer. I've had quite a bit of hedge removed. The way they have done it is to have the excavator did a hole right next to the root ball and then have the dozer push it over. That way you get the root ball out of the ground as well. It really goes a lot faster than with a dozer alone. Hire it done. You could probley get someone with both pieces for around $7400 a week. I will garentee 'ya that they would get as much or more done in a week than you alone would in a month. No reason you can't write that off as well.

 

[KennyV]

Look into logging and selling the timber! help offset clearing expenses.

Don't think you can make anything but firewood or fence posts with hedge, (osageorange), (bowdark)... It's too hard and will check very bad as it dries. KennyV

 

[powerstroke444e]

We used a lot of it to build a shooting range with in the early 90's and most of the benchs and stands are still standing with little or no rot, but the guy @ the saw mill charged alot to cut it as it dulled the blade very fast.
As far as how to get rid of it hire someone that has big equipment and done this before. Most excavating guys in the area have done this and would bet there is more than one guy looking hard for work in your area.