Cutting Red Willow bushes in pasture with skidsteer, Brush cutter or Scissor cutter?

[thorholt]

The problem with tall, thin stems is that they lie flat, held down by the cutter, the cutter rides over them, then they pop up.

View attachment 460925

Bruce

That is exactly what happens, It takes several passes to chop them up.

 

[thorholt]

Anytime all I break is shear bolts, I call it a good day. If I had to worry about getting my equipment scratched it wouldn't do me much good.

A scratch or 2 wouldn't bug me much but cutting these would really beat things up under the tractor, I would like to keep them nice for mowing the pasture, it is 60 acres and I don't want to be fixing stuff all day when I get the chance to mow it.

 

[thorholt]

Has anyone used one of the tree shears on a skid steer? If so do they cut clean or do the small branch's get caught between the blades?

 

[nybirdman]

I have been doing the same exact thing you are dealing with for ten years.Red willows;this stuff is very tough and gets thick and strong rooted.Forget the tree shear,built one last year;way too slow and really didn't work well on the small stuff(3/4-1-1/2").
I have a similar sized tractor and a 6' new Landpride+ a 5' Bush-Hog branded cutters;you cannot back into it,it just lifts the cutter.
I am like you and don't like driving over 10-12ft..tall brush and scraping the *** out of my rig.
Best advice I could give is hire it done;best rig is a forestry mulcher and then maintain with your tractor.
Another problem with a BH on this stuff it leaves a lot of "pungi" stakes.
A few years ago I hired a fellow with a 100HP tractor and 8ft.BH and let him take all the abuse.I still have lots to do along my fence lines;the property was neglected for 50 years.

 

[Xfaxman]

Do they grow back from the roots when cut with a brush hog?

I would buy this type tree puller, pull them, then sell the puller.

 

[SPYDERLK]

The problem with tall, thin stems is that they lie flat, held down by the cutter, the cutter rides over them, then they pop up.

View attachment 460925

Bruce

Hm-m ... Ive done exactly that type of stuf, but I think my setup was probably better suited. My JD 127 Gyramor cutter is narrower than my wheel track and the blades swing near the bottom of the side skirts - and well below the front skirt. ... So the stuf is not broken down, only bent, as it goes into the exposed blades. This gives a clean cut. Very satisfying.

For badly designed cutters it is a problem. Bushogs require an open input to function well.

 

[thorholt]

I have been doing the same exact thing you are dealing with for ten years.Red willows;this stuff is very tough and gets thick and strong rooted.Forget the tree shear,built one last year;way too slow and really didn't work well on the small stuff(3/4-1-1/2").
I have a similar sized tractor and a 6' new Landpride+ a 5' Bush-Hog branded cutters;you cannot back into it,it just lifts the cutter.
I am like you and don't like driving over 10-12ft..tall brush and scraping the *** out of my rig.
Best advice I could give is hire it done;best rig is a forestry mulcher and then maintain with your tractor.
Another problem with a BH on this stuff it leaves a lot of "pungi" stakes.
A few years ago I hired a fellow with a 100HP tractor and 8ft.BH and let him take all the abuse.I still have lots to do along my fence lines;the property was neglected for 50 years.

That's what I thought that it might be slow, I will give them a sip of Round-up and 24-D come spring and see if there is anyone somewhat local that will do the cutting, otherwise it is going to be one of these:

 

[nybirdman]

Do they grow back from the roots when cut with a brush hog?

I would buy this type tree puller, pull them, then sell the puller.

View attachment 460975

I built a puller almost identical to that one;painfully slow process using it.I found it much quicker to cut with my shoulder saw and gather with the grapple than use that puller.The red willows are very tough and deep rooted;they do grow back;I just keep them cut down.The hard part is when they have been established for years and are6-12ft. high.

 

[thorholt]

Do they grow back from the roots when cut with a brush hog?

I would buy this type tree puller, pull them, then sell the puller.

View attachment 460975

That is kinda what I was thinking about but I don't think the skidsteer will have enough size to pull out the root ball unless the soil was just right, those red willows really grow some roots!

 

[Xfaxman]

That is kinda what I was thinking about but I don't think the skidsteer will have enough size to pull out the root ball unless the soil was just right, those red willows really grow some roots!

There are skid steers with higher tipping load ratings than my 4400 pound lift rated V417.

Just to give you an idea of what can be pulled, cedars don't have a tap root, but have a lot of lateral roots. This is red clay soil.