Dealer's theory on initially clearing land

[DmansPadge]

Woo hoo! Besides... I'd have to use the tractor in some capacity for this! At the very least for moving the cut trees out of the way! Which is something... Something that makes me feel like I'm getting use out of my tractor! And since I'm going to be paying for the darned thing for the foreseeable future... Well... I'd better use it!

There is always an excuse to buy a tractor!! And no doubt you can get a lot done with it. And with a cutter, FEL and boxblade.. you could at least get the smaller stuff and save the larger stuff for the chainsaw. But before I bought an expensive heavy-duty cutter and put undue stress on my tractor... I would hire out. And once you finish you wouldn't have a need for the heavy brushhog. Buy the regular service hog... do what you can with it.. and man-handle the bigger stuff.

Most of all... have fun!!

 

[john_bud]

So... I'm checking out brush hogs to get with my tractor. My dealer tells me several things:
- if it takes out big brush (3" diameter), it does a bad job mowing
- if it takes out big brush, it costs a fortune

What I could always do, is to buy one of the cheaper brush hogs (you know the ones... 6' for $700) and just beat it all to heck in doing the initial clearing and then I could get a nice cutter (that won't take out the big stuff) for maintaining afterwards.

I suppose it sounds like a good idea, but, well, that's $700 lost - almost thrown away! Yet... It's not like I can afford the $5000 cutter - and if it looks bad in the grass anyway, well, that's not great...

Thoughts?
thx

I have a Woods BrushBull 600. It's the 5' medium duty, but it can chomp up 2" stuff all day long. It does do 3" pretty good if it's soft wood. I wouldn't want to be pushing over a field full of 3" hard woods! It's a far cry from your price of $5k. It was $1475.95 in 2000. At a guess the BB720 would be around $2000 now. A 3910 would handle it great. If you have trees that are too large, then saw them down with a chain saw. Everything else, chomp chomp.

I "think" that with fresh sharp blades, you can get decent service cutting grass with it too. It ain't a finish mower, so you won't get that type of a "lawn" finish.

jb

 

[dirtworksequip]

Just a little hint for anyone hiring out work or renting machines to do it yourself. "Two machines don't always get the work done twice as fast, they only cost twice as much!"

 

[RobJ]

Just a little hint for anyone hiring out work or renting machines to do it yourself. "Two machines don't always get the work done twice as fast, they only cost twice as much!"

Another thing is hire someone who has the expierence!! I bet anyone can tell if the dozer operator is fighting the equipment and trees. Couple guys at the weekend place can do twice the work in half the time. That usually translates to less money for you.

 

[N80]

I cleared approx 3 acres of young planted pines and various scrub hradwoods using nothing but my Kubota L4400, light duty 6' JD rotary cutter and a 6' BH box blade. Most of the pines were 4-6", some pushing 8". I took care of all the trees with the FEL. It probably took seven 8 hour days and took a toll om my tractor and FEL.

But it can be done. I think teeth on the FEL bucket would have helped a lot.

Another thing to consider for trees like you are describing is a couple of potentially fun FEL attachments. First, there are hydraulic pinchers that will handle a range of tree sizes up to 10 inches. You just pinch them off at the ground. Once you have them on the ground, a grapple can be used to move them. More money, but big fun.

Finally, you could hire out someone with a _real_ heavy duty rotary cutter like they use on power line right of ways. It might cost less than dozer work. They do an excellent job and the brush and trees are cut off at around 2 inches and they are shattered, not cut, so they don't pop your tires or grow back.

Edited to add:

HYDRA-SNIP :: McCormick Equipment

This is a pretty heavy duty unit. I've seen much lighter ones for trees around 6" or less that probably cost a lot less.

 

[Doc_Bob]

Another thing is hire someone who has the expierence!! That usually translates to less money for you.

Amen!
Bob

 

[ToadHill]

I'd suggest a $350 chain saw to start with.

 

[N80]

I'd suggest a $350 chain saw to start with.

I initially thought the same thing about the three acres I cleared. I actually started out that way. Didn't last long. I'd look down over those trees from the porch and think I'm just going to stroll out there with the chainsaw and start wacking them down. Well, its hilly, there are vines and blackberrys head high. The trees were so tight they didn't fall when you cut them. I actually did this for a few days and got nowhere. And I think the OP has 15 acres.

I guess if the 3" trees he has are sort of scattered around then the chainsaw might do it, but if thats the case, I'd still just ride around and pop them out of the ground with my bucket.

 

[charlesw]

I've already done this work a few times. On the 4 acre lot it was all 1" trees - I did those with a brush wacker. On the 1 acre lot I used the chainsaw... That was somewhat similar to your lot in that the trees didn't always fall! But those were more like 10" trees - a lot of them. And they'd been there long enough that there weren't any brambles beneath. Then I took the backhoe and my Bobcat and got all of the roots out... The main bit of work (cutting and burning) took 2 weeks. I did the roots a bit at a time over several months. That was seriously a lot of work. I think that it was worth it - it definitely paid for my Bobcat!

 

[Farwell]

15 acres, I figure about 15 years using chain saw and bushwhacker. The stumps are a major problem and if they are not removed, the previous years clearing will grow back before you get done with the current years cutting. Clearing by hand is very labor intensive. Any idea why our ancestors died so young?
I would bite the bullet and use a dozer if I was real serious about clearing the 15 acres.
Farwell