Ffeasibility of using a mulcher on piles of mesquite that was grubbed a few years ago

[tmc_31]

Hi all, I am new to the land clearing forum. I have spent several enjoyable evenings reading through the threads. It seems that, on this forum at least, mulching seems to be the preferred way to clear or deforest land. I am not a mulcher. I do some grubbing and raking of smaller trees and brush on smaller tracts of land with a skid steer. After reading these threads, I find myself fascinated by mulching machines.

I have a friend that had about 30 acres out here in West Texas cleared of Mesquite and Elm by grubbing with an excavator and then raked into piles with a dozer. This was done about 3 years ago. There are about 70 piles that are approximately 30'-50' in diameter and 10'-12' high. The largest trees are 20"-25" in diameter. Most are much smaller than that. His intent was to burn the piles. As some of you may know we have been in a severe drought for several years. For this reason we seem to have a perpetual burn ban going.

My friend has not asked me about getting rid of the piles. In fact, he has vowed to spend no more money on it. That said, the land is up for sale and I think it would sell quicker if the wood piles were gone. My question is, is it feasible to mulch wood that is piled like this? What would be most cost effective, a mulcher, a tub grinder, a horizontal grinder or some other kind of machine that I haven't seen or heard of before? A few weeks ago I asked one of our local rental agencies about using a mulcher for this, he said that although they rent skid steers with mulching heads, they wouldn't rent one for this purpose as the rocks in the piles would destroy the mulching head. I watched the grubbing and raking and while I am sure there some rocks in those piles, they are small and very few. This is not rocky land.

Anyway, again the questions are, is it feasible to do this? What kind of equipment would be most cost effective to use? And finally what should it cost?

Thanks,

Tim

 

[yellowdogsvc]

Hi all, I am new to the land clearing forum. I have spent several enjoyable evenings reading through the threads. It seems that, on this forum at least, mulching seems to be the preferred way to clear or deforest land. I am not a mulcher. I do some grubbing and raking of smaller trees and brush on smaller tracts of land with a skid steer. After reading these threads, I find myself fascinated by mulching machines.

I have a friend that had about 30 acres out here in West Texas cleared of Mesquite and Elm by grubbing with an excavator and then raked into piles with a dozer. This was done about 3 years ago. There are about 70 piles that are approximately 30'-50' in diameter and 10'-12' high. The largest trees are 20"-25" in diameter. Most are much smaller than that. His intent was to burn the piles. As some of you may know we have been in a severe drought for several years. For this reason we seem to have a perpetual burn ban going.

My friend has not asked me about getting rid of the piles. In fact, he has vowed to spend no more money on it. That said, the land is up for sale and I think it would sell quicker if the wood piles were gone. My question is, is it feasible to mulch wood that is piled like this? What would be most cost effective, a mulcher, a tub grinder, a horizontal grinder or some other kind of machine that I haven't seen or heard of before? A few weeks ago I asked one of our local rental agencies about using a mulcher for this, he said that although they rent skid steers with mulching heads, they wouldn't rent one for this purpose as the rocks in the piles would destroy the mulching head. I watched the grubbing and raking and while I am sure there some rocks in those piles, they are small and very few. This is not rocky land.

Anyway, again the questions are, is it feasible to do this? What kind of equipment would be most cost effective to use? And finally what should it cost?

Thanks,

Tim

You are probably on the right track.. it will sell for more without the piles especially if this drought continues and you can't burn. PM me for the name of a bigger company that has big machines.

It is feasible to do it with a mulcher. Another option is a tub or horizontal grinder. A tracked horizontal grinder fed by an excavator would be most efficient setup for complete reduction but then you would have a lot of giant shred piles. A carrier with mulcher head will leave the piles flat but there may be some material that doesn't get chewed up when the thick shreds cover it. It will look okay especially if we get some rain and the grass comes through but in the short term it will be visible.

 

[tmc_31]

Thanks yellowdog, pm sent

Tim

 

[yellowdogsvc]

Where's the job located?

I specialize in mulching existing piles but I'm generally limited to smaller piles in tight areas on smaller tracts. I've taken on some big, dozed piles in the past. Slow going for a skid steer mulcher but the owners didn't want to bring in big equipment.

Bigger is generally better on large piles. If the mesquite is relatively clean, the shreds can be hauled off and possibly used to make pellets. Not sure of the process there and how clean they have to be but I know mesquite pellets are starting to be used more for fuel.

 

[tmc_31]

The piles are near Abilene Tx. I thought about the pellet idea several years ago but I figured out that it was going to take a huge investment to get into it on anything near a commercial basis. Looking at the price of pellets when I was researching this surprised me at how cheap they were. The market for pellets around here is poor as most most wood stoves and fireplaces are used for mood and ambiance rather than for heat. I guess I am a little weird as for the past 2 years I have heated exclusively with wood. We burned maybe a cord and a half each year for the past two years (cutting out of the piles I have been talking about). The real market for pellets is up north where it gets and stays cold for long periods of time. So in addition to the steep equipment costs, the high cost of fuel, the low price of pellets and the cost of trucking to more favorable markets, I decided that it wasn't for me. That said, there is quite a bit of raw material around here as ranchers have been clearing and piling lots of trees (mostly mesquite and oak) for several years and haven't been able to burn it. It may be an opportunity for someone already in pellet production. I guess that you could charge the rancher to chip the piles then truck the chips to the pellet guy and sell them there, make money on both ends

Tim

 

[yellowdogsvc]

If you could get AC units to run on pellets, you'd have a market!
Good luck!

 

[tmc_31]

Ha, home sized pellet power plant?

Tim