First Time Farmer... HELP ME WITH THIS MESS!!

[CitizenOfThePlanet]

Hello everyone! I have been poking around this site for some time now, but yesterday my offer was accepted on the 30 acre farm in Rhode Island. I am moving back there from Missouri, and I was able to find a diamond in the rough when I was visiting there this summer.

The house sits on 30 acres of land, with a pond and running stream. The family that owned it passed away, and now it is part of an estate sale. It is located on a very busy main road in the country, and I plan on building a farm stand to sell my meat, cheese, milk, and produce.

The problem is that the land has completely overgrown. I went to high school for agriculture, but I have forgotten everything I learned about clearing land.

A lot of the trees in the front part of the land are young, there is a ton of underbrush, and baby trees growing everywhere. I will need to clear a few acres so that I have some pasture for my goats, sheep, horses and cows to graze but I am not sure what sort of equipment I should buy.

I need something that can do everything. I want to be able to knock trees down, and also rip out the root systems. I want to be able to mulch some of it also. Can you guys help me find something that can do all this and more?

I have no idea where to begin, or what sort of equipment is dual purpose and strong enough to do everything I need it to. Thanks in advance for your advice.. By the way, I am looking to buy used equipment only.

 

[roughneck266]

Those goats will do some pretty good clearing all by themselves! lol

 

[CitizenOfThePlanet]

Hahaha!! Yeah, so I have been told!

 

[Robert_in_NY]

A 50 horse utility tractor with FWA and a loader will do a lot of land clearing and still be useful for a lot of other projects. 8"-10" trees can be pushed over with this size tractor in spring/fall when the ground has moisture. A brush chopper would take care of the brush and small trees (3" and smaller). If you have enough money you can always get a 3pt hitch back hoe with a narrow bucket to dig out around the larger trees, the narrow bucket is great for cutting the roots.

Mow the brush a couple years and keep on it to help kill off the woody stuff and you will be able to plow it under in a few years time. Then it gets easier from there.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Those goats will do some pretty good clearing all by themselves! lol

Deer and goats are very similar and the deer have destroyed all the brush and trees in their pastures. It was all brush when we fenced it in, now its all open pasture except for a few large trees they couldn't hurt.

 

[wagspe208]

Get a big brush hog. If the tractor will run over it, it will cut it. LOL
And a high lift. Digging those size tres with a 50hp tractor will take a while.
Or rent a high lift for a week. OR.. you'd be surprised how cheap it is to pay someone to do it.
I have 70 acres. Same deal.. pasture for 100 years and not mowed in 10 probably. Also had to clear 15 acres for a lake. The high lift makes short work of trees/ roots. A dozer will push most over, but I can move bigger trees with the high lift. 1 dig in front of the tree, raise bucket up, and push. You get much more leverage.
Oh, I wanted to do it all myself too. I feel your pain/ desire. I paid the guy who did the dam to clear the remaining area and it was cheap compared to a used high lift.
Good luck.
Wags

 

[yellowdogsvc]

when I bought my ranch, it came with a loader dozer and I had a tractor with front end loader.
It didn't take me long to sell both and start using a big Bobcat. That was 16 years ago. I maintain 100 acres and reclaim my fields and low areas and use my bobcats commercially too. I also started using a mini ex and have found it invaluable.

If you could burn, a 80-90 hp skid or CTL, a tree shear, grapple and bucket would do most of what you need to do. If you still want to mulch, that's an expensive setup (you can easily spend 100k) but if you don't have to mulch the big stuff, a setup as described above plus a a rotary mower (I use a brushcat but there are cheaper ones out there) will allow you chop up the smaller stuff and keep your fields mowed.

 

[art]

For small saplings ad general brush many of our customers are finding that rock buckets for picking stone work quite well for bringing them up as well as cleaning the stone from the field.

 

[CitizenOfThePlanet]

WOW! Thanks for all the helpful suggestions guys!

Since I will be on a limited budget, I think I will buy a old used tractor and a brush hog for the small stuff. I can have a logging company come in and pay me to take away some of the bigger hardwood trees on the property.

About using a brush hog. Will they work on any old tractor? I am not sure how I would go about connecting one of them, and I want to make sure when I am looking on CraigsList, I get the right equipment. It's been 11 years since I drove a tractor and I am very outdated.

 

[acme97]

WOW! Thanks for all the helpful suggestions guys!

Since I will be on a limited budget, I think I will buy a old used tractor and a brush hog for the small stuff. I can have a logging company come in and pay me to take away some of the bigger hardwood trees on the property.

About using a brush hog. Will they work on any old tractor? I am not sure how I would go about connecting one of them, and I want to make sure when I am looking on CraigsList, I get the right equipment. It's been 11 years since I drove a tractor and I am very outdated.

You need to consider the PTO horsepower. General rule, 5 hp for every foot of rotory mower width. The other consideration is what is the weight lifting limits of the tractor compared to the weight of the cutter. Another thing to consider is what category is the implement vs the tractor. One more thing to concider is what is the maximum cutting capability you want for the cutter.