Food plot implement choice

[dusty3030]

One thing to consider if it is deer / turkey habitat you want to create is bulk of your 30 in native grasses with small clover / turnip / grain plots scattered in it.
It is outstanding habitat, good for the land, and inexpensive to establish and maintain. To the casual eye it isn't pretty, but acre for acre nothing else you can do with open land will provide as much food and cover for animals.

G9494 Enhancing White-tailed Deer Habitats on Your Property: Early Successional Vegetation | University of Missouri Extension

https://www.qdma.com/articles/how-to-hunt-native-warm-season-grasses

 

[jeff9366]

You guys havn't priced root raking 30 acres with a dozer have you? I bet I can buy my own dozer and do it for less.

Five days max. Also consider a large excavator for this work.

 

[bushhog28]

Five days max. Also consider a large excavator for this work.

Ill make a few calls, most charge per acre i think and last time i checked it would be like 100k. Forrestry till is 1200 per acre so around 36k.

 

[jeff9366]

Ill make a few calls, most charge per acre i think and last time i checked it would be like 100k. Forrestry till is 1200 per acre so around 36k.

What are your property taxes per year? You probably have a high OPPORTUNITY COST in unproductive land.

In my area five days work for a large bulldozer or excavator + operator would be $4,000 total, including transportation.

 

[bushhog28]

What are your property taxes per year? You probably have a high OPPORTUNITY COST in unproductive land.

In my area five days work for a large bulldozer or excavator + operator would be $4,000 total, including transportation.

I havnt seen anything near those prices. Why dont you send one up here. Ill pay you a 500 dollar finders fee.

 

[bushhog28]

21000 was best dozer quote. Not even removing stumps. Shearing and windrowing. Not sure what im getting for 21k.

Back to shopping disk harrows.

 

[jrclark]

I'm a complete novice, so take my observation with a grain of salt.

It seems as though the stumps will be a limiting factor for anything more than casual food plotting. If you need to till deeper, the stumps would be a nightmare for certain tilling equipment. Would there be a way to identify the stump locations by dragging a disc, mark them, then pull them out with a backhoe? I'm not sure how many stumps were talking about over the course of 30 acres, but if you're saying they're all roughly 15" or less, a backhoe would make quick work of them. This could also necessitate grading the field back once everything is pulled.

Keep in mind, there's no oxygen to aid the decay of a buried stump and root system. Depending on the type of tree, they could still be there when I apply for Social Security benefits in 30 years.

 

[bushhog28]

I ordered a 8' 3" amco hd 2275 lb offset disk. 1/4 inch high carbon blades, 1.5 inch high carbon axle, flex hangers, should be exactly what i need and tough enough to handle this massey pulling on the other end. Time will tell.

Lift Offset Harrow for food plots, gardens, seedbed preparation

 

[bushhog28]

AMCO disc is a beast, its cutting the stumps or going over them. Already made multiple passes on a few acres no damage. I plan to put a vid on you tube soon.

 

[bushhog28]

Ill be attackng the other 28 acres soon.