lpigott
Gold Member
Thought I would share my plan behind purchasing my new tractor and related equipment. I have 50 acres, 15 of which are in planted pine tress that are 17 years old which I plan to remove and sell the wood from and reclaim the land. I mow about 4 acres of yard with my BX 2200 which has been awesome in this task for the last 17 years and will continue in that duty. The rest of the land is either woods or field with 100' square spaced mature pecan trees that I plan to remove also. I will be building a large shop in the future but since it will be located on land where planned pines trees presently reside, they have to go first. I also have a 90s model NH 3930 and a HD 6' rotary cutter that I use for the field maintenance plots etc. On first thought one would say to just have a logger come cut the pines. The problem with that is timber prices are too low to get anyone to do so unless you have really large tracts of land or significant amount of large, high quality trees, which I don't. Loggers leave stumps also. I have lots of trees but they are not large enough to grade above chip and saw wood which is going for $15 a ton and the rest will be pulp for $7 a ton. About the only way one can get anything from trees like that is to cut and haul them yourself. While I am still in good shape and health, I am 55 and where I live in the deep southeast, it is extremely hot and humid for most of the year so there is no way I am going to kill myself working in heat and manual labor to clear my land. I work overseas on a 28 day on and 28 day off rotation so I have half of my time off that will allow me the time to get what I want done. I also need some legitimate tax write offs and that brings me to where I am now. I will be purchasing a Kubota M7060 with a cab so I can do most of my work out of the heat which allows me to work through the sweltering summer months. I feel the M7060 will be a big overkill but yet not too big for what I plan but I would rather have more than needed than less. I will be getting a HD grapple to use to load the logs on a trailer, pile brush for burning and to clear other areas of thick woods and make trails throughout what is not cleared. I hope to push most of the trees over so I can remove the stumps as I go. For trees that can't be pushed or pulled I will be getting a FEL mounted tree shear. I will use the tree shear to also chip the pines off the stumps and then grab them and pull them to the processing and loading area it will be awesome to make trails with too. I will be getting a heavy 7' box blade, mainly for a counter weight but will work great for skidding trees with chain when needed. I also plan on getting a Lane Shark FEL mounted trail trimmer to keep up trails and mow around pond edges. Trails, roads, food plots and shooting lanes in my region grow over fast and the Lane Shark looks to be the perfect tool for easily maintaining this problem. My current rotary cutter will be used as needed and in the future I plan to add a 8' flail mower as my maintained yard area will grow significantly as the land gets reclaimed. I am also considering one of those dandy 3 pt hydraulic grapples for skidding but I will wait and see how what I have now works me too hard or not! So there you have it, I can afford this business venture without risk since I still work and I will also be able to show income form selling the trees and have the equipment to do is jobs of the same type for others as needed also. My hope is to get what I want done and not kill myself doing while getting a tax break also. Thoughts?