sagebrush removal equipment

wkevin98 · Jan 8, 2011

Hi.

New to the forum, but I'd like to hear from anyone that has tried to get rid of sagebrush.

I currently have tilled up about 50 acres that was heavy brush area and farmed this back into shape and made into productive dry land hay crop. What is working the best to get rid of the sagebrush is first hitting it with a brushhog before any farming is done. Before I started brush beating, the sagebrush would clog up the ripper & disc.

I'm curious how the roto tillers work in brush or what anyone else has had luck using to remove sagebrush. There is still roughly another 100 acres that could have the brush removed and re-planted.

- terrain does have some rock in some parts
- brush varries from 2' - 4' in height
- i do have a good skid mounted sprayer - no boom though

There are plenty of spots where I've thought of doing food plot strips (1-3 acres) that could be worked up as well. These are what I've thought the rototiller might work well on and would save me from having to trail equipment all over the place to till.

Any ideas?

beenthere · Jan 8, 2011

:welcome:

The conventional rototillers will not chew up the sage brush, I don't believe. Also won't do well with the rocks.

Some mulching heads might work well for this brush, followed by a ripper to work up the roots and rocks.

What did you follow up with on the 50 acres after you used the brush hog? Just the ripper and the disc?

wkevin98 · Jan 8, 2011

one pass with brushhog
1-2 passes with a ripper
2 passes with offset disc
1 pass with a smaller tandem/finish disc
drilled seed

Its a lot of work but you can take 50-60 acre/per cow brush land to 15-20 acre/per cow productive grass land. We'll graze some and we'll cut a little hay. Ultimately you've made your land much more productive. As a bonus we'll see 2-3 times as many deer hanging on what we don't cut also so thats nice.

smstonypoint · Jan 8, 2011

wkevin98 said:
Any ideas?

No, but I am curious.

I did notice that you had a sprayer, but no boom. Are there effective herbicides labeled for sagebrush control?

Steve

beenthere · Jan 8, 2011

Any pics of the sagebrush areas, and before/after ??

I recall many years ago (1959) in W. New Mexico where they were trying to improve rangeland. Used large Cat crawlers about 40-50 yards apart with a heavy log chain stretched between them. The crawlers would drive parallel to each other and the log chain would drag the sagebrush out by the roots. When the ball of sagebrush (like a windrow) got to a certain size the chain would roll over the top leaving the ball behind. After this operation, they did aerial seeding that made some pretty good feed for the range cattle. If I recall correctly, there were about 5-7 cattle per sq. mile. Guess that is in the ballpark of what you said too.
Watching the crawlers go across the range was pretty impressive for a college student from an IA farm.

wkevin98 · Jan 8, 2011

beenthere said:
Any pics of the sagebrush areas, and before/after ??

I recall many years ago (1959) in W. New Mexico where they were trying to improve rangeland. Used large Cat crawlers about 40-50 yards apart with a heavy log chain stretched between them. The crawlers would drive parallel to each other and the log chain would drag the sagebrush out by the roots. When the ball of sagebrush (like a windrow) got to a certain size the chain would roll over the top leaving the ball behind. After this operation, they did aerial seeding that made some pretty good feed for the range cattle. If I recall correctly, there were about 5-7 cattle per sq. mile. Guess that is in the ballpark of what you said too.
Watching the crawlers go across the range was pretty impressive for a college student from an IA farm.

I don't have any pics of the last project, but I'll see if I can't get a couple. The after looks like a freshly drilled field w/ crop. I've seen some pics of those dozers & chains, but I don't think that would be real practical (or cheap). I've seen pics & video's of the daisy harrows, but I don't think they get everything without making extra passes. There are a couple of video's of people that have made a drag out of logs and tires, but I still don't think thats what we're after.

I was wondering if a brush hog and then to the tiller might be a feasible option for the smaller meadows/plots.

This isn't the best picture, but lets you see a lot of brush.

BTW - on the dozers, we have some of the biggest dozers in the world in the mining industry here in the basin so anything less than a D10 is small time for me. Those big ones are impressive to watch.

wkevin98 · Jan 8, 2011

smstonypoint said:
No, but I am curious.

I did notice that you had a sprayer, but no boom. Are there effective herbicides labeled for sagebrush control?

Steve

I did try about 100 gallons of 2, 4-d ester on some weeds, but made a point to hit several sagebrush plants this June. This fall it looks like they may be starting to die, but I'll know more in the spring. I'm not real convinced it will actually kill some of these larger sagebrush plants. I should probably look further into the spraying method, but it also means probably having to get setup better to spray for it.

Treemonkey1000 · Jan 8, 2011

what about controlled burns of sections?

wkevin98 · Jan 8, 2011

As bad as the fires have been that last few years I've just been to nervous to try it. I think with the right prep work (fire lines and a couple of spray rigs ready) it could be done. I don't think the neighbors would like it much. Problem is that a lot of where I'm working on the sagebrush & farming in back in the hill pastures and that is extremely tough country to fight a fire with all the pine & cedar.