Smoothing Clear Cut Land

[dcarman]

We have 100 acres that was just clear cut of pines. The ultimate goal is to make much of it mixed forest/pasture for sheep.

Tractor - Kubota MX5400 with bucket and bushhog

Slash - They piled most of it up into massive piles. We might try and burn some of it or just leave it to rot? We plan to get a grapple to collect up the bigger pieces left over into rot/burn piles and leave the small stuff to rot.

Stumps - We plan on getting a PTO stump grinder to tackle the stumps (not in a rush).

My main question is around the mess the loggers made with their equipment. There are quite a few big tire trenches and uneven spots on the land. What is the best implements to use to smooth these out/fill them in?

I did some land clearing in Alaska for a guy who was going to raise crops on it. When we got the trees done he had a hydraulic excavator come in and bury all the slash and stumps piles we had made. A little spendy but done now. This worked great for his schedule and then he went over it a few times with the box blade to smooth and level it using the spikes initially to clear out any roots that were still left. It there is overburden there such as forest detritus and roots any instrument is going to pull that stuff up unless you haul dirt over the top of it first.

 

[airbiscuit]

Stumps break tractors and bend loaders. I'm glad you aren't going to mess with them. Use this for your slashing.

 

[airbiscuit]

For the ground work, find a heavy old Bog Disc.

 

[airbiscuit]

Or do this

 

[ZTMAN]

Skidder ruts are sometimes 3-4 feet deep with stumps in the middle. A D6 would be more inline with smoothing them out vs a box blade.

I agree, but I think the OP asked what implements would be best suited for his tractor.

 

[erikjohn67]

Alot of good advice being given previously. As a manager at a large heavy civil GC in florida for the last 20 some years I been involved with subcontractors and clearing of thousands of acres of land.

Clipping and removing the good wood is always the cheapest route for the subcontractor or the landowner trying to cash in before making a sale because they can actually make money and have the sub pay them to take the wood when they don’t have to remove the stumps. The stump removal is the largest cost to the sub.

That being said it will be a minor cost to them compared to what it would cost you to get them to get the ruts leveled out. You should try to work a deal with them because you need to be able to move around on the property. You can burn the piles it just takes a little time and effort but we do it all the time. If your in GA and maybe it is a little swampy that can actually make things less dangerous than burning on completely dry ground.

As far as the stumps they are a huge PITA to remove after the tree has been downed. It is much easier to knock the tree down and lever the stump out with the tree then to have to try to remove it after the top has been cut, which I have has to do before as well. They only way to really do it at that point is with a large tracked excavator land dig them out.

If you can get the land leveled, burn the brush and then maybe cut the stumps at ground level with a large chainsaw, that is probably your best bet to make the property usable.

 

[charles todd]

Having a dozer come work the property would be nice but the quotes ive gotten have ranged from $1500 an acre or more...

So it really is not an option.

WOW. 2009 I paid $400/acre for an excavator to grub stumps and a 2 dozer to pile them.

CT

 

[Fixastuff]

WOW. 2009 I paid $400/acre for an excavator to grub stumps and a 2 dozer to pile them.

CT

Just curious, how long did it take them to clear an acre?

 

[Rockbadchild]

the slash pile i would definitely try to burn some… depending on your area which i am not familiar with, but what i am familiar with is by the time that stuff rot the new threes are growing back so 5 to 10 years …

For the tire trench first options you could fill them with the wood of the brush pile or chips from your brush hog so they rot there and it will fill them over time, this would take time and you will probably have to do it a few time.
second options If you have or could get a furrow plow you could plow a section then disk it of till it then take that dirty and fill the tires trench …
Option 3 furrow plowed the trench area, disk and seeds.

 

[erikjohn67]

WOW. 2009 I paid $400/acre for an excavator to grub stumps and a 2 dozer to pile them.

CT

Price/cost is dependent on how many stumps per acre and how big the stumps are. Just like any estimate or cost, what they charge you is a function of work required to perform the work.

Factors that affect clearing cost are:
Size of trees
Subsurface conditions (wet or dry)
Density of trees
Can the wood be marketed
Can you burn or do you have to chip/mulch

Stump removal is usually a given unless someone is just making a money grab to sell the wood and flip the property.