Smoothing Clear Cut Land

[ecdan]

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?

 

[JethroB]

I saw one of these type stump pullers at an Ag Expo once. Pretty impressed. It takes a hoss to pull it.

 

[5030]

Reputable logging companies always clean up the slash and smooth their tracks. Sounds to me like your's were slock....

Pine stumps will naturally rot over time. Have fun, you'll need it.

 

[ovrszd]

Welcome to TBN.

You didn't mention where you are located? So we don't really know soil type? And we don't know pine tree variety? What's the average stump diameter?

If the population was dense you are going to struggle leveling ruts amongst stumps.

In my area the invasive trees to clear are Eastern Red Cedar. Their stumps do not rot away. And they populate off their root systems. Very hard to stop. Requires complete removal of the stumps and major root system.

 

[ecdan]

Reputable logging companies always clean up the slash and smooth their tracks. Sounds to me like your's were slock....

Pine stumps will naturally rot over time. Have fun, you'll need it.

They are not done yet and are a reputable company. This is good to know I will ask them about it tomorrow, I just assumed they wouldn't.

I am located in North East Georgia. The stand of trees has been thinned multiple times so the stumps are very far apart. The trees were pretty big.

 

[oosik]

100 acres of clear cut cleanup is a MIGHTY big project for anybody with any size tractor. I had my 80 acres selectively logged off about 15 years ago. I had them leave the slash pile for the wildlife. Unfortunately - there is very little left of the slash piles. I'm going to gather all piles into one pile this summer. Good use for my grapple.

As far as straightening out the ruts. I used my land plane grading scraper (LPGS). Took multiple passes but turned out smooth as a baby's butt.

The stumps - why worry about them. Let them rot away. The sheep won't care. A lot of effort required for very little benefit. Unless you plan on the 100 acres looking like a garden from mystical tale of old.

Keep you goal and perspective in mind. You want this to be a sheep ranch.

 

[John_Mc]

Reputable logging companies always clean up the slash and smooth their tracks. Sounds to me like your's were slock....

Reputable logging companies do what they contracted to do. If the contract did not specify clean up and grading the area, then they did what they were supposed to do. Having said that, I would certainly hope a reputable company would ask a landowner during the contract negotiations phase of the deal whether they wanted the clean up or not. Whether or not the clean up was included, would certainly affect the price a landowner was offered for the logs (or the amount the landowner paid for the cutting if there were no saleable logs).

We recently had a small logging job done on some property I own cooperatively with some friends. We chose not to have the logger remove the tops or lop them down, which ended up giving us a much better deal. The logger was expected to do a rough grade on the trails to remove any ruts which could have started erosion problems - that didn't take much, since the logging was done under frozen winter conditions.

 

[jyoutz]

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?

Smooth the ruts with whatever works. If the piles are too large, use a grapple to make smaller piles and burn when conditions are right. The stumps will be there till they rot or you have a dozer remove and pile them. Their is no good tractor solution to stumps when you are talking about acres of land.

 

[jyoutz]

They are not done yet and are a reputable company. This is good to know I will ask them about it tomorrow, I just assumed they wouldn't.

I am located in North East Georgia. The stand of trees has been thinned multiple times so the stumps are very far apart. The trees were pretty big.

I didn’t see the information that the logging is ongoing. Have them smooth the ruts before you close out the sale. Also, if the piles are too large, have them break them up into smaller more burnable piles. They have the correct equipment to do this.

 

[fishdrivel]

Pretty rare to get grading here in Georgia from loggers.
Big brushpiles is normal.

If someone wants clean land for development, that is a different bid.

Don't try a 3 pint stump grinder on that many pine stumps. you are not in a hurry, most will be rotten before you get to them!

You can burn all the brush and not have any wood left over. Let it dry awhile, and talk to your firemen, etc.

You can hire a tubgrinder to mulch the brush. Your logger either has on or know one. Keep your eyes open, you will see one on a project!