Tractor for land clearing and preparation

[cathy liebchen]

Hire someone with a skid steer mulcher. They will have then entire area done in two weeks or ao and it will be very good.

Mulcher can do maybe 2-3 acres a day so 300 acres is easily months of work

 

[ning]

@TBNers - I suspect that specialized land clearing machinery, like masticators, is not available; op's looking at a very sparse supply of local machinery and will have to import just about anything he needs to use on the land.

@mboncalo I would strongly suggest clearing as-needed unless you have the resources to immediately put into production all of the 300 acres.
Going say 10, 20, or 30 acres at a time - clear and prepare for planting, get it actually in production, will not only help you learn from the process but will avoid the situation where you've substantially disturbed the soil and aren't ready to plant, whereupon you're likely to find it either losing what topsoil you've got to weather (wind and rain) or it'll regrow before you get to it.

It seems like Tanzania has issues with land quality (Land Degradation in Rural Tanzania - Ballard Brief). Have you had the soil analyzed to get an idea of what you can expect to grow on it long-term, and what sort of inputs (fertilizer, etc) will be necessary?

I'm also curious about water availability; by developing the land 5-10% at a time, you can scale up your infrastructure similarly instead of investing all at once.

 

[paulsharvey]

@mboncalo; don't know if you do YouTube, but I think a lot of people would like to watch along as your start and get things moving. All the guys on there now, either have big operations; or are 'Farming' 5 acres with a goat, 6 chickens, 0.25 acres, and $75,000 worth of equipment...

 

[paulsharvey]

This disc-chisel might be an interesting approach to you root problems. Once you got things under control, I think you could remove the discs, and then you got a medium tillage tool, if your going for less open tillage field. Should also work well to not overly dry the soil, but also allow drainage.

Don't know if your area has a welding/fab shop/guy; but I would guess chisels and discs could be shipped pretty easily, for the ware components; and the frame made locally.


With 85hp, you could, I'm guessing here, probably manage a 9 ft chisel?

 

[redman135]

Hello mboncalo, I have not looked past the first page ,but I think you are going about things wrong. In my experiance a smaller tractor working hard uses MORE fuel than a larger tractor working less hard. eg 45hp tractor driving a large single drum hay mower used 20% more fuel than a 75hp tractor on the same mower.

You would be financially better off to get the tractor size you need to do the cultivation and use that to mulch the saplings.
However the best result would be to get a contractor with a forestry grade mulcher to do the job. The cost may seem high up front, but the time saved will be to your benefit. Also you don't have the headache of breakdowns.
See youtube for overgrown land/ forestry mulching.
good luck

 

[mikester]

Since the OP is in Tanzania the cheapest option is slash and burn.

 

[jswann1975]

If you are hell bent on clearing the land yourself instead of hiring it out, I'd suggest buying a dozer, clearing the land, selling the dozer, and buying a tractor with the same money that you bought the dozer with.. You can get the job done faster and safer without destroying the tractor in the process.

 

[Doz]

Go in with a big forestry head mow and mulch when a dozer with rook rake.

 

[boatmoter]

Good day everybody,

I'm looking to buy a tractor which will be mainly used for land clearing and preparation in the beginning. Land is full of small 1-2 inch thick trees which need to be cleared.
Short story, I bought recently 300 acres of virgin land which needs to be cleared, leveled, prepared from scratch.
Initially I was thinking to start with an 80 hp tractor with a front and loader , grapple and leveler but afterwards I had second thoughts that it might be cheaper fuel wise to start with an 50-60 hp tractor which might reduce my costs for clearing the land but I will have to buy a bigger tractor afterwards for land preparation, tilling, planting.
Though these are just thoughts, I have no experience with tractors beside all the reading
I'm not living in USA , in case you are thinking of recommending some tractor models
To be honest, I'm stuck a bit and I would appreciate some advice

Thank you.

a Bulldozer with a rake & a blade is what I would want to clear & level that much land

 

[marhar]

Good day everybody,

I'm looking to buy a tractor which will be mainly used for land clearing and preparation in the beginning. Land is full of small 1-2 inch thick trees which need to be cleared.
Short story, I bought recently 300 acres of virgin land which needs to be cleared, leveled, prepared from scratch.
Initially I was thinking to start with an 80 hp tractor with a front and loader , grapple and leveler but afterwards I had second thoughts that it might be cheaper fuel wise to start with an 50-60 hp tractor which might reduce my costs for clearing the land but I will have to buy a bigger tractor afterwards for land preparation, tilling, planting.
Though these are just thoughts, I have no experience with tractors beside all the reading
I'm not living in USA , in case you are thinking of recommending some tractor models
To be honest, I'm stuck a bit and I would appreciate some advice

Thank you.

If money was not an object and you enjoy working the land" I would buy a Turbow saw.