Klipper,
You wrote: "I have just under 3 acres, in tough shape. Dead trees, needs shredding, etc. Was introduced to the idea of buying a SCUT or CUT to help me get a handle on it."
I'm a little confused. If you have 3 acres, is your desire to pull out some dead trees and maybe take down some not good trees? Or are you trying to clear cut almost everything on the 3 acres?
I'm asking - because investing in a $20,000 plus tax machine just to eliminate some trees for only 3 acres seems like an expensive choice. My question would be - why not hire someone to drag out the dead ones already on the ground and then you and a chainsaw cut down other ones you want to get rid of and then have the guy come back to drag those out?
You are describing and being suggested that you get a good sized tractor - but I don't understand what you will do with a bigger tractor after the dead or bad trees are eliminated?
My point is - dragging out dead downed trees isn't huge time taking effort on 3 acres for someone with good equipment (track drive skidsteer or bigger tractor). Its getting them cut down or cutting them up that is the time taker which is something you can do yourself. If your plan is to clear much of the 3 acres - a logger can come in and take the trees you either have marked to go or to save the ones you want to keep (assuming you have some good trees they would get).
Why am I asking this? I could see two choices other than buying a bigger tractor that you may or may not need once this little project is done.
1. By hiring someone to do it- they will do it much faster and with the right equipment. Then you could buy a smaller tractor at less cost but more future use on a 3 acre property.
2. Maybe you don't have a bunch of other uses for a tractor after the woods part is done - so then do you even need a tractor of any size for other purposes ?
What no one has yet mentioned that I am - is 3 acres is not 30 acres - depending on how much of that 3 acres needs to be cleared completely or just cleaned of not desirable wood - you're not talking this is something that would take all summer. To give you an example - I hired a professional with a track drive skid steer to flatten almost 4 acres of steeper sloped ground of brush and trees up to 7 inches diameter (a bushhog couldn't do it well) - he used a fire lane cutter. And then he put all the brush or small trees into piles. that was 7 hours of his work and it was less than 600 dollars with 60,000 dollars worth of equipment (and he isn't the cheapest - but he is really good and very efficient). Now if you're cutting the trees down because they are bigger sized - a tractor won't take down those size trees so you'd be cutting them anyway. And then they get dragged out just like the downed dead trees get dragged out. Just a couple of alternative thoughts.
Same thing is true of chipping. A professional with commercial grade chipping equipment can whittle up huge piles of branches in short order compared to a tractor with a residential user pto
chipper.
