Dr_Zinj
Veteran Member
If I remember correctly, isn't Russian Thistle the original name for tumbleweeds?
What price for grubbing mesquite?
- Thread starter tmc_31
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Dr_Zinj, I did not know what those bushes were in their green state, so I asked the landowner what it was. He said Russian Thistle. It didn't mean anything to me so I looked it up on Wilki and sure enough it said that it was also called tumbleweed. Who knew? 
I learn something new every day in spite of myself
Tim
I learn something new every day in spite of myself
Tim
UPDATE: Finally finished grubbing the mesquite and thistle from the 33 acres last Friday afternoon. It took 70 hours. That is an average of just over 2 hours per acre.
Started Raking today with the new rake I had built last week. I will get pictures tomorrow. It is much faster than dragging the rock bucket backwards
Tim
Started Raking today with the new rake I had built last week. I will get pictures tomorrow. It is much faster than dragging the rock bucket backwards
Tim
UPDATE: Finally finished grubbing the mesquite and thistle from the 33 acres last Friday afternoon:cool2:. It took 70 hours. That is an average of just over 2 hours per acre.:thumbsup:
Started Raking today with the new rake I had built last week. I will get pictures tomorrow. It is much faster than dragging the rock bucket backwards
Tim
Started Raking today with the new rake I had built last week. I will get pictures tomorrow. It is much faster than dragging the rock bucket backwards
Tim
paulharvey
Veteran Member
That's impressive speed, good job.
New rake, I assume, is more like a root rake for a loader then a grapple?
New rake, I assume, is more like a root rake for a loader then a grapple?
Hey all,
Thank you for all your advice and assistance. I promised to share the results of my land clearing project with you when I got finished with the project.
The project was to grub and rake 34 acres of Mesquite and Russian Thistle. It took 28 days for me to complete the project, 13 days grubbing and 15 days raking. I spent 70 hours of skid time grubbing out the mesquites and thistle. The raking took 64 hrs. The total cost to the customer was $8056.00 or $237.00/acre.
I started the project on the 6th of May and completed the pasture on the 1st of July. The customer interspersed other projects such as dirt moving, moving some large landscape rocks, dressing tank dams and grubbing other pastures while I was clearing the pasture. I was careful to keep records of the time spent on the various projects. I am still working in other areas of the farm and will probably be there for another couple of weeks.
Things that I will do different on the next project? I will likely charge more. Based on pricing discussed in this thread and through other sources, rates for this type of land clearing seem to range from about $700/acre to about $2500/acre and up. Also, I didn’t account for the money it would cost me to travel to and from the worksite for 28 days. That turned out to be a significant unanticipated cost. I will need to figure out some fair way to recover those travel costs. I would like to find a midi (4-5 ton) excavator with a grubber that I could rent for the next project. I think it would speed up the grubbing. Then I could use the skid for raking.
Again, thanks for your insights. I hope this thread will be helpful to others down the road
Tim
Thank you for all your advice and assistance. I promised to share the results of my land clearing project with you when I got finished with the project.
The project was to grub and rake 34 acres of Mesquite and Russian Thistle. It took 28 days for me to complete the project, 13 days grubbing and 15 days raking. I spent 70 hours of skid time grubbing out the mesquites and thistle. The raking took 64 hrs. The total cost to the customer was $8056.00 or $237.00/acre.
I started the project on the 6th of May and completed the pasture on the 1st of July. The customer interspersed other projects such as dirt moving, moving some large landscape rocks, dressing tank dams and grubbing other pastures while I was clearing the pasture. I was careful to keep records of the time spent on the various projects. I am still working in other areas of the farm and will probably be there for another couple of weeks.
Things that I will do different on the next project? I will likely charge more. Based on pricing discussed in this thread and through other sources, rates for this type of land clearing seem to range from about $700/acre to about $2500/acre and up. Also, I didn’t account for the money it would cost me to travel to and from the worksite for 28 days. That turned out to be a significant unanticipated cost. I will need to figure out some fair way to recover those travel costs. I would like to find a midi (4-5 ton) excavator with a grubber that I could rent for the next project. I think it would speed up the grubbing. Then I could use the skid for raking.
Again, thanks for your insights. I hope this thread will be helpful to others down the road
Tim
paulharvey
Veteran Member
That worked out to ~$60 per hour I believe (if I did the math right) so although you probably where 20-33% low of the hourly rate where I am, if you didn't have any major mechanical issues then you did OK I would think. If you where to do this again, would you have used the skid steer or have rented a full sized load with root rake?
Kyle_in_Tex
Super Star Member
Thanks for posting! Do you have any pic's of the grubber in action?
Fastowl
Bronze Member
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2013
- Messages
- 58
- Location
- Texas Hill Country, TX
- Tractor
- 1980 JD 2240; 2018 JD 5075E; 2011 Bobcat S650; 2019 Kubota RTV 1140
One thing that would be useful to you to find at least what part of the customer base would be willing to 'pay' is to check with your local USDA/NRCS office to find out what reeimbursement rates are under the EQIP and other programs; this also drives what some ranchers would be willing to pay up for (generally they are not expecting 100% reeimbursement but who knows how some think). For reference, I have not heard of anyone where we are located paying anywhere near the $700-2500/acre that you mentioned. Prices closer to $100-200.
Kyle_in_Tex
Super Star Member
a couple years ago, I talked with a guy about getting a very large dozer pulling a below ground root plow shear, pushing up piles and burning, then heavy and fine disking and "jigging" fresh grass and rolling. We figured roughly $1000/acre for 25 acres for all of the above.
Kyle_in_Tex
Super Star Member
PS. The dozer with the root plow was the expensive part.
C4Ranch
Veteran Member
Sounds like my fields have similar sized mesquite. I was thinking about buying a grapple. Do you think it would be possible to pull them out with one?
Love the pic of the Bison. That's a dream of mine to put out on my place sometime.
J
Love the pic of the Bison. That's a dream of mine to put out on my place sometime.
J
Fastowl
Bronze Member
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2013
- Messages
- 58
- Location
- Texas Hill Country, TX
- Tractor
- 1980 JD 2240; 2018 JD 5075E; 2011 Bobcat S650; 2019 Kubota RTV 1140
You can try pulling them out with a grapple, I sometimes end up pulling some with my shear if I don't cut all the way through or when I am grappeling the cut stuff and I get too deep into the soil around the stucmp. The roots go everywhere and you are likely to end up with a field of roots sticking up all over the field where they break off. They pull up easier if the soil is moist. I get roots that are sometimes 20-30 feet long running under the surface.
Hey all,
Paulharvey, you are correct, $60/hr is the rate the owner and I agreed on. After doing this job, I think $75/hr is closer to what I should be charging. That would put me at around $300/acre to grub and rake. My plan is to charge by the hour as conditions will be different on every project. This exercise will give me a way to estimate the land clearing cost as most customers I have dealt with want to have some idea of the costs up front. I will also need to recover daily travel costs for a project this far away (138 mi round trip/day). Toward the end of the clearing project, I did break a final drive chain on the left rear of the skid. I opened the chain case, removed the broken chain and was still able to drive the skid up onto the trailer and take it home. I wound up replacing a short section (12”) of the RC100HD chain and used two master links to put it back together. So far it seems to be working just fine. Only time will tell. As to your question about using my skid as opposed to using other types of equipment, I would use my skid again for Mesquites the size I am working with now and smaller. If I was dealing with full sized (mature) Mesquites, I think a dozer/grubber or an excavator/grubber would be better. For raking the skid with a root rake or a grapple rake worked very well.
Kyle, I don’t have any pictures of the grubber in action, however I am still grubbing some in other fields. Tomorrow I will be moving some dirt with a friend’s help. I will try to get him to shoot a short video of the grubbing action if you guys are interested.
Fastowl, good idea about checking with the ASCS office on reimbursement rates for land clearing. I had not thought of that as I have not ever dealt with them before. I will give them a call. What kind of equipment are the guys using to clear land around Menard? $100-$200/acre sounds like a very good price (for the landowner) for land clearing. I am not sure I would want to subject my machine to the abuse for that price. +1 on the moisture content of the soil making a big difference. When I started this project the pasture had not seen any rain for months and the soil was very dry. About halfway through, we got ½” of rain on the pasture and for a week or so after the rain pulling the mesquites was significantly easier. It was much easier to pull them out taproot and all as opposed to cutting them off below the nut.
C4Ranch, I rented a grapple rake last Monday to move some previously cut brush and trees that had been deposited in creek beds several years ago. The owner wanted them moved out into open areas so he could burn them without damaging live trees. I had never used a grapple rake before and boy was I impressed! It is on my list of tools to acquire. I am not sure how well it would work pulling up mesquites. I think you will have better luck using something that will allow you to catch the plant 6”-12” below grade and then pull it up. I have not tried this method so if you get a grapple rake and try it, please let us know how well it works. I am removing quite a bit of scrub Oak from the pasture I am working in now. I did try the grapple rake on the Oak and it worked very well as the root system for the oaks is close the surface of the ground. I suspect that the grapple rake would also work well on Cedars. I see you are in Eastland Co. not very far from me. The grapple rake I rented last Monday came from Abilene Rental Center in Abilene. I paid $72.00 (tax, insurance and all) for the day’s rental. It may be worth renting one for a day or so to try it before you buy it.
All the best,
Tim
Paulharvey, you are correct, $60/hr is the rate the owner and I agreed on. After doing this job, I think $75/hr is closer to what I should be charging. That would put me at around $300/acre to grub and rake. My plan is to charge by the hour as conditions will be different on every project. This exercise will give me a way to estimate the land clearing cost as most customers I have dealt with want to have some idea of the costs up front. I will also need to recover daily travel costs for a project this far away (138 mi round trip/day). Toward the end of the clearing project, I did break a final drive chain on the left rear of the skid. I opened the chain case, removed the broken chain and was still able to drive the skid up onto the trailer and take it home. I wound up replacing a short section (12”) of the RC100HD chain and used two master links to put it back together. So far it seems to be working just fine. Only time will tell. As to your question about using my skid as opposed to using other types of equipment, I would use my skid again for Mesquites the size I am working with now and smaller. If I was dealing with full sized (mature) Mesquites, I think a dozer/grubber or an excavator/grubber would be better. For raking the skid with a root rake or a grapple rake worked very well.
Kyle, I don’t have any pictures of the grubber in action, however I am still grubbing some in other fields. Tomorrow I will be moving some dirt with a friend’s help. I will try to get him to shoot a short video of the grubbing action if you guys are interested.
Fastowl, good idea about checking with the ASCS office on reimbursement rates for land clearing. I had not thought of that as I have not ever dealt with them before. I will give them a call. What kind of equipment are the guys using to clear land around Menard? $100-$200/acre sounds like a very good price (for the landowner) for land clearing. I am not sure I would want to subject my machine to the abuse for that price. +1 on the moisture content of the soil making a big difference. When I started this project the pasture had not seen any rain for months and the soil was very dry. About halfway through, we got ½” of rain on the pasture and for a week or so after the rain pulling the mesquites was significantly easier. It was much easier to pull them out taproot and all as opposed to cutting them off below the nut.
C4Ranch, I rented a grapple rake last Monday to move some previously cut brush and trees that had been deposited in creek beds several years ago. The owner wanted them moved out into open areas so he could burn them without damaging live trees. I had never used a grapple rake before and boy was I impressed! It is on my list of tools to acquire. I am not sure how well it would work pulling up mesquites. I think you will have better luck using something that will allow you to catch the plant 6”-12” below grade and then pull it up. I have not tried this method so if you get a grapple rake and try it, please let us know how well it works. I am removing quite a bit of scrub Oak from the pasture I am working in now. I did try the grapple rake on the Oak and it worked very well as the root system for the oaks is close the surface of the ground. I suspect that the grapple rake would also work well on Cedars. I see you are in Eastland Co. not very far from me. The grapple rake I rented last Monday came from Abilene Rental Center in Abilene. I paid $72.00 (tax, insurance and all) for the day’s rental. It may be worth renting one for a day or so to try it before you buy it.
All the best,
Tim
Robb0h
New member
Great info here! I stumbled upon this thread from a google search on mesquite clearing, and I live in Abilene.
We recently moved to a property with acreage that has mesquites to be cleared and I'm trying to decide what machine to get. Looks like that M&M shear is an excellent tool! I was wondering if you guys in TX (tmc & Fastowl) might mind me coming out and seeing your gear in action? If so, I could PM you my number to work out details. If not, for liability reasons, I understand. All I can offer in return is untrained labor and I'll buy lunch! haha. At any rate, I've gotten quite a lot of good info from this thread already.
Thanks,
Rob
Edit: Wanted to note that though this is my first post... I've been lurking and reading here for a couple of years, I'm new to tractors so I haven't had any info worth opening my mouth (keyboard) about... simply been trying to read a lot and learn...
We recently moved to a property with acreage that has mesquites to be cleared and I'm trying to decide what machine to get. Looks like that M&M shear is an excellent tool! I was wondering if you guys in TX (tmc & Fastowl) might mind me coming out and seeing your gear in action? If so, I could PM you my number to work out details. If not, for liability reasons, I understand. All I can offer in return is untrained labor and I'll buy lunch! haha. At any rate, I've gotten quite a lot of good info from this thread already.
Thanks,
Rob
Edit: Wanted to note that though this is my first post... I've been lurking and reading here for a couple of years, I'm new to tractors so I haven't had any info worth opening my mouth (keyboard) about... simply been trying to read a lot and learn...
Hey Robb0h, I am clearing some mesquite and brush on my neighbors land across the street. I live about 5 miles north of Tye. I would be happy to have you come and watch, maybe even give it a try if you are so inclined. Give me a call this weekend if you want to. My number is (325) 665-054five
Tim
Tim
Robb0h
New member
Thanks for the offer Tim! We have guests arriving shortly for the weekend. I will check and see what all they have planned, and if there is some time I'll be free from entertaining them I will give you a ring!
Rob
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