New landowner looking for advise

[bhh]

My wife and I are in the process of purchasing a house on a 45 acre property in upstate ny. Other than about a 1 acre lawn, the rest of the property is all woods. My first priority is to clean up about 6 acres of woods around the house of downed trees, limbs and underbrush. Will probably burn much of it but might consider a chipper. The second project, which i would probably start in about 2 years is to completely clear about 5 acres of woods that is surrounded by stone walls which I assume was once pasture or agricultural. That cleared land will be meadow or pasture and we will most likely build a new house there sometime in the future.

Since we are buying the property now, I am not going to have too much coin to throw at this right away but I am trying to decide on what equipment I should buy sooner rather than later to get started on general cleanup and property maintenance. I am currently leaning towards a B series Kubota with FEL and forks for moving brush around but I wonder if it makes more sense to go ahead and buy the backhoe and just use that for everything as well although clearance in the woods will be an issue. The tractor is something I will most likely need indefinitely while the backhoe is something I would probably just keep for a year or two until the land was cleared. Any suggestions? I am not even really sure what size tractor is right for this. Although i am not really looking for brand recs, I welcome any insight or opinions. Thanks.

 

[sam5570]

if you could take some pics of the property and post them so everyone can see what your dealing with would really help in giving you a more acurate and senseable solution there are several ways to go about what your wanting to do look foward to seeing pics

 

[RPW]

Same as Sam said. Now a few suggestions, whatever size tractor you think you need get the next size larger. For implements always go heavy duty as you'll appreciate it later. For clearing the woods consider hiring it out. From personal experience I just cleared 38 acres of cedars and I'm now in the middle of on very large chopping project. No fun. Good luck on your new property.

 

[Deerherd]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the new home purchase. Sounds like all you really NEED is a lawn mower for the 1 acre lawn and a chain saw (with appropriate safety gear) to get started clearing the place. Thanks god we don't have to prove an actual need before someone will sell us tractors or attachments, a lot of people would be in trouble.

As far as the back hoe is concerned, there seems to be two different groups of people. Those that have them and those who want one! Like you said, navigating around the woods can be difficult and for someone who states that the coin is a little tight, back hoes tend to be a little pricey. Truth be told, hiring someone with a real bulldozer to clear that 5 acre parcel would be the most time and money saving way to get it done. What a good operator can do in 8 hours is amazing, not to mention the wear and tear saved on your machine.

Not actually knowing the lay of your place I would think a Brush Hog type mower, grapple set-up and maybe snow removal equipment would be things to consider first. Good luck!

 

[jenkinsph]

I agree that pics would help alot, need to be able to have some sense of scale when looking at this. Have someone in the picture near the trees would help. How about the terrain, do you have steep slopes or gently rolling land?

Starting out a smaller tractor such as the B series Kubota may be a good choice, hard to tell yet.

 

[radioman]

The answer could go many ways here. It all boils down to your time, money, experience, current equipment and priorities. my folks bought 30 acres old farmland and all they had was a push mower to mow half acre for first 5-8 years. then moved up to a riding tractor. used that with dump cart for moving firewood, mowing larger lawn for years. They supplemented that with a ATV for towing more firewood, deeper in woods. Then finally got a real farm tractor with FEL/RFM/bushhog and wondered how did they managed to get along without one after all these years!
Starting out with a B series with a FEL sounds like a good start. I'd add a grapple to FEL to make it more useful then a fork. Add a MMM or RFM for mowing duty unless you have too many delicate small spaces around the house which calls for a separate smaller riding tractor. I personally would prefer to start small with a B and go from there as you see fit as you learn more about your property and vision grows from there. Chances are as time goes by, you will either get another larger tractor to supplement your arsenal or just tradeup.

Now having said all that - I have no idea whats your land setup is like, I wonder if B is too small or its perfect for you. Remember you want to clear snow in winter as well.

 

[savageactor7]

Hi bhh and welcome to the forum, as long as you don't plan on building Rome in a day a B model with FEL and 3PH will do the job. If you get a brush hog that will chip up most of the brush unless you're talking about tree limb type brush.

With tree limb residue from state land permit holders the NY DEC insists they be spread out on the forest floor to rot out in 3 years. In the past they recommend it to be piled as a refuge/home for lower mammals mice, moles, rabbits etc...and that in turn would spur the upper ladder predator species.

So you have a few options besides burning...which is very effective.

My advice is too avoid those small backhoes. There expensive, easy to break unless you're properly schooled, difficult to take off and put on. And you really can't make meaning full production with them. Sure you're going to end up with 50-100+ ugly stumps you want removed. In the off season you can hire an owner operator to dig and bury them in a couple of days of less for the price of his monthly payment ...and be grateful for the work.

We've had 3 major BH projects here and they all cost less than a CUT backhoe.

If you go that route stay away from a mid mount mowers (MMM) the main saving grace from the 3PH is the quick connects/disconnects. The MMM is way more difficult so folks tend to leave in on and ding it up when they go in the woods. So my advice is to get a rear finishing mower too.

Also if you're on a budget you can get a lot of extra essential land clearing gear for the price of a BH.

 

[bhh]

Seems like the general consensus is pics are needed so here you go. Not completely comprehensive but this is all i have with me and should give a general idea what I am up against. Thanks everyone for the feedback so far.

The land is generally pretty flat to rolling. This is one of the steepest slopes and one of the less dense sections of woods. This is probably the area I would cut a new driveway through to the new home site.

Some good-sized access roads run from the existing house through the property. Some timber has been cut off parts of the property and I suspect that is where a lot of the mess comes from.

This is typical of the type of debris that scatters much of the property although there are enough downed trees (probably Irene) to heat half of Canada.

Just a nice picture but the density surrounding the creek is pretty typical.

As far as time and schedule, most of the work will be done on the weekends for at least the next 10 years or so until I can find a way off the hamster wheel. My day job keeps me pretty busy and tied to a desk so I am a little "time poor" but enjoy spending time doing this stuff and need the sense of accomplishment that comes from things like this in my life. It gets done when it gets done and is as much about the process as the end result. The current lawn has a lot of trees and landscaped areas so I will probably need a dedicated mower for that and may just hire that out.

 

[bhh]

I'll also add that the backhoe would be something like a Cat 416 or similar sized machine, bought used, although I have considered hiring that out as well eventually. I came across this site while doing research and was very inspired by it.

http://howtoclearland.com/PDF/clear_land_all.pdf

 

[Egon]

Sounds like you have time so do a lot of shopping and looking before making a tractor decision.

Clearing the five acre plot might best be contracted out as there appear to be some nice lumber trees involved. The clearing of that area should be carefully planned to make best use of of the existing features before they are gone.

The rock walls indicate you may have a lot of rock to work with so that should go into the tractor/implements decision.

For the base tractor consider one at 30+ HP with hydrostatic. Add a bucket and a backhoe. The backhoe should be such that it is I ncorporated into
the tractor design for durability and ease of mounting. A back blade/boxblade will also be of help? That should set you up for heavy work. Mower decisions can come later.

If absent from the land tractor storage is also a factor.

Just for interest a tractor similar to a JD 4200 s hold work well for you. Not recommending it but naming one just for illustration.:thumbsup: