Clearing land, stupid or crazy?

[Gordon Gould]

Boy what an interesting thread.
I turned a 1 mile long logging trail into a year round gravel road with a 30 hp tractor and one ton dump truck. Took a while, but I expected that. I'm glad I didn't ask on TBN if I should try it before I started. Some of you guys would have left me confused and undermined my confidence in myself. BTW I'm still running the truck and tractor today, 10 years later. I didn't trash either of them. But they did do lots of work.
Heavy equipment is great but so is hard work. Depends on your outlook and financial situation which is best.

 

[Rob-D]

Boy what an interesting thread.
I turned a 1 mile long logging trail into a year round gravel road with a 30 hp tractor and one ton dump truck. Took a while, but I expected that. I'm glad I didn't ask on TBN if I should try it before I started. Some of you guys would have left me confused and undermined my confidence in myself. BTW I'm still running the truck and tractor today, 10 years later. I didn't trash either of them. But they did do lots of work.
Heavy equipment is great but so is hard work. Depends on your outlook and financial situation which is best.

It depends on what you're clearing. Did you have any 14" stumps in the middle of that driveway? Hslf burried large bolders? Probably not, otherwise you'd still be there!

Rob

 

[andyz171]

So here are a couple pics, once again I'm just going after the small trees and under brush. Anything the tractor with the bicket or grapple/root rake can't budge will stay. It's an old horse farm, I'm not making it a horse farm so all horse concerns are appreciated but I'm not going that route. I've found a Kubota L5240 HST 4x4 (2008 - 400 hours) with quick detach loader that I'm really leaning towards right now.

 

[ssmith general]

So here are a couple pics, once again I'm just going after the small trees and under brush. Anything the tractor with the bicket or grapple/root rake can't budge will stay. It's an old horse farm, I'm not making it a horse farm so all horse concerns are appreciated but I'm not going that route. I've found a Kubota L5240 HST 4x4 (2008 - 400 hours) with quick detach loader that I'm really leaning towards right now.

Easy pickens, that'll be fun.

Do you know how to up root samplings and bushes? You can do it with the bucket pretty easy, but you'll need a tooth bar to drag them out. Sometimes I use a chain.

I would be doing myself a dis-service if I didnt once again offer my cheap tractor services (not sure where you are though), we could knock it out quick.

65 dollars an hour, 500 bucks a day.

 

[TripleR]

So here are a couple pics, once again I'm just going after the small trees and under brush. Anything the tractor with the bucket or grapple/root rake can't budge will stay. It's an old horse farm, I'm not making it a horse farm so all horse concerns are appreciated but I'm not going that route. I've found a Kubota L5240 HST 4x4 (2008 - 400 hours) with quick detach loader that I'm really leaning towards right now.

I responded on your other thread and stick with my original assessment of very doable. I don't understand why some are getting so testy about all this.

As mentioned on the other thread, if you want to get rid of the buildings, in my area someone would probably take it down for the materials, my son did this several years ago.

 

[ClendenninTrail]

Do the math on cutting 8 acres 6 feet at a time. To say you will be there a while is an understatement.

Another option would be to contract out bush hogging the property for the first cutting. Let someone who has the heavy duty cutter that is wide enough to do the job in a reasonable amount of time get it knocked down for you. After that the combination of whatever critters you keep and your cutter can try to keep it under control.

Bush hog it yourself. It takes me 5-6 hours to bush hog 9 acres of hilly property with a BX-25 pulling a 4ft cutter. Assuming I'm using about 3ft of the cutting width during each pass, the math says I mow at about 3.5 to 4.0 mph. Assuming you would use 5ft of cutter deck at ~3.75mph, you should cut about 99000 ft^2/hr. Eight acres, or 348480 ft^2 should take about 3.5 hours.

 

[LostInTheWoods]

I'd agree with TripleR. From what I see in the pictures, and what you describe as your objective...seems very doable without bringing in a dozer. If you want it done fast, then I guess you can bring in heavy equipment. But it's not like it should take weeks even with your equipment. And if you do bring in a dozer, there's a good chance of losing any trees you want to keep if the soil becomes too disturbed and compacted.

I wish I had some pictures of the poplar stands I ran down with my BX and rotary cutter. Lots of 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inch tress, with the occasional 3 incher. Not something I'd expect to be able to do several times a year and year after year. But now that it's cut back, I can keep it in better shape.

Go slowly, because you never know where fallen logs are going to be in that stuff. When you find 'em, push them out of the way with your FEL and/or take the chainsaw to them.

 

[Green Acres Homestead]

See the attached picture. Make yourself something like that to get out the stubborn roots.

The 4 or 5 inch trees can be pushed over. If you cut them they are harder to get the roots out because you do not have the the trunk to push on for leverage.

Push a manageable amount or trees over. Cut them up and put your forks on and pile and burn the brush. If you do not want to burn then move the brush to a dumping area near the edge of the property behind some trees. In 5 years the piles will be reduced to rot.

This is cheeper then buying a backhoe attachment. If of course you got the money then do the nachos thing.

 

[ssmith general]

See the attached picture. Make yourself something like that to get out the stubborn roots.

The 4 or 5 inch trees can be pushed over. If you cut them they are harder to get the roots out because you do not have the the trunk to push on for leverage.

Push a manageable amount or trees over. Cut them up and put your forks on and pile and burn the brush. If you do not want to burn then move the brush to a dumping area near the edge of the property behind some trees. In 5 years the piles will be reduced to rot.

This is cheeper then buying a backhoe attachment. If of course you got the money then do the nachos thing.

I do the same but stack the hole trees usining the loader, no cutting, big fire.

 

[Tom_H]

I do the same but stack the hole trees usining the loader, no cutting, big fire.

Or just put it all in one huge pile in the back corner of the property, and let it sit for 20 years, then have a really nice pile of composted material.

 

[k0ua]

I havent seen any thing in your photo's that my little L3400HST would not take care of, Piece of Cake. Get your tractor, get to work, have fun, Bulldozer my ..err...eye:confused2:

James K0UA

 

[TripleR]

When we were clearing our land, we burned some and also made brush piles for wildlife cover.

 

[Snapper Head]

So here are a couple pics, once again I'm just going after the small trees and under brush. Anything the tractor with the bicket or grapple/root rake can't budge will stay. It's an old horse farm, I'm not making it a horse farm so all horse concerns are appreciated but I'm not going that route. I've found a Kubota L5240 HST 4x4 (2008 - 400 hours) with quick detach loader that I'm really leaning towards right now.

That tractor will do the work, that's what a tractor is for.

Most of us didn't buy our units to keep them polished up with low hours for the next 40 years. We bought them to work.

A tractor is a tool, and a very good one. You might break something because you will be learning as you go, so what. Be careful and prudent, and you will learn what the machine can and cannot do. You will be pleasantly surprised by what it can do. You will also be pleasantly surprised at how much you will enjoy the work.


Big Al

 

[andyz171]

Spot on Big Al!!! Here are some updates from recent work. As you might remember you could not even see the house from across the street before 3 weeks ago. I'm learning that slow and steady will win this race, when I get in a hurry things go bad.... It's not a dozer, sledge hammers fix bend fenders and I love my tractor!!!

 

[TripleR]

As many of us said; very doable project with a decent size tractor. Yes, always pays to take your time. I will often get off and walk an area and just sit and figure out the best approach. Sometimes it helps to just go somewhere else, do a bit then come back.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Looking good.:thumbsup:

 

[MarkV]

I'm learning that slow and steady will win this race, when I get in a hurry things go bad.... It's not a dozer, sledge hammers fix bend fenders and I love my tractor!!!

Well stated!! That is where most new users lose track. Yes it can be done, no it is not a dozer. A bit of finesse and a bunch of time will let a smaller tractor do amazing things. Your progress is impressive.

MarkV

 

[slowzuki]

Its all about timeline when doing that kind of work. Slow and steady you can do it by hand, in a short spell the forestry mulchers make a beautiful job in no time flat.

I've cleaned up some areas like this before with a bushhog and a 50 hp Kubota, its a lot easier if you have walked it down in the fall and marked out the rocks, junk and other hazards hidden in the brush. Property like that tends to accumulate trash for some reason.

 

[k0ua]

Spot on Big Al!!! Here are some updates from recent work. As you might remember you could not even see the house from across the street before 3 weeks ago. I'm learning that slow and steady will win this race, when I get in a hurry things go bad.... It's not a dozer, sledge hammers fix bend fenders and I love my tractor!!!

I knew you could do it. Looks great!

James K0UA

 

[p dunham]

do what you said and use your tractor but rent a dozer for a weekend in okla. 600.00 plus fuel and man it is fun and go back to tractor and get a rake to pull brush to pile for beer/hotdog/bon fire and poof gone