Land Clearing With Your Tractor

[Muhammad]

I just put together this article on land clearing with your tractor with credit going to all the great tips and photos on TBN and specifically this forum. This article is intended to be a primer for people who want to tackle typical homeowner land clearing projects.

Land Clearing With Your Tractor | TractorByNet.com

Please take a moment to review and let me know if I need to make any factual corrections/edits. Also, if you guys have tips to add to the "tips" section at the bottom, please post them here in this thread and I'll summarize and add them.

 

[mcfarmall]

Thanks for the article. Looks pretty good for a basic primer as you said to get people going.

 

[Muhammad]

Thanks for the article. Looks pretty good for a basic primer as you said to get people going.

Was that sarcasm?

 

[4570Man]

I'd have to say step one of land clearing with a tractor is park it. Step two get a proper machine.

 

[D7E]

I'd have to say step one of land clearing with a tractor is park it. Step two get a proper machine.

Absoluteley

 

[BrokenTrack]

I'd have to say step one of land clearing with a tractor is park it. Step two get a proper machine.

That is too funny right there, but sadly also the truth.

I once was clearing an 18 acre mountainside off, and a guy rented a 700 G John Deere bulldozer for me and I was like, "and just exactly am I supposed to do with that?" It worked okay for finish grading, but just was nowhere near enough tractor.

 

[mcfarmall]

That is too funny right there, but sadly also the truth.

I once was clearing an 18 acre mountainside off, and a guy rented a 700 G John Deere bulldozer for me and I was like, "and just exactly am I supposed to do with that?" It worked okay for finish grading, but just was nowhere near enough tractor.

Maybe he wanted to marry you!

 

[Rustyiron]

This article is intended to be a primer for people who want to tackle typical homeowner land clearing projects.

I think you did very well.

 

[ruffdog]

This rig moved through my pine grove pretty quickly.

 

[BrokenTrack]

I think you did very well.

It depends on what is meant by "typical".

In some areas of the country, ridding the back forty of scrub brush exemplifies typical land clearing, but here in Maine...the most forested state in the nation...land clearing means removing massive sized trees. At 30 cord to the acre on average, and it taking 8 decent sized trees to make a cord, that is 250 stumps per acre!!

Some people are okay with stump grinding, I am not. They ultimately rot and causes horses and other livestock to break legs. That means removing the stump entirely.

I love my tractor, and whenever I can burn 7 gallons per day instead of 100 gallons per day; trust me I do, but there is no replacement for weight in land clearing. It just plain takes shear weight to hold its ground against a stump.

Even finish grading it takes big equipment, not because a little tractor cannot grade, but a 6 foot blade is not going to leave anywhere near as smooth surface as a bulldozer blade that is 14 feet wide. Wider than that is even better, and I drag long logs to get me out at 30 feet wide, but that too takes traction and horsepower. My small 350 bulldozer would not even pull this 24 foot log, it took my skidder, and even then it had all it wanted!

I am a HUGE proponent of "do as much for yourself as you can", but busting up nice everyday tractors is not the way to do it. Like 4570Man said; "Park it and get something that can do it." That equipment is sitting at the local rental shop just waiting for it to be rented out.

 

[nybirdman]

I spent ten years clearing my 100 acres(not totally left a lot of trees/woods) with my tractor and hiring bigger tractors with bigger bush-hogs.Last year I hired a skid-steer with a FECON head and he did more in four days than I had done in ten years.Yes; it cost a lot of money but it's finally done to my satisfaction.
So it depends on your wallet and how fast you want it done.

 

[Aquamoose]

Last year I hired a skid-steer with a FECON head...

What’s a FECON head?

 

[4570Man]

Essentially an extreme duty flail mower for a skid steer. Google it.

 

[hddnis]

That is too funny right there, but sadly also the truth.

I once was clearing an 18 acre mountainside off, and a guy rented a 700 G John Deere bulldozer for me and I was like, "and just exactly am I supposed to do with that?" It worked okay for finish grading, but just was nowhere near enough tractor.

Ok, I gotta ask, why is that woman tied to that tree???

 

[treemuncher]

I'd have to say step one of land clearing with a tractor is park it. Step two get a proper machine.

This is the best advice if you want to save money and keep a decent tractor. Tractors are rarely designed to meet such stress levels as put on a machine in land clearing operations. The cost in repairs, maintenance and parts will cost a whole lot more than hiring it out. I won't even consider pushing out 3" or larger stumps or bush hogging out anything larger than 2" with my Kubota M120 as it is not designed for such abuse.

Essentially an extreme duty flail mower for a skid steer. Google it.

Actually, flail mowers use free swinging teeth, can't handle large material and are inefficient in comparison to fixed tooth mulcher heads with carbide or steel teeth. I started with a flail head 21 years ago when I did not know any better. Unless I am mistaken, Fecon only manufacturers fixed tooth heads. This pic is of an FAE head that uses fixed teeth. With the exception of steel, mulcher heads will destroy almost anything in their paths.

Before and after pics of a job I worked on this past week.

Just a tiny spot on the project but it was full of hardwood stumps and tree tops from logging 2-3 years previous. About 12-15 stumps in this patch measuring 20"-30" diameter at the cut and I took out some other trees as well. Soil rototilled and ready for seed to be cast directly on what is left. Time to completion was about 30-35 minutes and was about a quarter acre. If seed is cast down today, this can be pasture in about 2 months time from what I've seen with other past jobs.

 

[Silvic]

Essentially an extreme duty flail mower for a skid steer. Google it.

As treemuncher posted not a flail at all. Fecon, FAE, DENIS Cimaf all make very nice mulching heads.

Here are the three options that Fecon has for heads. It is clear they are not a flail.







What they can do is so much more.

 

[Egon]

Good article showing equipment the small plot owner may have available to use.

As the amount of acreage increase's it reverts to Money = lots of HP, lots of traction and very heavy attachments or very expensive single design machines.

That said my ancestors cleared sections of land with Axe, Saw, Grubhoe, Four horses and a single furrow walk behind breaking plow. It did take time and lots of strong backs but it did get done!

 

[Industrial Toys]

I never really gave that much thought. How did the pioneers remove those stumps? I always thought of stones and stone boats, and pulling trees away by horse, but what of the stumps?

I had a Vermeer that could easily do a six foot stump without repositioning. But even that gets tiring if you have a lot of stumps. Plus, in rocky ground, you know every stump is ringed with stones. Hard and expensive on teeth.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

I never really gave that much thought. How did the pioneers remove those stumps? I always thought of stones and stone boats, and pulling trees away by horse, but what of the stumps?

I think they just farmed around them until they rotted away. It's only when you get mechanized that dealing with obstacles becomes a problem. My ancestors here did an admirable job of picking up rocks, we have miles and miles of stone walls and it's not uncommon to see stones up to about the size of a desk in walls. I can't imagine how much work that was, but they didn't have television. Rocks bigger than that were just left in the field and they plowed around them. It seems like just about every field here has a big rock in the middle.

 

[ovrszd]

I think you did very well.

I think so too Eric. Definitely pointed at 99% of the members on TBN.