Educate me: prescribed burn, herbicide, mechanical brush removal????

[BRM210]

I have 210 acres in Oklahoma and it has been neglected for 20 years. Parts of the rangeland is now choked with locust trees (thorn trees) and Osage Orange trees (aka hedgeapples aka Bois'd'arc trees). 80 acres was once farmed, and now is being invaded by the locust trees, and broomweeds.

I don't have to make this place perfect overnight, but want to increase native grasses for cattle, but I want to leave some of the thickets for deer and quail.

I'm a little overwhelmed and not sure if I should burn it, spray it, cut it, doze it, whatever. Probably some combination, but not sure of the order.

I am holding off on buying equipment because I don't really know what I need. Do I need a large heavy duty rotary cutter (like a JD HX 10) or bobcat with a tree cutter, or something I don't even know about. Owning a dozer is not a viable option.

Should I buy the equipment to spray, or hire it done? Its really a beautiful property with a large clear creek that never dries up, and the hunting/fishing is great, large hardwoods along the creek, and limestone outcroppings in many places, but the scrub trees (locusts etc) and weeds have detracted a lot from looks and functionality of the place.

 

[ShearHeadMS]

how big are the trees? if they are still pretty small id just buy a goot 95-120HP tractor and just bush hog it down, if they are to big for that then just get them with the chainsaw, and a dozer isnt a bad thing to own at all, mulchers and skiddsteers can be very costly to maintain and keep up, older dozers can be bought for cheap and still hold value when you go to sell them.

 

[kensnelling]

Well, the first thing I advise is to be cautious using herbicides as they can kill off fish, frogs, etc in any ponds and creeks you may have. Even if you kill the trees using a spray you still have to go in there and clean up the debris.

As for burning, if your place is overgrown I'd advise against that too right now. We aren't under any burn bans right now, but we're still awful dry and as you saw the last 2 years burns can get out of control pretty easily. If you go in there and cut all the grasses and weeds down low it's easier to keep a burn under control.

As for cutting the trees using a bush hog you'll still be leaving stumps 3-4 inches tall that can be pretty hard on tires.

If it was my place I'd look into cutting all the grass and weeds down that I could, and then get some estimates to see what it will take to doze the trees into burnable piles.

Be prepared to keep after the areas for a few years after you clear them as the locust trees send out long root runners and no matter what you do they keep trying to sprout fo years. I've got about an acre I cleared locust trees out of 15-16 years ago and they STILL keep sending up shoots.

Ken

 

[texasjohn]

Go talk to your soil conservation people...they can work up a program that meets your objectives and makes sense as well.

Not seeing the place, I'd think that they will come up with a program to do some mechanical control designed to contain a controlled burn. Often, herbicide is more effective on brush after it is damaged by fire (if not completely killed). It is amazing what benefits a controlled burn will do....the larger trees withstand the burn because of thick bark while small stuff is killed. And the ash puts phosphorus down which encourages grass seeds and roots. See them now...often a burn is best in spring just before it warms up and rains come...thus you have time to prepare.

Some combination of all the above will achieve the most cost effective and workable control for you...the soil conservation guys have seen it done dozens of ways, some good, some medium and some foolish...in your area....they will give you good advice, recommend you listen to them. It's your tax dollars at work, use them.

 

[scollins]

I have 210 acres in Oklahoma and it has been neglected for 20 years. Parts of the rangeland is now choked with locust trees (thorn trees) and Osage Orange trees (aka hedgeapples aka Bois'd'arc trees). 80 acres was once farmed, and now is being invaded by the locust trees, and broomweeds.

I don't have to make this place perfect overnight, but want to increase native grasses for cattle, but I want to leave some of the thickets for deer and quail.

I'm a little overwhelmed and not sure if I should burn it, spray it, cut it, doze it, whatever. Probably some combination, but not sure of the order.

I am holding off on buying equipment because I don't really know what I need. Do I need a large heavy duty rotary cutter (like a JD HX 10) or bobcat with a tree cutter, or something I don't even know about. Owning a dozer is not a viable option.

Should I buy the equipment to spray, or hire it done? Its really a beautiful property with a large clear creek that never dries up, and the hunting/fishing is great, large hardwoods along the creek, and limestone outcroppings in many places, but the scrub trees (locusts etc) and weeds have detracted a lot from looks and functionality of the place.

A good place to start, in addition to SCS (Now NRCS) would be the state forestry department's Farm Forester. You are an ideal candidate for a Forest Stewardship Plan.

I am not sure what county you are in, but try the phone numbers from this link.

Central Western Area | Oklahoma Forestry Services

SC

 

[BRM210]

What a neat website this is. I really appreciate the thoughtful responses. I will definitely contact SCS, but hadn't even heard of the Farm Forester. As for equipment- I'm going to need a tractor and brushhog.

I'm leaning towards a 120" "pull-type" brush-hog. Any thoughts? Most the of ones I've checked say they require a 60hp @ PTO. I assume that means I should be looking at a 75-85hp tractor minimum?

 

[ShearHeadMS]

if you can find a good massey 383 or a 396 tractor you will have plenty of power plus something you can afford, i wouldnt buy anything bigger than a 10-foot and nothing smaller than a 6- foot. look on tractor house for good used stuff, depending on location depends on price. good luck man!!

 

[tift104]

Have you considered using a drum chopper. This mashes the brush to the ground and the blades cut the lighter brush into smaller 6 inch pieces. After the brush is on the ground and given a little time to dry out then run a prescribed fire on the land. With the brush on the ground the laddering of the fire is not an issue. Your local forestry unit can assist in the burning and instalation of fire breaks for the prescribed burn. I'm not familliar with Oklahoma forestry division but the Georgia is very reasonably priced and you do not have to pay a transport or pick up fee. Also, if they assist you then a majority of the liability associated with burning is transfered over to them.
We have been running the smaller 8 foot Super C drum choppers pulled with either a dozer or a 80-100 Hp tractor. We have run mulchers and mowers on our plantations and have had the best result with the chopper and prescribed burning combo. THere is no maint that has to be done on the chopper itself other than tightening the blades every 100 acres or so and greasing the bearings on either side of the roller. Your biggest challange is going to be dealing with flat tires on the tractor your pulling it with.

 

[tift104]

Here is the end result of a pine plantation where we utalised the drum chopper/ Rx burn combo.

 

[yanmars]

I do not know how big your thorn trees are but they have done a lot of damage to my tractor farm tires before I had special innner liners installed. Only saying you have to be a bit cautious.
A bulldozer could push many down or at least make it feasible to bush hog later perhaps.