Forest to Fields

[BrokenTrack]

Around my parts there were several large farms 50-200 acres that were mostly wooded , they sat on the market for several years then they decided lets clear all the trees open it up and they sold as soon as they were back on the market. Presumably for more than the cost to clear them. Pretty common practice around here now. Developments want open land and so do horse farm owners. I can see spending a several weeks clearing land knowing you will easily get your investment back just takes a lot of upfront $$$. Good luck sounds like a smart plan

Right now we have the perfect storm for land ownership. Maine has always voted for State Referendum Bonds, leaving a lot to pay for, and ultimately it gets pushed onto the landowners. At the same time paper mills have closed, so what used to be valuable forest is now almost worthless; my woodland value dropped by 1/3 of what it was. I keep doing the math, and it is always the same, a net value of $55 per acre, per year for forestland. Even if I could only raise 1 sheep per acre, I would make more money raising more sheep, but carrying capacity is actually 5-10 sheep, so it really is a no brainer land economics wise.

I will not put every acre I have into farmland, but based on the best soils, and ability to farm it, these are the areas I am targeting. Here, I am hardly alone, and the state is struggling to get a handle on it, but it just just comes down to simple math. Taxes are too high, and despite being the most heavily forested state in the nation, without markets for our wood, we have to convert it into something that works fiscally.

 

[BrokenTrack]

Around my parts there were several large farms 50-200 acres that were mostly wooded , they sat on the market for several years then they decided lets clear all the trees open it up and they sold as soon as they were back on the market. Presumably for more than the cost to clear them. Pretty common practice around here now. Developments want open land and so do horse farm owners. I can see spending a several weeks clearing land knowing you will easily get your investment back just takes a lot of upfront $$$. Good luck sounds like a smart plan

A lot of it is vision.

Even I have a hard time determining just what the end product will be when the trees are still on the land. I can kind of get an idea, but that is only because I have cleared hundreds of acres from forest to field. One field I am making now surprised me, I was not even sure I should clear the wood off, but once the wood was gone could see not only will it be a good field, it will be a GREAT field, just the way the lay of the land goes, and all that.

But even after the trees are removed, it looks horrendous! But again, I have seen enough land clearing to know that it cleans up well. I started one project a year ago, and it was 18 acres on the side of a mountain, and a guy quipped, "It will take 5 years to make this mess look good." It was finished in 5 weeks.

I like land clearing, I guess because the change is so drastic, at least here in Maine. Cut forest and put it into field, and it will be field long after I am dead. The field in the distance in the video was cleared in the year 1800 as an example.

 

[Jstpssng]

Yeah I will do my own clearing. I accidentally got into the land clearing business by accident after retirement. It's not bad, just mind numbing as you thrash inside an excavator all day, or making long pushes with the bulldozers. I just try to stay sane by making an imaginary line and seeing if I can make it to that point in an hour, a day, or a week or something. I average about 2 acres per day, but here...probably 2-1/2 to 3 acres per day, just because its got gentle slopes, and the bedrock is slate, not craggy ledge where the roots really get worked into.

I am not sure what I will do with the stumps yet. Our farm is quickly becoming a fairgrounds for an event in the summer so looks are starting to be important. I have no issue with pushing the stumps to the outside borders, but it is a LONG push when you get in the middle of a 30 acre field. I like the idea of burning them (and in Maine you still can), but then do I want smoke drifting around for a year or so?

There is a wet spot in the middle where the watersheds divide from left to right, then rises from front to back, so maybe I will just make a windrow so I can push straight down both hills towards the center, form a ditch with an excavator just before each side of the windrow, and get the water to drain into their respective watersheds.

You cannot see it well in the video, but to the far left we want to put in a pond, so getting water to it on this hill will be a priority (no springs that I know of), then maybe have some RV parking stuffed into the woods near the pond for that summer event.

The biggest issue that I have with fire is that you are also burning your topsoil; and there are years of nutrients tied up in it. I am fortunate that I have a slope to dump mine onto, I will cover it-with some of the soil I reclaim from the stumps- and plant blackberries.

Right now we have the perfect storm for land ownership. Maine has always voted for State Referendum Bonds, leaving a lot to pay for, and ultimately it gets pushed onto the landowners. At the same time paper mills have closed, so what used to be valuable forest is now almost worthless; my woodland value dropped by 1/3 of what it was. I keep doing the math, and it is always the same, a net value of $55 per acre, per year for forestland. Even if I could only raise 1 sheep per acre, I would make more money raising more sheep, but carrying capacity is actually 5-10 sheep, so it really is a no brainer land economics wise.

I will not put every acre I have into farmland, but based on the best soils, and ability to farm it, these are the areas I am targeting. Here, I am hardly alone, and the state is struggling to get a handle on it, but it just just comes down to simple math. Taxes are too high, and despite being the most heavily forested state in the nation, without markets for our wood, we have to convert it into something that works fiscally.

Don't give up on the forest industry yet; granted things aren't the way they used to be but the fiber is a valuable resource and there are a lot of new ideas in the works. IMHO the two biggest problems have been the willingness of our leaders to prop up the mills which weren't making it; and the more recent tendency to give money to everyone who says that they have an idea... when their real plan is to take the money and run.

 

[BrokenTrack]

The biggest issue that I have with fire is that you are also burning your topsoil; and there are years of nutrients tied up in it. I am fortunate that I have a slope to dump mine onto, I will cover it-with some of the soil I reclaim from the stumps- and plant blackberries.

Don't give up on the forest industry yet; granted things aren't the way they used to be but the fiber is a valuable resource and there are a lot of new ideas in the works. IMHO the two biggest problems have been the willingness of our leaders to prop up the mills which weren't making it; and the more recent tendency to give money to everyone who says that they have an idea... when their real plan is to take the money and run.

This will be an interesting area once it is converted to fields. This area of Maine was once 90% fields and only 10% forest back 120 years ago, but today it is reversed. This clearcut however has never been cleared, and when I started was old growth forest. I could tell that from the soil which was red, which is iron that would have long rusted away had it been logged, tilled or grazed with livestock. So it will be interesting to see how it does on the first crops. It was said our ancestors came here from England where depleted soils grew grass knee high at best, where as grass was growing over their heads after being cleared here.

I have always heard the opposite regarding burning stumps and wood however; that it actually enhances it. My Great Grandfather used to have a Potash Factory which is derived from burning wood. Ash is actually a poor man's fertilizer having a NPK of 0/1/3. It is not great for nitrogen obviously, but makes a great starter fertilizer for root development and bloom.