Getting Rid of Prickly Pear in Central Texas

[Mousehog]

Resurrecting this thread! We have a hilly rocky farm in places. We have many prickly pear trees on our 60 acres.
We have tried chopping with an axe, digging smaller ones out with a sturdy pitchfork, burning, piling and leaving to rot, clearing branches with a machete, allowing our Dexter cattle to partially clear the ground and mulching with our Woodland Mills mulcher. We, too do not like using chemicals where our cattle graze.
I has taken 5 years of trial and error. Suffice to say I don't need a gym membership. Will post typical pictures next.
We now:
a) pull out small pears with our Kawasaki Mule, or pitchfork and chop the root off. We pile the roots to rot or pile them to burn;
b) Strip the branches and pads off of larger trees using a breaking saw, pick up the branches and pads, gather them by truck or Mule, then mulch the pile;
c) pull out the leftover trunk of the tree and pull it up by the roots. We chop the roots off to burn and split the trunks to mulch them;
d) We run our Dexters over the paddock first to clear the ground, pick up fallen timber so as to gain access to remove the pear.
This is an iterative process. We have cleared 30 acres in 5 years with little to no regrowth.

 

[Mousehog]

Typical Prickly Pear tree


The saw in my hand is the breaking saw. This tree is not as large as some trees.

 

[Mousehog]

Same tree after cutting

We then gather the branches and leaves, bring to a central location. More later.

 

[Mousehog]

Prickly Pear to be mulched

 

[Mousehog]

Prickly Pear now mulched.



Mulched PP has not returned in three years.
Sad news is that our mulcher is awaiting repair. Bearings look stuffed.

 

[Mousehog]

One of our very large trees after sawing.

 

[Mousehog]

We have now chopped, burned and mulched all prickly pear chopped in our first section. Only the stumps need pulling. Our mulcher should be fixed soon.
We are now picking up fallen timber on the middle section. Tomorrow we plan to pull weeds, gather more timber and prepare to burn. Only 8 more weeks of good weather to work during the day here.

 

[tacboss]

We have now chopped, burned and mulched all prickly pear chopped in our first section. Only the stumps need pulling. Our mulcher should be fixed soon.
We are now picking up fallen timber on the middle section. Tomorrow we plan to pull weeds, gather more timber and prepare to burn. Only 8 more weeks of good weather to work during the day here.

I have been using the "monster cactus forks" on my skidsteer for quite some time.
They work great for getting the entire plant with the roots, and, not taking the dirt the way a skeleton rock bucket and pushing does.
Thery can be found at monsterskidsteerattachments .com

 

[Mousehog]

I have been using the "monster cactus forks" on my skidsteer for quite some time.
They work great for getting the entire plant with the roots, and, not taking the dirt the way a skeleton rock bucket and pushing does.
Thery can be found at monsterskidsteerattachments .com

Are your prickly pears low lying cactii or trees? We have big prickly pear trees on our property, up to 20' high.
I will check out the link. Thank you!

 

[lman]

We have now chopped, burned and mulched all prickly pear chopped in our first section. Only the stumps need pulling. Our mulcher should be fixed soon.
We are now picking up fallen timber on the middle section. Tomorrow we plan to pull weeds, gather more timber and prepare to burn. Only 8 more weeks of good weather to work during the day here.

What happens in 8 weeks? I didn't see your location in your profile. Will you be getting snow?