Going from timber to grass.....

[chrishet]

Wow, Thanks for all the feedback. I knew I was in the right place! I'll need to do some research.

My property is being cleared for subdividing it into smaller parcels. It is kind of a unique project, an astonomy village. Each lot will have a small cabin and an observatory. We need the trees gone as they will grow and obstruct our field of view.

Here is a panoramic of the site from a deer stand

http://www.hetlage.com/images/long_shot_lower_50.jpg

My key reason for figuring this out ahead of time is so I get the right tractor. My local dealer recommended a 38hp tractor for general field maint but I'm thinking I'll need a bit more HP.

Thanks again for all the advice.

-Chris

 

[PSDStu]

Highbeam says it best... a dozer with a root rake, and a tracked hoe sure made quick work of clearing 3 acres of dense woods of mine a few weeks ago.

Your going to have roots left no matter which way you go, how you handle those roots after clearing can vary.

Still trying to decide what I'm going to do with my roots left over.

My drag a large disc over them and see what happens. Thankfully in the Panhandle part of FL it's sandy soil.

 

[chrishet]

Hi 1bush2hog, we are in Taliaferro Ga. It's a huge job but we bought this land at a good price so we can afford to improve it ourselves.

 

[chrishet]

Partsman2, that is one of the meanest implments I have ever seen!

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Egon,

I agree completely!

I actually have one that I just bought for the front of my JD 4710 which is a 48 HP tractor. Here is a link to my post with pics last week. Grapple pics

I used it about 10-12 hours last weekend and I am impressed with what I can do with it. I can raise the grapple full open and roll it down and push a 4 - 6" tree down. Then I go back and dig the roots out with the rake, snatch them up with the grapple and pile it up.

chrishet - It could be an option but I don't know your time frame. This would take a long time to do 100 acres. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Get a BIG cooler. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif )</font>

 

[have_blue]

If the trees are as small as they look in that picture, rent a big tractor and a big HD bush hog and chop them up. Bush hogging regularly will finish them off and promote grass growth. Eventually, all you will need is a finishing mower. If you're in a big hurry, you can disk it up with a big tractor and heavy disk.

 

[Partsman2]

After seeing the picture I'd definitely use a dozer with a root rake. Then pile the trees and burn them.

Also, just a random thought, do you have any mulch companies around? I would say they would be about the only possible avenue for selling the trees. I don't know any thing about the mulch business though and if they would have any interest.

 

[40Kchicks]

I think you have a couple options. If you don’t mind the stumps you could get a skid steer with high flow hydraulics and a hydraulic slasher/mower. The skid steer mowers are much heavier duty than the tractor models but cost more and aren’t usually as wide because they are for heavy brush. The skid steer would come in really handy for the construction part of the project also. You don’t need maintenance equipment yet, you need construction equipment. Later you might need a dozer to grade in roads and building sites.

Another option would be to look into an excavator with grapple and dozer for the construction part of your project. The excavator/dozer combination will get the job done.

I got my first taste of what an excavator can do this last year when I built a new barn and road onto my property. I ran out of budget for excavation so I rented a JD 320 excavator and did it myself. I was a little nervous at first but after a couple of hours the machine became my hands. I moved tons of dirt very quickly and efficiently.

For your project you will need at least two or three people. One running the excavator plucking trees out and a dozer operator moving trees into burn piles, grading the landscape, and one person one person for holding the laser stick and help in general. This is going to be a big project. You will be time and money ahead to go with larger equipment at first then sell it when your project is done.

Eric

 

[chrishet]

Thanks guys, we have a good budget for this project and will most likey contract out most the clearing work.

I'm starting to think the dozer/root rake is going to be our cheapest route (thanks all for the great posts!). If we do go this route we will need to finish off the soil. I am thinking we will need a real good tractor for this work. This is what I am currently thinking, (I love this site!); 1)Kubota 5030, 2)Kubota FEL with HD Tooth bucket, Kubota Backhoe, Rhino GR60 Rotary Mower, a Landscape Rake, and/or a Box Scraper. I was thinking we may also need a tiller or pulverizer, thoughts?

We are waiting on a quote from a contractor that has a very cool process but will cost us about $2k/acre. What he does is, first sheds/mulches the trees using a forestry type mower. This grinds and mulches all the trees down to ground level leaving a fine pine mulch behind. Then he goes over it with a soil prep device (looks kinda like a tiller) that goes 12-16 inches below the soil and grinds up all the roots and stumps. What is left is a very fine soil with all the nutrients in tact. The way he explains it we can drive right behind him with the tractor and plant seed. Saves time, lots of $. We could probably reduce the tractor costs for us, perhaps a 3830 instead of the 5030 and since he will clean up a lot of our other over grown stuff we may not need the Rhino GR, and get a Bush Hog or something less.


Here is his site, very nice folks. http://www.landclearingservices.net/index.htm

We could also rent the gear from him and we may look into that...

 

[chrishet]

I have contacted a mulch company and am waiting for a reply. That might help offest some of the cost....good idea.

 

[tjkadar]

That is the same option we are looking at for clearing out about 30 acres. Let me know how it goes for you.

 

[chrishet]

Sure will...have you already contacted Alex about doing your site? We had him come out last week but we still don't have an estimate. He was a very nice guy with plenty of suggestions. The process sounds like a winner but the cost may prevent us.

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( That is the same option we are looking at for clearing out about 30 acres. Let me know how it goes for you. )</font>

 

[Turkeyman]

I took 5 acres of pines ranging from 2 to 20+ ft tall ( 1-5' trunks)down with a 35 hp hydro, FEL, 4wd tractor and a 5' med duty ( 2") Woods rotary cutter. I bought a Stihl 850 brush cutter for trees bigger then 5'. Only did this to save my back. The FEL would knock it over and then the rotary cutter would chew it up. Nothing left but the stumps at ground level. Took me 2 days by myself. Our estimate was $1500/ acre using the rotary cutter or $2500/ acre to root rake it with a D4 and then burn it. He would have lit the fire so it would have been his insurance.

Go buy a 75hp, power shuttle, 4wd, FEL w/ grapple, safety screens/shield, HD tires, 8-10hd ( 4") capacity rotary cutter for about $50,000 and do it yourself. These are new prices.
It was very theaputic too, instant results.
I did ours last summer, get some great bug spray as the chiggers were rough. Even better spend another $10,000 and ride in A/C and no chiggers.

Good luck

 

[Highbeam]

Perfect. Real world experience. This is why I suggest even renting a piece of equipment like this for a day or a week and give it a go. You'll know real quick if you are going to have success.

So you were able to push over a 5" trunk and then the mower chewed it up into mulch? You just went over the top of it?

 

[Turkeyman]

Yes it did, open the 4 in 1 bucket keeping the blade level with the ground and tilited the clam shell part to let it hit the tree first. This helped the blade shatter the wood, then the rotary cutter chewed right thru it. Pine, gum, dog wood, and oak were easy but I hit cedar about 5 'in diameter and it tore the saftey chains off the cutter. Most time I was doing 2-3 MPH, other times 7, same with cutter some time I cut w/ all 5 ft, others only 2-3 ft. One thing that I did learn was to run it at 1500 RPM's and not 2500 (pto speed). Good luck and get a rear safty screen to fit the ROPS.

 

[tjkadar]

Haven't talked to him yet. Still trying to determine how to come up with the cash to have it done. Since we are a bit closer to Charleston then y'all are, I'm thinkin' about renting a machine to chew up the woods.

I had one estimate, using a trackhoe, for about $2,000 an acre. But I really like the idea of the Langolier machine. Seems to be a bit easier on the environment.

 

[chrishet]

Well I looked into renting a D5 Cat with a Root Rake. Looks like that will cost me about $3200/month, cheap!. We are now really considering doing this ourselves. The cost savings may be too much to resist. We can use the money saved to get a nicer tractor and maybe build that pond everyone wants! Any ideas how many ares per day one could clear 6 foot pines with a D5? and if we do use the dozer any recomendations on how to level/prep the soil for grass seed? I was thinking a tiller/box blade but I've seen these Harvey Rakes and that looks like a pretty good solution.....

-Chris

 

[Egon]

If you are renting a Dozer schedule the work for at least 20 hours a day. They do have lights.

Get a heavy disk to pull behind the dozer for the initial soil prep.

Egon

 

[Highbeam]

Be warned that most rental equipment is rented by the 8 hour day. So your work month will not be full of 12 hour days unless you plan to pay extra.

A D5 is a good sized machine. Fuel consumption will be moderate so have a plan for moving lots of fuel. I would recommend no less than a 110 gallon in the truck type transfer tank.

So you can use the dozer to push the material into low heaps or windrows, don't forget that you must stack it before burning if you want a clean fast burn.

Before you return that dozer, I agree that you should use it to pull the heaviest disc you can find. The heavy disc will chop up all the roots and stumps that the rake leaves behind. Realize that the root rake will have 10-12" gaps between the teeth so you will have lots of debris to deal with that the dozer can't get with the rake.

That is a good price for the dozer.

 

[PSDStu]

I gotta tell ya, a good operator with a root rake can clean a mess up pretty quick.

This Kubota D37 did a good job on what was a real mess.

This is a pic of some of the roots left after a days work.

Stu

 

[PSDStu]

Heres another pic of before doing a good clean up with the root rake.