Land Clearing Project

[leonz]

Hello and good morning Mr. Walker

If its not too late to cancel your cat rental; hire/rent a self propelled FECON mulcher
to do the clearing as the clearing head is designed to dig below the ground to remove
the stumps and roots.

The FECON dealer in Livingston, Tx. is Hendricks timber mulchers

The FECON dealer in Lufkin, Tx. is Texas Timberjack

 

[nybirdman]

Went through the same,two tractors,two bush-hogs;hired 100 HP tractors with big bush-hogs;finaly got smart and hired a SS with a FECON head;he did more in four days that I had in ten years.Money well spent.
I now maintain with the tractors.

 

[CoyPatton]

While not inexpensive from a $$$$ perspective the forestry equipment as you describe, is certainly much more efficient. The trade off between these 2 concerns is for each of us to decide for ourselves along with other factors specific to our situation.
I have had experience both ways. If you need to get it done in short time period, no better way than the forestry equipment.

 

[willimi1]

I don't have as much land but have been doing the same thing. I bought a BX2670 with a FEL and bush hog. It has been amazing what I have done in about 4 years working part time, as you said not as good as I once was! About 80% cleared now but remaining trees are larger than my Bota can dig, so thinking it is time to call in the big guns. Thanks for your post, gives me encouragement to move forward.

 

[rademamj1]

Went through the same,two tractors,two bush-hogs;hired 100 HP tractors with big bush-hogs;finaly got smart and hired a SS with a FECON head;he did more in four days that I had in ten years.Money well spent.
I now maintain with the tractors.

Yes Indeed. Once it's reasonably cleared and has pathways through the woods, my tractor and implements can adequately maintain the property. Access to all areas of your property is critical to using a tractor for property upkeep.

 

[Bill Guenthner]

I purchased a 27 acre property here in Texas about four years ago. It is flat terrain and heavily wooded with mainly Mesquite, Elm, Oaks and Cedar trees. Extremely heavy brush composed of Cat Claw and assorted 4" thick vines are everywhere. Using my tractor, chainsaw, stump grinder and chipper, I have selectively cleared 9 acres in 2 years of partime effort.

Last week I hired a land clearing specialist, who uses a 90hp tracked skidsteer with a forestry mulching head, and they basically accomplished the same Selective clearing on 18 acres in just 4 days. That's 4.5 acres cleared per day. Any trees removed were ground down by the mulching head. I was always present with my tractor to pick up any barb wire rolls, which can create problems for the mulching head.

I am completely surprised at the speed and capabilities of these land clearing skidsteers. Anyone else have similar experience with these specialized land equipment.

Yep. Spent years hacking away, burning, renting chippers and stump grinders, then finally found someone in my area that does forestry mulching. Acres of scrub trees and probably 30 or 40 decent-sized stumps gone in two days. He even ground up two large slash piles. Worth every penny I paid. Your property looks great!

 

[Bill Guenthner]

This past weekend we had a guy come in with a skid steer and and a small excavator to clear about 2 acres of cedars and honey locust. He had a thumb on the excavator and pulled all the trees, at least 100. his 14 yr old son ran the skid steer with a grappleand piled them all up. Took about 7 hrs.

Yeah, but you still have a pile of trees and a bunch of holes. A forestry mulcher just turns it all into compost and leaves a nice level finish.

 

[Hay Dude]

Couple pics from today’s 10 hours of seat time

 

[rademamj1]

Couple pics from today’s 10 hours of seat time

Looks like you have been extremely busy doing land clearing. Are you using your own machine, or a rental unit. Curious, do those skidsteers with a forestry mulcher really weigh over 15,000 lbs?

 

[Hay Dude]

Its a rental. Not crazy about it. After about 9.5 hours yesterday, the machine just died. It was close to dark and I think it lost the fuel pump.
Ive rented better machines, thats for sure.

 

[Hay Dude]

More progress yesterday. Up to about 7 acres cleared now. Hopefully 3 more today and then 2 days of cold, miserable rain.

 

[BackRoad]

Been there...

That's a fair amount of clearing you've completed.

It's not easy and it's tiresome.

I'm still cleaning up from several acres cleared last fall.

 

[Wakey]

That looks so much better! Once things green up it will look even better. I’m clearing my front fence line. 750’ more and it will all be complete.

 

[Wakey]

 

[fried1765]

Here in East Texas, my neighbor has had the same thing done on his land several times. It looks amazing for the first year, but the next year, the weeds really take off and by the end of the second year, it's thicker then before he had it cleared. He says that he's going to keep it mowed, but he's too busy doing other things, and it gets out of control again. I think we are on the third clearing in a dozen years, and it's starting to turn to weeds again.

I have mine done every year by a neighbor with a CAT tracked skid steer, with an 8' mulching head.

 

[Hay Dude]

More done.
if you zoom the last picture, you can see a castle on the hilltop across the street. Just below the castle is a railroad. I’m finishing up Saturday.
Will grab some more pics, but there’s so much, you cant capture it all...

 

[JethroB]

Your guest house or servants quarters?

 

[Hay Dude]

Your guest house or servants quarters?

That would not be my house....no sir....that’s a DuPont estate, but only a mile or 2 from my home.
52 hours in the rental machine. I bet that’s more than some guys who own one in a year....lol
Saturday and finished up today. Cleared or thinned about 20 acres.

 

[BackRoad]

Mr. HayDude, the pictures look great...looks like a nice piece of property made even nicer!

52 hours is significant seat time over a short period.

My experience is clearing land takes more intense focus than mowing fields.

Question: What were the biggest trees that you attacked with the mulcher?

 

[Hay Dude]

Mr. HayDude, the pictures look great...looks like a nice piece of property made even nicer!

52 hours is significant seat time over a short period.

My experience is clearing land takes more intense focus than mowing fields.

Question: What were the biggest trees that you attacked with the mulcher?

I took out mostly 2-4” autumn olive, Russian olive & sweet gum. Sometimes I would work around a 6-8” cherry or sweet gum, then once the brush was cleared around it, take it down.

We also dropped a few large hardwood trees and the property owners land manager would saw them up for firewood. Used my 24” Makita (Sachs Dolmar) for that.

I remember 1 or 2 were about 40’ tall and 8-9” at the base. That was the biggest with the machine.