SnagDump
Member
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2019
- Messages
- 40
- Location
- Meadows Valley, ID
- Tractor
- Ventrac 4500Z, Bobcat S185 Skid Steer
Howdy All,
Just signed up officially after lurking around for years. I'm retired forest ranger / civil engineer and my wife and I have 40 acres of timberland with grass understory (and weeds but that's another topic) in the Meadows Valley of Idaho.
We've been working to clean up debris from past logging and clear out dead brush (dang hawthorns) for several years using our skid steer, some rented walk-behind mowers, a chainsaw and a Stihl brush cutter. Our skid steer works fine for moving piles of cut material using a grapple rake but it's seriously limited to the easiest terrain. So, I've been looking for something to help us control the brush that's re-sprouting in areas we've cleared. I considered a tow-behind mower for the ATV but we've been encouraging hundreds of young aspens and there would be a lot of backing up with a towed mower which is not their forte. A mower on the skid steer would work but only on a small fraction of the property and the damage from turning around would invite more weeds and invasive grasses.
It seemed like a Ventrac with a rough cut mower would be the ticket but used Ventracs are plumb hard to come by. By pure luck I recently stumbled onto a 4500Z in the Midwest and bought it just a few weeks back. Now we're waiting on a trucking company to deliver it. I've found a lot of useful information on this site and hope someday I can contribute something once I figure out what the heck I'm doing.
Just signed up officially after lurking around for years. I'm retired forest ranger / civil engineer and my wife and I have 40 acres of timberland with grass understory (and weeds but that's another topic) in the Meadows Valley of Idaho.
We've been working to clean up debris from past logging and clear out dead brush (dang hawthorns) for several years using our skid steer, some rented walk-behind mowers, a chainsaw and a Stihl brush cutter. Our skid steer works fine for moving piles of cut material using a grapple rake but it's seriously limited to the easiest terrain. So, I've been looking for something to help us control the brush that's re-sprouting in areas we've cleared. I considered a tow-behind mower for the ATV but we've been encouraging hundreds of young aspens and there would be a lot of backing up with a towed mower which is not their forte. A mower on the skid steer would work but only on a small fraction of the property and the damage from turning around would invite more weeds and invasive grasses.
It seemed like a Ventrac with a rough cut mower would be the ticket but used Ventracs are plumb hard to come by. By pure luck I recently stumbled onto a 4500Z in the Midwest and bought it just a few weeks back. Now we're waiting on a trucking company to deliver it. I've found a lot of useful information on this site and hope someday I can contribute something once I figure out what the heck I'm doing.
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