PTO Mulcher Considerations and Reviews

[Maplechuck]

Hello all,

This is my first post on TBN and I'd just like to say what a terrific and helpful community this is. Thank you all! I have already learned so much just from reading about others' experiences, tips and tricks.

Now, about me, my project and question: This past winter I purchased a 224 acre wood loot in Central Vermont. The previous owner did a fairly heavy cut about 4 years ago (taking out any timber of value) and I'd like to keep as much of the clear cuts open as I can (maybe 15-20 acres), eventually planting a small apple orchard. The wooded portion of the land is about 30% spruce-fir softwoods and 70% sugar maple-dominated hardwoods.

I'm in the middle of the ordering process for a Kubota 7060 12spd transmission (I think I found the right tractor for my application... but I'm interesting in hearing other opinions here as well) and I'm looking at the best implements for clearing the land (and by that I mean removing logging slash and grind stumps down to a mowable level). I really like the idea of forestry mulching and I'm trying to figure out if A) is a PTO-driven mulcher is worth it on a 70hp utility tractor, and B) what models and brands would fit my application?

I'm looking at the Seppi Miniforst 150 with "swinging duo hammers" which seems pretty ideal and my local dealer carries it, but the $22K price tag is a lot to swallow as a landowner. Are there any cheaper alternatives to a forestry mulcher that get a similar result? I'm planning on using the mulcher in conjunction with a heavy-duty root grapple on the loader.

 

[Captain Dirty]

Maintenance on a 224 acre woodlot will never be "once and done", but mulching 15-20 acres could be a job to hire out and be done. Get a price from a local land-clearing contractor. If the local tractor dealer carries forestry mulchers there should be some around so you can find out more about them like suitability to the local soils (rocks), operating costs, maintenance requirements, etc. As forestry munchers could be considered flail mowers on steroids, after the initial clearing a flail mower may be adequate and less expensive.

 

[Maplechuck]

Maintenance on a 224 acre woodlot will never be "once and done", but mulching 15-20 acres could be a job to hire out and be done. Get a price from a local land-clearing contractor. If the local tractor dealer carries forestry mulchers there should be some around so you can find out more about them like suitability to the local soils (rocks), operating costs, maintenance requirements, etc. As forestry munchers could be considered flail mowers on steroids, after the initial clearing a flail mower may be adequate and less expensive.

Thanks for your reply. As far as hiring it out.... that was naturally the first thing I looked into but the cost to do anything more than 1-2 acres quickly get astronomical. I got quotes from two contractors. One runs a large Fecon head on a skid steer, charges a variable cost of what should come out to ~$1,800/day and the other operates a larger dedicated-mulcher machine but charges a flat $3,000/day. Both can do 0.5-1.5 acres/day depending on conditions. If it was 2-3 day job that would certainly be the way to go. But my property will be ongoing and if I hired everything out I'd be looking at $100K+ bill over the next couple of years. Additionally, much of the fun and reward is doing it yourself and then sitting back and looking at the end result.

I also looked at renting a skid-steer mulcher for a week or two (the rental place in my part of Vermont charges $3,800/wk for 40 machine hours for a high-flow machine with a muching head). However, I don't want to deal with a rental skid steer and the inevitable hydraulic problems on a machine that's not my own and I like the flexibility of owning the mulcher myself--I just don't like that $23K price tag for the entry-level PTO unit (if I can avoid it).

What are the advantages of skid-steer mulchers over a PTO-driven one on a utility tractor in that ~75hp range?

As far as rocks go it is certainly not rock-free like you find in Iowa or the Champlain Valley, but as far as New England soils go it's fairly workable and forgiving. When I drive through the NH Lakes Region for example--OUCH! I can't imagine how difficult it is to work with those soils.

 

[Jack Yuan]

Thanks for your reply. As far as hiring it out.... that was naturally the first thing I looked into but the cost to do anything more than 1-2 acres quickly get astronomical. I got quotes from two contractors. One runs a large Fecon head on a skid steer, charges a variable cost of what should come out to ~$1,800/day and the other operates a larger dedicated-mulcher machine but charges a flat $3,000/day. Both can do 0.5-1.5 acres/day depending on conditions. If it was 2-3 day job that would certainly be the way to go. But my property will be ongoing and if I hired everything out I'd be looking at $100K+ bill over the next couple of years. Additionally, much of the fun and reward is doing it yourself and then sitting back and looking at the end result.

I also looked at renting a skid-steer mulcher for a week or two (the rental place in my part of Vermont charges $3,800/wk for 40 machine hours for a high-flow machine with a muching head). However, I don't want to deal with a rental skid steer and the inevitable hydraulic problems on a machine that's not my own and I like the flexibility of owning the mulcher myself--I just don't like that $23K price tag for the entry-level PTO unit (if I can avoid it).

What are the advantages of skid-steer mulchers over a PTO-driven one on a utility tractor in that ~75hp range?

As far as rocks go it is certainly not rock-free like you find in Iowa or the Champlain Valley, but as far as New England soils go it's fairly workable and forgiving. When I drive through the NH Lakes Region for example--OUCH! I can't imagine how difficult it is to work with those soils.

Hi,

I m curious how much the price will change your mind from "rent" into "buy" ?

These forest mulcher is much more bigger than we thought, I can feel how big they are when I stand next to them. It's expensive to rent them, $1800 or $3000 per day, and the contractor cann't promise you how much job will be done every day, sounds tricky. But it's even more expensive to buy one, $22K is big money.

 

[oosik]

Welcome to TBN and the forum. I wonder - are you planning on moving onto your acreage, building a home and living there. If so... then I would consider a long term approach to property maintenance.

Didn't the logger make slash pile around the property. OR - did he just leave it all lying about. I had my land ( 80 A ) selectively logged fifteen years ago. I have a few slash pile around the property. Rather than burn or chip - they remain as habitat for the forrest creatures.

Stumps - I guess I could have had them ground down. But now - some 15 years later - almost 100% are gone due to rotting away. Any that would have been in my immediate yard could have been removed immediately. Selective logging - no trees removed from my immediate yard.

Pictures of what you are faced with would certainly help.

 

[Maplechuck]

Hi,

I m curious how much the price will change your mind from "rent" into "buy" ?

These forest mulcher is much more bigger than we thought, I can feel how big they are when I stand next to them. It's expensive to rent them, $1800 or $3000 per day, and the contractor cann't promise you how much job will be done every day, sounds tricky. But it's even more expensive to buy one, $22K is big money.

I'm only looking at buying a PTO mulcher. It would be a "lighter duty" mulcher and I'd have to be very careful with it, take things slowly. From a sheer power standpoint I reckon with 64hp coming out my PTO I wouldn't be terribly underpowered compared to a hydraulically-driven skid-steer unit. I'm thinking if I'm very careful it could work.

 

[dieselscout80]

Can your tractor go at a slow enough speed while operating at the RPMs required to have 540 RPM at the PTO to avoid constant clutching to feed the material in slowly?

 

[Maplechuck]

Welcome to TBN and the forum. I wonder - are you planning on moving onto your acreage, building a home and living there. If so... then I would consider a long term approach to property maintenance.

Didn't the logger make slash pile around the property. OR - did he just leave it all lying about. I had my land ( 80 A ) selectively logged fifteen years ago. I have a few slash pile around the property. Rather than burn or chip - they remain as habitat for the forrest creatures.

Stumps - I guess I could have had them ground down. But now - some 15 years later - almost 100% are gone due to rotting away. Any that would have been in my immediate yard could have been removed immediately. Selective logging - no trees removed from my immediate yard.

Pictures of what you are faced with would certainly help.

Thanks for the reply. I meant to add some pics (they were on my phone). The pics below show the maine clear cut (about 12 acres) that was a red pine plantation. It was cut around 2017; the stumps aren’t starting to rot yet, but they seam a big looser, drier and more forgiving than if they were 1 year old or less. There are a couple other clear cuts (native red spruce/balsam fir, rather than plantation pine) that Im also thinking of slowly improving and keeping open (say another 15-20 acres in total over the next 5-7 years). The hardwoods (sugar maple dominated, ~120 acres) weren’t logged as heavily and I want to manage that part of the wood lot for sugaring.

There’s still about 2’ of snow in the field (finally starting to melt, as it’s south-facing) but I did get a few pics in December before I bought the property.

My understanding is the logger took a huge feller-bunch and then sent the trees through a delimber, and chipped the slash which he either left at the log landing or sold to the local biomass plant. So there’s little mess in the way of slash—nothing that can’t be taken care of over a long weekend with my root grapple. What’s left (besides the stumps) is mostly deadwood. Here in Vermont brambles and hardwood saplings sprout like spring wheat, so the recent undergrowth itself is much of the clean up job (and likely necessitates mulching). The stumps will be the main headache.

 

[Maplechuck]

Can your tractor go at a slow enough speed while operating at the RPMs required to have 540 RPM at the PTO to avoid constant clutching to feed the material in slowly?

So I’ve ordered the tractor (Kubota 7060 6x6 trans), and I have til the end of this week to decide if I want to add the ”Creeper” range.

It’s only a $1,000 and I reckon it would only ever be useful for mulching. I'm still trying to figure out if my PTO mulcher idea will actually work out, of its a pipe dream.

Would you suggest jumping on the Creeper range, or would the first gear? I'm buying a $50K tractor, so what's an extra $1k? Then again, that's how I went from from $34K to now looking at close to $50k LOL.

I WISH they made a hydrostatic in this size range. I seriously looked at the MX6000 HST and loved it; bare bones, no frills, very affordable. But ultimately I feared it wouldn't throw enough power out of the PTO and I'd push the loader and hydraulics over their limit. The pump on the 7060 is more than twice the size (in gpm) as the MX's and lift capacity is 60% better.

 

[oosik]

OK - those pictures help a whole lot. If you plan on keeping the areas open & clear that are shown in the picture then use these implements. A good heavy duty PTO driven rotary cutter and a PTO stump grinder. Both will work easily behind your new Kubota. Plan on clearing areas that are now forested - add a chain saw and PTO driven chipper. Sure - it's not as fast as a hydromulcher but not anywhere near as expensive either.

BTW - very nice looking acreage.