Reclaiming Abandoned Pasture

[Grayson Klassen]

The wife and I bought 30 acres about a year and a half ago. The old couple who owned it before us had pretty much stopped maintaining for quite a few years so a lot of the pasture has overgrown with Aspen ( avery fast growing weed tree like a poplar) and brush. At present I have a JD4020 and thats all.

I want to start reclaiming the pasture in the spring (no not here yet I am way up north) and my thoughts are to leave say 4 ft stumps and use the tractor to drag out the stumps. Except I am not sure it will work. Any thoughts?

 

[DaveOmak]

Contact a local nursery or the county extension agent. See if they want them for free. Nurserys can sell them for landscape. The county extension service replants native species for riparian repairs. Maybe they will even fill the holes. If not, filling holes is easier than pulling and digging stumps.

 

[Grayson Klassen]

The trees are a weed tree, they have about a 30 year cycle and aren't even good firewood, no one wants the trees, I guess my question is will my 4020 pull the stumps over, the trees are mostly horizontally rooted.

 

[Gary Fowler]

If the 4020 you have is the old 90+ HP model from the 60s-70s, I would say that that it should uproot those trees easy enough by just wrapping a chain around them and lifting with the 3 PH. May have to work it back and forward a bit by pushing with the tractor. DO you have a drawbar that will fit in the lift arms? A FEL on that tractor would uproot them with no problem, but if all you have is a tractor, I would buy a drawbar to put on the lift arms and use that to tug them out by lifting and pushing back and forth on them if necessary.

 

[SandburRanch]

The wife and I bought 30 acres about a year and a half ago. The old couple who owned it before us had pretty much stopped maintaining for quite a few years so a lot of the pasture has overgrown with Aspen ( avery fast growing weed tree like a poplar) and brush. At present I have a JD4020 and thats all.

I want to start reclaiming the pasture in the spring (no not here yet I am way up north) and my thoughts are to leave say 4 ft stumps and use the tractor to drag out the stumps. Except I am not sure it will work. Any thoughts?

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About the only way to know is to try it. I didn't know if this 6" diameter walnut could be pulled until I gave it my best shot and one never knows about the next one of similar size because of possible differing soils, soil moisture or root structure. So try a couple and if it seems to work there is a thread on how to pull several without dismounting the tractor.

 

[Egon]

Try your original idea and see if it works. It may be a slow process though.

 

[jbooth]

The wife and I bought 30 acres about a year and a half ago. The old couple who owned it before us had pretty much stopped maintaining for quite a few years so a lot of the pasture has overgrown with Aspen ( avery fast growing weed tree like a poplar) and brush. At present I have a JD4020 and thats all.

I want to start reclaiming the pasture in the spring (no not here yet I am way up north) and my thoughts are to leave say 4 ft stumps and use the tractor to drag out the stumps. Except I am not sure it will work. Any thoughts?

If it is going to remain a pasture, why remove the stumps? Just cut/shear at ground level and leave the stumps. In Kansas, there is considerable pasture reclamation going on and to be in the government program (cost share), there has to be as little disturbance to the native grasses as possible. Most are just using a skid steer mounted shear or saw and cutting at ground level then spray the stumps with a herbicide to prevent resprouting. I use a saw and am able to cut trees at or below ground level.

 

[SandburRanch]

If it is going to remain a pasture, why remove the stumps? Just cut/shear at ground level and leave the stumps. In Kansas, there is considerable pasture reclamation going on and to be in the government program (cost share), there has to be as little disturbance to the native grasses as possible. Most are just using a skid steer mounted shear or saw and cutting at ground level then spray the stumps with a herbicide to prevent resprouting. I use a saw and am able to cut trees at or below ground level.

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So our government officials are thinking again. Don't disturb the grass but spray a herbicide to pollute the streams,rivers and ponds.:laughing:

 

[beppington]

I would try pushing the trees over first, before cutting on them at all, because 1) You may need more leverage than just 4' of stump - You can lift your FEL higher than that & push, and 2) a tree's heavy, leafy top can actually help topple itself. Cut them & you lose both the extra leverage & extra weight.

I've been surprised both ways: had surprisingly small trees my tractor couldn't push, pull or lift out. And surprisingly huge trees that my tractor could get. Never know till you try.

 

[jbooth]

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So our government officials are thinking again. Don't disturb the grass but spray a herbicide to pollute the streams,rivers and ponds.:laughing:

So don't use a herbicide!!

For some of the Kansas native grass seed one can expect to pay up to $80 a lb. Don't seem like there are very many free lunches. Fire will control the brush and trees, but also deprives the wild critters of their preferred brooding areas. I am a tree hugger and wildlife lover. I prefer hugging the walnuts oaks and pecan rather than our osage orange and thorny locust. Thorny locust and osage orange are the variety that are the worst for pasture encroachment in my area.