Smoothing Clear Cut Land

[bcp]

You could do it the old way:





Bruce

 

[wendlingknives]

We did the same thing as you, more or less. Bought land right after it was logged and had about 40ac to clear for pasture. I spent a whole summer with a grapple cleaning slash. Very slow process and made me wish i had a full skid plate after the 4th or 5th time a log came up and busted a hose or put a hole other things in my undercarriage i had to repair. Finally after i had only finished clearing maybe 10ac with the grapple, i paid a guy with a dozer and track hoe to pile it up which ran about $3-4K and he did it in a couple days. The big stumps were still there as i had told him to leave because i had bought a woodland mills PTO stump grinder. Its not the fastest in the world, but it works for me. The pine stumps are a couple years old and many bust up quick. Hardwood stumps take me maybe 15 mins to get to level or just below grade. Good enough to disk and mow over.

 

[XxLT250RxX]

 

[Outinstickssnafu]

Re blowing stumps ... it was a tool farmers in my locale used to use a lot up until the 70s. I jumped though a couple hoops to get my permit in the 90s.

Rookie mistake on their part but I get a feeling the guy didn't do much of it ... I used to do this sort of thing a lot in the 90s. Lost my permits when Sydney Olympics were about to happen.

Four foot is on the shallow end of charge depth, and for a dead tree as such they'd have got away with a third of what they used easily ... in fact the same third packed down 7 foot would have sent a heavy green tree up with it's roots getting above tree height, and often with the whole tree landing top first into the ground a little bit clear of the hole. I did a lot for a neighbour who after a while got his own permit went the easy way with shallow ... sometimes not even 2 foot down, just used way more like a bucket's worth ... yes one could hear the boom quite some distance and also he was never one to bother with arm sized sticks fouling up the contractor's equipment. I would rather pick sticks off a couple square chain, and not 10 acres. I gathered though he didn't like the tamping exercise with a crowbar to ensure a tight plug.

Other BTW, yup the fresh dead animals scattered around is almost certainly fake, bird in a hollow branch nest possible, but stuck underneath the branch ... riiiight. It's the big old green blue gums and poplars are what the savvy bush going person or farmer is keeping an eye out for. Dead ones are just not so nice being near when it's windy or slashing or other ground work right beside them with a tractor that has an extended axle sticking out.

I had few acres of chain pulled country that left buried stumps, the big stumps were often a burning project, but dry country so not that much of an issue but I did try various things to help keep the stump burning underground.

I won't comment on levelling up around pine stumps as different ground, temps and rotting mechanisms here. Pine doesn't last at all here, if the rot doesn't get it in a year, the termites will. I almost always laugh at the tv hardware shows made down south using A grade termite food, treated pushed it to grade B but ... dry or wet rot are licking their lips.

When we cleared we aimed not to burn, bit longer and runs up to probably just shy of a fifth of a mile in some instances. I know other people around at the time think that's downright weird but after a while, even hardwood there's not much left after a decade or two, and with modern times we have herbicides so there no real need to mechanically control weeds around stacks.

 

[Green Acres Homestead]

A little at a time does it without crazy cost. 100 acres is a large track of land and it justifies buying a backhoe attachment which you will have for years and will be wondering what you did without one. Here in Canada the big one (bh92) I bought new was about $12000. Options are burn or bury the piles of brush. I bury alot of brush by laying the debris out on where a road is going to go and bury it. Rent an excavator for a week at a time or have your own backhoe attachment for the stumps and building roads. I have a 47 hp kubota with a backhoe attachment.

Here is one of the video I have on YouTube. Using a backhoe attachment to level land.

 

[hayden]

When someone says they want to clear land, it really doesn't say enough to recommend how or what equipment is needed. You really need to know what it's being cleared for.

Clearing for a soccer field or lawn means removing all stumps and roots, and grading it out to a fine level.

Creating a mowable hay field is again different. You would need to get rid of stumps, but the ground can be left more uneven.

Clearing for planting would require clear soil down to some depth.

But the OP want to clear for grazing, and that's probably the least demanding. I would definitely leave stumps in place, touch up the worst of the ruts, seed it, and walk away.

Remember, if you pull out stumps, now you have a pile of stumps that you need to get rid of. Same for brush. If you can burn, great, but plan on spending some time doing it.

 

[kenmbz]

I was able to use a stick of dynamite when younger, borrowed from some local lumberjacks.
A whole stick is a great way to reduce anything down to a big pit.


The shrapnel alone and directing the blast are something left to Pros.
We were lucky to only get knocked down, and we were pretty far away when it went off.

Some bits of wood landed far beyond where we were !

 

[airbiscuit]

I'll say it again, a Bog Disc would be my weapon of choice. It is not just a bigger disc. It is a HEAVY disc with large blades on steroids and testosterone. It is designed to chop and penetrate. It would serve you well if you can find one.

 

[charles todd]

Just curious, how long did it take them to clear an acre?

It was about 40 acres of clearcut. They grubbed and piled in about 2 weeks.

CT

 

[charles todd]

Price/cost is dependent on how many stumps per acre and how big the stumps are. Just like any estimate or cost, what they charge you is a function of work required to perform the work.

Factors that affect clearing cost are:
Size of trees
Subsurface conditions (wet or dry)
Density of trees
Can the wood be marketed
Can you burn or do you have to chip/mulch

Stump removal is usually a given unless someone is just making a money grab to sell the wood and flip the property.

I'm aware location and methods effect price.

We had about 35-40 acres clear-cut. Think it was +80 loads of logs. After logging I hired a contractor with 1 excavator and 2 dozers. They grubbed everything and piled. Took about 2 weeks, by the hour, came out to about $400/acre.

CT