Tractor for land clearing and preparation

[jeff9366]

Good day everybody,

I'm looking to buy a tractor which will be mainly used for land clearing and preparation in the beginning. Land is full of small 1-2 inch thick trees which need to be cleared.

BUY ENOUGH TRACTOR.​

For the clearing work you have described you need at least a 5,000 pound bare weight tractor. A 6,000 pound bare weight tractor would be better.

A Bucket Spade is a relatively cheap FEL attachment. On a 5,000 to 7,000 pound bare weigh tractor a Bucket Spade will remove 1" to 2" saplings from MOIST ground, by the roots, in just one to three insertions.

A 5,000 to 7,000 pound bare weight tractor equipped with an FEL is the ideal capacity tractor for operating a Bucket Spade.

VENDERS: compact tractor bucket spade

Front-End Loader - BUCKET SPADE TODAY // FEL BUCKET ATTACHMENT

I am a fan of Bucket Solutions' clamp-on Bucket Spade. It is

www.tractorbynet.com

 

[bearthebruce]

It took me like 10 minutes to rough in this driveway on my dozer. How long would the same job take with a small tractor?

Not a driveway but a trail where all we did was clear the path by which we could get through... 1/2 to 3/4 miles downhill through dense woods.. up to 5 guys working with the tractor, brush hog, chain saw, rake, and grader blade.. It took us 10 calendar weeks which would be 40-50 man weeks of effort given our crews of 2-5 working this.

I expect that clearing and preparing 300 acres to farm would take a lot more effort.

I think we were a good example here - we learned as we worked. We got faster as we learned.

Wished we could have rented a dozer or an excavator. And maybe the next trail we'll do exactly that!

 

[paulsharvey]

I really wasn't kidding when is said in the SE US, that's every bit of a $150,000 job, probably more. Now, I'm trying to suggest work around, that will get him started working. I dont know what part of the world he's in, but if I had to throw out a guess, I'd say, central America. If that's the case, there might be a surplus of cheap labor, and probably a shortage of proper contractors.

When you do much searching, it looks like there's plenty of guys using a Rome disc plow through brush stubble; using 150-200 hp tractor or a D5 sized dozer, and going up from there. Generally, even after that, there's way more trash then you want in a tillage type field, and needs a Ton of raking/discing, and no matter what implements you have; guys on the ground picking roots Now, if we are painting grapes/coffee/citrus or something I'm not familiar with, I have no idea; but a 8 ft planter is not going to fair well with tons of root balls, or even a large amount of 2-3" roots. Pine plantation, is different. Roll that crap into windrows, Rome plow the rest, and plant.

Now; in the bright side; your going to need a good sized tractor for your farm regardless for tillage/planting. See what kind of progress you can make over a week on a 5 acre or 20 acre square. Maybe it goes great, and you keep going, and save $150k, awesome. Maybe it takes 30 days to do 5 acres; and you find out. Remember; if you never F' around, you won't ever find out. Just F' around at a level your comfortable of finding out at. Large implements in the US are often cheap used, because home owners/hobby farmers/"lifestyle" types don't want/need a 2500 pound disc, or a 3 tine deep ripping subsoiler.

Whatever you get; it's going to be min CAT-2 sized 3 point; but don't over look drawbar implements. That can be a lot bigger, heavier, and if used, cheaper.

Another thought; a lot of this forestry clearing stuff is just Heavy steel, but not rocket science. A foresty chopper is basically a 5 ft diameter heavy wheel with blades angled 90 degrees from axle, hooked to a draw bar. Wear and bearings are the only thing to cause problems; and there might be some for bear scrap value. Transporting them, however, maybe a problem.

 

[paulsharvey]

Looks like there is a 84" drum chopper, that only weights 5200 lbs, and needs 75 hp.

 

[paulsharvey]

I have not experience with trying it, but would a chisel plow cut/pull 2-3" roots, and bring them to the surface?

 

[paulsharvey]

Or, this just might not be doable without hiring in a bigger operation, breaking your budget. Maybe you cut/slash/chop, and run cattle for 3 years while things break down.

 

[paulsharvey]

So, I guess I should state the image in my head, that I'm basing some of this on... I'm picturing Thick brush, if 2-3" based brush every couple feet max, with hidden larger stuff buried under this; with a top canopy of 15ft-18 ft up, and springy/flexible 'trees', with a 4-6" diameter "stump" and spreading roots, maybe 18" deep, but creating a root 'mat' more or less over the entire area. If this is mesquite, and more widely spread, but with 5 ft deep tap roots, that widen out but don't create a monolithic root mat, or bamboo wall, or briars, this changes things.

If it's like the mesquite kinda situation, you May be able to cut/slash, burn the stump, and plow around it, letting nature break it down.

We are all 'picturing' something, based on a short, vague description, that we are offering advice that could cost you $1/4 million.

I would highly suggest the OP post some pictures, both ground level, and Google earth; but also look at how others in the area deal with this. Heck, maybe your in eastern Europe, and it's total different; maybe once things get wet, yiu can pull these with a 30hp tractor; maybe he's in rocky desert in SE Turkey on the side of a mountain; maybe he's in Alberta, maybe he really is in the US, and doesn't want us bugging him for hunting rights on his awesome new 300 acres, with record white tails....

 

[4570Man]

I really wasn't kidding when is said in the SE US, that's every bit of a $150,000 job, probably more. Now, I'm trying to suggest work around, that will get him started working. I dont know what part of the world he's in, but if I had to throw out a guess, I'd say, central America. If that's the case, there might be a surplus of cheap labor, and probably a shortage of proper contractors.

When you do much searching, it looks like there's plenty of guys using a Rome disc plow through brush stubble; using 150-200 hp tractor or a D5 sized dozer, and going up from there. Generally, even after that, there's way more trash then you want in a tillage type field, and needs a Ton of raking/discing, and no matter what implements you have; guys on the ground picking roots Now, if we are painting grapes/coffee/citrus or something I'm not familiar with, I have no idea; but a 8 ft planter is not going to fair well with tons of root balls, or even a large amount of 2-3" roots. Pine plantation, is different. Roll that crap into windrows, Rome plow the rest, and plant.

Now; in the bright side; your going to need a good sized tractor for your farm regardless for tillage/planting. See what kind of progress you can make over a week on a 5 acre or 20 acre square. Maybe it goes great, and you keep going, and save $150k, awesome. Maybe it takes 30 days to do 5 acres; and you find out. Remember; if you never F' around, you won't ever find out. Just F' around at a level your comfortable of finding out at. Large implements in the US are often cheap used, because home owners/hobby farmers/"lifestyle" types don't want/need a 2500 pound disc, or a 3 tine deep ripping subsoiler.

Whatever you get; it's going to be min CAT-2 sized 3 point; but don't over look drawbar implements. That can be a lot bigger, heavier, and if used, cheaper.

Another thought; a lot of this forestry clearing stuff is just Heavy steel, but not rocket science. A foresty chopper is basically a 5 ft diameter heavy wheel with blades angled 90 degrees from axle, hooked to a draw bar. Wear and bearings are the only thing to cause problems; and there might be some for bear scrap value. Transporting them, however, maybe a problem.

That’s only $500 per acre. Which might be enough to have it mulched but not even close to enough to have it pasture ready. The fact that fuel consumption is the OPs primary concern tells me that he’s not even close to being ready for this job.

 

[Rockbadchild]

what type of trees ? that’s would make a difference on my suggestion. A picture would be nice as well, without seeing it it’s hard to say for sure, ether a dozer with a rootrake or a mulcher … depending on the trees the roots of 1 or two inch trees mulched to the ground shouldn’t cause much of an issues while plowing. With that much land go with a 80 to 100hp tractor minimum don’t waste your time with a 50hp… clearing 300 acres with a 50hp sound crazy to me you would need a life time and you will go through a few of them to accomplish that’s … yes a bigger tractor used more fuel but it also accomplis more.

… if you don’t want a dozer still go with the biggest tractor you can afford with a rootrake grappler and a brush hog … regardless what you chooses you don’t have to do it all in one shot, I would do it in sections, clear a few acres at the time, then bottom plow that section, disk and move on, if you don’t plants crops right away seed oats very densely to keep the weeds out.

 

[Rockbadchild]

First off consider your costs by the acre for completion.

For 300 acres the tractors you are looking at may be too small for the initial work and for the ensuing farm cultivation.

I’d suggest about a D8 with tooth rake pulling a very heavy breaking disk for the original work.

wow that disk is something else to pull