The other day I posted on this forum about buying a 2000 Caterpillar 315BL excavator (with mechanical thumb) that was being sold locally here in Northern Michigan. The owner's price was $35,000 and had 9,400 hours on it. Many responded to my post indicating the unit was considered too small for clearing 50 acres of land and the mechanical thumb would not be ideal for such an operation. In addition, a unit with 9,400 hours could potentially be a money pit due to the high operation hours.
Thought I post some specific info about the land I would like to clear and hopefully the guru's would be able to provide some recommendations/opinions as to what type, size of heavy equipment would be the ideal tool for my land clearing endeavor. My objective is to turn approximately 50 acres of woodland into a silvopasture for a small herd of Scottish Highlands (15 head). A silvopasture is a forested area where enough trees are thinned out (stumps removed) so an adequate amount of sunlight can reach the forest floor and support plant growth the cows could use as forage. Plants could include any natural shrubs, weeds, small poplar/aspen trees, maple shoots, or perhaps planted grass.
The total acreage of the property is 75 acres and most of the soil is a silt loam (can be bouldery too). Within this acreage, there's about 50 acres of forested and select logged land that I'd like to utilize for grazing my 15 head of Scottish Highland cattle. In the future, the herd size will grow as well.
The first picture is an aerial view that shows the 75 acres and several outlined sections I would like to use heavy equipment to clear and make into silvopasture.
The 30 Acre section was select logged about around 2017. Most of the mature Red Oak were left and anything else that wasn't worth harvesting is still standing. Ideally, I'd like to remove all the scrap trees (small pine/spruce/balsam fir) and anything else not deemed a long term potential quality saw log. I probably wouldn't use the pine/balsam wood for anything but if it was hardwood, I could cut it up for firewood. Left over stumps could be removed too.
I'd need to clear the perimeter of all stumps/slash and install a high tensile electric fence. I'll attach some pictures what this 30 acres looked like last fall. Once my cattle are in this area, they would forage most of the small poplar/aspen trees as well as maple shoots growing from the left over maple stumps. In effect, my cattle would help me in clearing this land.
The next section of land consists of 8 acres that consists mostly of dead/dying White Spruce and Balsam Fir with some maple or red oak hardwoods scattered within. I estimate that over 80% of the spruce/balsam fir is either dead or dying. Many of the trees have fallen over and lay on the ground. The objective is to remove all the dead trees/stumps and leave anything that has the potential to be a good saw log. After thinning this out, I'd use the area for my cattle grazing.
Another section is 8 acres that is primarily maple/red oak hardwoods. I'd clear all the small non-quality hardwood trees (used for firewood) and only leave the best trees standing. The idea is to open up the canopy to get enough sunlight to reach the forest floor.
Finally, on this property is a 2 acre Red Pine plantation that was thinned out about 7 years ago. All the leftover stumps would need to be removed. In the future, I'd harvest the larger pines and saw them into lumber with my sawmill.
Thought I post some specific info about the land I would like to clear and hopefully the guru's would be able to provide some recommendations/opinions as to what type, size of heavy equipment would be the ideal tool for my land clearing endeavor. My objective is to turn approximately 50 acres of woodland into a silvopasture for a small herd of Scottish Highlands (15 head). A silvopasture is a forested area where enough trees are thinned out (stumps removed) so an adequate amount of sunlight can reach the forest floor and support plant growth the cows could use as forage. Plants could include any natural shrubs, weeds, small poplar/aspen trees, maple shoots, or perhaps planted grass.
The total acreage of the property is 75 acres and most of the soil is a silt loam (can be bouldery too). Within this acreage, there's about 50 acres of forested and select logged land that I'd like to utilize for grazing my 15 head of Scottish Highland cattle. In the future, the herd size will grow as well.
The first picture is an aerial view that shows the 75 acres and several outlined sections I would like to use heavy equipment to clear and make into silvopasture.
The 30 Acre section was select logged about around 2017. Most of the mature Red Oak were left and anything else that wasn't worth harvesting is still standing. Ideally, I'd like to remove all the scrap trees (small pine/spruce/balsam fir) and anything else not deemed a long term potential quality saw log. I probably wouldn't use the pine/balsam wood for anything but if it was hardwood, I could cut it up for firewood. Left over stumps could be removed too.
I'd need to clear the perimeter of all stumps/slash and install a high tensile electric fence. I'll attach some pictures what this 30 acres looked like last fall. Once my cattle are in this area, they would forage most of the small poplar/aspen trees as well as maple shoots growing from the left over maple stumps. In effect, my cattle would help me in clearing this land.
The next section of land consists of 8 acres that consists mostly of dead/dying White Spruce and Balsam Fir with some maple or red oak hardwoods scattered within. I estimate that over 80% of the spruce/balsam fir is either dead or dying. Many of the trees have fallen over and lay on the ground. The objective is to remove all the dead trees/stumps and leave anything that has the potential to be a good saw log. After thinning this out, I'd use the area for my cattle grazing.
Another section is 8 acres that is primarily maple/red oak hardwoods. I'd clear all the small non-quality hardwood trees (used for firewood) and only leave the best trees standing. The idea is to open up the canopy to get enough sunlight to reach the forest floor.
Finally, on this property is a 2 acre Red Pine plantation that was thinned out about 7 years ago. All the leftover stumps would need to be removed. In the future, I'd harvest the larger pines and saw them into lumber with my sawmill.
