Clearing 20+ac. grub or mulch?

[ironjunkie]

I would have few concerns with your project...goats are better than cows on marginal land and soils, Boar goats for the Hispanic meat trade.
Howard

You mean like taco bell? That's as close to that as you'll get here in Maine:laugh

 

[ironjunkie]

I've looked at the same rental machine that you are considering. My wife is from Washington County in Maine and we are purchasing some property up there to flip. I've looked all over for rental equipment to do the work with. Slim picken's......

Small world.
Good conversation's I appreciate all the response's. I don't have any illusions about lush growing pasture's, just a decent field for maybe a cow or 2 and pretty field to look at, balancing costs & time. What little is above 5" will be firewood so nothing big. It's just the rocks that have me leaning towards an excavator over a tracked machine. Many of the rocks would require 20" or more of ground clearance to pass over and I don't think that I could fine a larger wheeled mulcher for rent. I do have a guy's card that does mulching, but he's in VT and the last thing I want to do is waste another contractor's time, but a phone call is cheap and a good place to start. I may be wrong, but I'm guessing that week rental cost might just be what he needs to show up.:beatsme

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . .

Hi Scrub, just sent you a PM

Gotcha Tones just saw your #20 post. I have never been able to make the PM thing work.

I appreciate your response though, no problems, it was just me being a smart azz.

Cheers.

 

[treemuncher]

Yair . . .

Okay fellers it looks good but what does it cost, (along with follow up chemical treatments of regrowth) that is the question.

When I ask about the economics of munchers on this and other forums , no one wants to mention numbers.

There are obvious advantages to this technology (and I can see the time coming when mulching will be mandatory in some situations) but for running cattle in the country shown in treemuncher's #14 post it's hard to see it paying.

Cheers.

I finished up what I could on the posted job as of last night. My tracked FTX140 went down so the steepest stuff, mostly in excess of 30 degrees, was not finished. Anything over 10 degrees starts to reduce efficiency on these jobs with the rubber tire machine. The tract is 13 acres with 10+ acres of actual mulching being required. Steep terrain actually increases the amount of actual square footage processed as compared to surveyed acreage. Keep this in mind when comparing methods of clearing.

This job will be billed out between $9k-$10k. Net cost is a little over $900 per acre. IF this was all flat ground with the same conditions, the job would have likely billed out closer to $600 per acre and maybe less depending on numerous factors. The company that logged this ground skids whole trees to the landings and chips unmarketable timber for paper or energy. This greatly reduced the amount of leftover slash on the ground and helps speed up my work.

It should be noted that most of the native stands of grass that were established within my cut areas are still viable and intact. As I float the cutterhead as low to grade as I can on the reverse re-grind, the cutter bits only touch into 0"-0.5" depth of the soils. The root structure of the grass and some of the green tops remain. 1st rains that we see will energize re-growth of these existing stands of grass, quickly building more erosion control to stabilize the ground. Put a value on that versus having stripped, naked ground with little, if any, remaining topsoil on this gravel based land. Dozer work always leads to a fight of erosion versus established growth. I've watched plenty of farmers fight this battle and lose tons of topsoil to flowing waters.

After we get rain, I will try to get over there and take some more pictures with the drone as the growth progresses. IF there are any erosion issues that crop up, I will document that too but I don't expect any.

As far as the cost of spraying, I don't know what it is. The cattle will keep most everything in check on this property. Goats could also be used to finish out what the cattle don't like. Personally, I prefer to bush hog at least 3 times a year for the first 2 years to kill off stump sprouts. That won't kill all of them off but it will keep all but the most persistent species from growing back.






This hillside to the left is about 40 degrees. The tracked machine handles this well but it is no place for an articulated rubber tire machine.

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . .

Thanks for post and pictures treemuncher. That sure looks a nice job, and as you mention it would be interesting to see some follow up pictures after rain.

Cheers.