I have just purchased some land has about 70 acres that has timber on it. I have had some loggers look at it said the trees were to poor for them to fool with its not very thick. I am just looking to make pasture out of it weighing my options to buying a dozer and clearing it myself or hiring someone. Also thought about getting someone to cut it with a dozer and a cutter blade. what should I expect to pay someone to clear it and pile it or cut it and pile it per acre or by the hour. I have owned a few dozers just been out of it for over ten years not sure I want to do it myself
Get some quotes from several contractors in your area for the work. Consider renting equipment if this is a one time project.
You have to ask someone in your area, they know what type of tree's your dealing with, what the hourly rate there is for each machine and what it would cost you, to compare it to my area or several others might shell shock you in the costs, we have far different tree's, laws to abide by in removing them and people who'll even do the job in the first place. Start contacting contractors in your area, request quotes and get as many as you can, if they'll bid the job all the better for you, if not, you'll get a pretty close idea as to what your going to spend.
If it's going to be for pasture, are you looking at cattle? Goats? Sheep? Some other critter? Is it too thick that you couldn't simply clear the fencelines for ease of installation, repair, etc? Let the animals run through the trees. Especially if sheep or goats. That's what most guys here would do. That way the animals have some trees for shade, shelter from storms, etc. If it does need to be cleared, since it's for pasture, it doesn't need to be pretty. Dozer with a scrub crusher might be an option if the trees can be be left to de-compose: Andrew
Poor contractors wasting time and money for your gain, but hey it's inevitable. Me personally. I would definitely buy a dozer if I had 70 acres. You could clear a reasonable amount, maybe 5 to 20acres to get you going and then steadily keep at it or maybe get a part time operator. It'd be perfect if you could push it off to rot, or even burn it if possible. I personally cannot stand a pile of tree trash on my property and will bury it. Burning would be ideal. It's hard to get rid of logs in my experience.
I would agree with Fastdirt If you want to do any kind of improvement like roads, pond, bridgeing or fence clearing you could do it like and when you want. But I would keep some rotting wood for hugels. 70 acres sound exciting for projects.
There isn't many contractors in my area with bigger dozers most have a 650 John Deere I would like to get someone to clear the most part and then I would like to buy a smaller Dozer myself to use from time to time. There was a guy a few years ago that had a d8n with a cutter blade on it that was clearing and piling for 1200 an acre has anyone been around a set up like that or is that a reasonable price I haven't contacted anyone yet I'm not looking for the cheapest guy but the guy who will do the best work for my money
Are you referring to a KG blade? I've worked around D8's with KG blades and that is definitely the way to remove stumps. If you can find that guy, that'd be a good route for you. $1200 an acre doesn't sound bad. You might get a break with 70 acres. That would be a specialized dozer/guy. Probably just have to hit the ground really hard to find a guy in reasonable distance, but surely there is one around.
Yes I think this guy had a v type blade and used a d6 with a root rake to pile with is a kg a better blade than the v type do you know how much they can do in a day most the timber I have is 12 to 16 inches at stump
Agree Fastdirt. We use a cutter or K/G blade for clearing jobs HeavyEquipmentForums Hard to say on cost per acre as we haven't seen the job . As Mack82 describes it 1,200 seems to be in the ballpark. Another option is have the man go in and clear & pile the big stuff working on the hour and then use the smaller dozer to do the rest & clean up.
the ground is pretty flat and all is on higher ground that I want to clear at this time a few of big trees I want to leave I am not going to do the low places are any thing on a slope that will wash the ground isn't rocky is there any benefit over a kg blade from a vtype I talked to a friend in mississipi today he said the guys down there usually get around 800 a acre to cut it with a v blade a pile it no burning
I'm not familiar with the V blade. I have only been around KG blades. I searched for a pic and found some. The only reason you would need these type blades is if the land has been clear cut and you wanted to remove the stumps. If the trees are still standing I would simply use a Cat 963 and push them over and then push them to where you want them. You could push over a couple of trees and then push a couple of them at once. I like clearing with a 963, it's very productive and can do it all. The stump comes out very easy with a 963 pushing trees over in normal conditions. A 963 with the bucket 15' high has some serious pushing leverage compared to an equal size dozer down low on the trunk. Something to think about.
Can you burn the trees? Oh yeah, welcome to the Forums!:drinkup
Here in Tennessee we can burn trees as we clear land(a burn permitt is needed during some times of the year).I only know you're in Tn,but not where in the state.I am in central Tn 15 minutes east of I24 near manchester.I have friends in this area that do this kind of work.If nothing else more info is better than less.
I have never operated the V plow type cutter blade so I cant comment on that. Member 69Camaro has a V plow on a D7g, He might add some insight HeavyEquipmentForums One thing I like about the K/G blade is it also works good for piling & stacking timber. I think Rome offers it in size range from D5 to D9 dozers. www.romeplow.com/Specialty Equipment.htm I like the K/G blade overall, we generally install it on the tractor on bigger clearing jobs. The Military used them a lot in Vietnam. http://tractors.wikia.com/wiki/Rome_Plows www.diehardengineer.com/Photovnrs.html
Thanks for sharing the link to the Vietnam engineer site TD25C.:thumbsup
Yeah CM. There are several sites dedicated to Vietnam clearing Engineers. www.538thlc.com/work.html www.59thlandclearing.org/pages/home.htm My Dad served in 69 & 70 . He was with Artillery on an M-109 mobile howitzer. He said many times they worked closely with Engineers as they would go in first to clear out heavy bush & build a perimeter for them to set up.
Not a lot out there on the net showing a K/G blade in use. I made a few videos clearing some scrub on a road project. First one is sharpening the cutting edge. http://5116.photobucket.com/user/td25c/media/sharpenkg001_zps217c0d22.mp4.html Most of the time I use it as a "plow" running the cutting edge in the ground to shear the root system & rolling the tree out. http://51016.photobucket.com/user/td25c/media/sharpenkg005_zpsbce374be.mp4.html
I bought a dresser td15c that has been government owned 1100 original hours guess I'm going to be getting the feel for dozing again has anyone got any info on the td15 are they reliable I got a good deal in it i think from what I have seen
Hey that's cool Mack82. Dresser td15c is a fine tractor and nice size rig for most jobs. Should work great for clearing your ground & future projects. Even better is it's low hours at 1,100. Man ....that's just getting broke in. We have the older International td15B version. Pretty handy dozer. Good luck with the project Mack82.
Norite is right, if you decide to do it yourself rent the equipment. I see so many of my customers think they will save money buy a piece of equipment and one major or a series of little break downs later their in the hole here in Kansas they usually work buy the hour for each machine sometimes around 100 or more pr hour.
This is the first td15 I have ever had. Owned 2 td8h and a td25c and several cat dozers over the years like I said before sold out over ten years ago I suppose this will give me something to do for a while does anyone know how to adjust steering clutch or brakes on the td15 one of the levers comes back closer to the seat than the other works fine just a little aggravating
That's a good question Mack82. So far I have never had to adjust on mine yet so I cant be much help. I need to order a service manual for the td15 . I did find a few threads over at Redpower. http://www.redpowermagazine.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=59007 http://www.redpowermagazine.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=60159
70 acres is prob a bit small to do this but I can't help thinking about a chain a rake and a blade plough. Ime an Aussie though so I don't know the country ur in who might b close ( mobilisation can b expensive here)just a thought