I currently have 45 acres of planted pines on flat soil in central Georgia. Last year the pine trees underwent their first cutting (The county I live in has very high timber taxes even though the ranch is in a conservation. Profit's $12,000 to me) . I'm looking at creating more pasture land, to increase more acreage for my cattle to graze. I would like to know which option is more profitable: the trees to mature to 35 years of age and then harvest them and convert it back to pasture OR clear-cut the 45 acres now and convert it back into pasture? Once all the timber is removed what pieces of equipment are needed to do it efficiently of: like a John 350 with hydraulic thump or a bulldozer with root rake. How much time would it take to clear (de-stump and pile into burn piles) the 45 acres? How much would it cost per acre? Thanks
If you have the option,cut the pine close to the ground and wait.Pine stumps will just rot away quite fast.In a couple years you would be able to run a disk over them.Pine plantation stumps can run into the thousands quickly,a small to mid size excavater works well.As would a medium size dozer,Cost in my area would run 6-900 per acre depending on size,and spacing.The 350 is a little light for that job.
What size pine are they, It makes a difference if your popping 10" or 30" stumps. That being said no one said you have to remove the stumps to get grass to grow, the slash maybe but the stumps could soften for several years making the process a lot cheaper and easier.
I have an uncle that rents farm land in that part of Ga. He paid a guy $1000.00 per acre to have it cleared and destumped. They pushed all the stumps into burn piles along with roots and misc ground debris. They did not fix the unlevel areas. They used an fairly big excavator. I was not to impressed with the job, when I first saw it. I recently cleared about 3 acres for someone and used a track loader, bobcat with grapple to load debris and a dump truck. We moved the debris to an area where it could rot away over time about 1/2 mile away. It was really a lot of work and I had more appreciation for the guy that cleared my uncles 20 acres. I myself am purchasing an old farm that has about 7 acres of planted pines that are about 8 years old. I do not know a thing about cows and horses but it seems like it would be a good idea to clear it, fence it, and put some on it. It seems like there could be money to be made in cows but I have zero knowledge on it. I own an assortment of machinery and I am still trying to figure the best way to turn it into grass lands. It would be real easy to burn it as I made piles but it is illegal to burn here on that scale so I am still thinking about it... Not sure what kind of bulldozer you have but with medium-sized gear, I would guess it will take you a day per acre to root it, grade it and move the junk. It might go into 2 days per acre. You could dig holes and bury the stumps but that takes a good bit of time to. I would guess you could make more money with cows as compared to trees. How many cows will 8 acres hold and what kind of returns could I make? Buy the way I might be willing to swap some machine work for some little cows.
I left stumps(pine) on my old land(Adirondacks) then decided I wanted to do some ground work 10+ years latter. I will write 1st hand those stumps were hard as a rock in that Adirondack soil. Not sure about your GA soil but I never leave stumps anymore. If you're not in a hurry why not harvest the timber, how many years do you have left on the 35yr harvest? Once you do clear the land IMO you should have the stumps removed. I personally like the excavator approach but others prefer a dozer, guess it would depend on who you hire to do the job.
Hi. I am new to this forum and saw this thread so I wont start a new one. I have 50 acres in west GA I want to build a home on in the next couple of years. Half of it was clear cut about 20 years ago and grew back naturally. It had a 15 acre pasture we used to bale hay on back in the 80s that is now overgrown with privet on the other side of property. It has 3 springs that flow together and run down middle of property. I will need to cut a 700 ft long drive thru to get to where I want to put home. ill have to bury 2 18" culverts to cross 2 springs where they are dry ditches on higher side of property. Anyway I am looking at 955 loaders to purchase. I want to start out with a 2-3 acre clearing for home. I want to leave an acre buffer of woods around perimeter of property and I envision eventually having a 3-4 acre pond with grass fields around it w a house on the hill overlooking it. I have limited seat time on a 955. I worked for a small grading outfit when I was younger. Im thinking I will push over trees saw the stumps and limbs off dig holes in various locations and burn all trash. I have cdls and a freightliner that can haul logging trailer and have seen some older trailers cheap and McIntyre lumber yard is 30 miles away. I also have access to my uncles 90hp farm tractor. My question is is this doable for 1 man and would selling and hauling the timber myself be enough to help pay for diesel fuel. I realize it could take 10 yrs to get it how I want it. Thanks for any advice
gt71, to me a 955 is at home doing rough clearing work. They do not like water, them cat can't swim, and they usually stop when their paws get wet. If your buying a solitary one, try to find one with a winch. In doing the project yourself you will save a lot of money, and if you buy the loader right, you will loose very little on that and maybe make money.
Mate, there's business's near you with large (400hp) forestry mulchers that probably love to quote that job after the timber has been cut out. Suggest you put it on TBN landcearing forum and see what happens.