Help with mulching / fuel management questions (equipment)

[Garrik]

I have a ~40 acre property that burned badly in a forest fire 3 years ago. The fire adapted brush, especially yerba santa, ceanothus and what we call white thorn, has grown back aggressively. The brush is now 6-8' tall and 2-3" in diameter, usually with multiple stems per plant and probably 3-4' spacing between plants. It is thick.

I want to tackle this stuff with a mulcher - it is too expensive and time consuming to remove by hand. So...

Skid steer (CTL) vs mini-ex?

Drum mulcher vs disk?

I have a CAT 287B with standard aux hydraulics. Could buy a low end drum mulcher and use it with that machine.

Could trade the 287B for a high flow CTL, maybe a CAT 299D2 XPS. There are a few for sale around here. That would let me buy a more serious drum mulcher.

Could buy a 6-10 ton mini-ex, maybe an older Bobcat E80 with 30 GPM aux hydraulics, and buy a drum mulcher for that machine. This is tempting because my land is hilly and some places are hard to access with a CTL, and the mini-ex would give me reach. But I gather a CTL is faster than a mini-ex in this kind of application.

So many questions. Any and all thoughts most welcome. Especially reco's for brands and models of excavators with high aux flow and mulchers (I know the CTL world pretty well).

Things I don't need or care about:

- Don't care about the output, stringy, bigger chips, etc. all fine
- Don't need to deal with actual trees at all, just brush
- Don't need to deal with grass, or any kind of mowing type action
- Don't much care how low to the ground I cut things - ugly is fine

Thanks much!

[RetiredTech]

  Those thorny bushes remind me of what we have down here. Although ours don't tend to get that big around. Ours are green with long thorns and can grow pretty tall. They're usually in clusters and produce a small orange colored fruit that the deer and other animals will eat.  I would suggest not cutting them, but get a good Root Rake Grapple and rip them up by the roots, shake the dirt off the roots, pile'em and burn'em. Unless you just need the chips. I bought a WM68 chipper for my tractor last month so I can chip my side wood from the mill for the garden and fruit trees. I'm not sure how well it would chip bushes, but it makes quick work of processing useless wood from the mill.
  If you're just looking to clear the land rip and burn is my suggestion. I hate getting stuck with those thorns.  I'm sure others will chime in shortly with other/better ideas.

[RetiredTech]

 I didn't notice you were new here. Welcome to the forum.

[rusticretreater]

Sounds like a bulldozer would take care of it all, uproot all the plants so you are starting anew.  Burn it with a vengeance.

You mulch all that stuff and you will have several million seeds come up next season.

[Magicman]

Those thorny bushes remind me of what we have down here.

What we have here is called a Mock Orange.  It is a dreadfully invasive despicable bush. 

[Garrik]

If you're just looking to clear the land rip and burn is my suggestion. I hate getting stuck with those thorns.  I'm sure others will chime in shortly with other/better ideas.

Ok - this is aligned with @rusticretreater comments - and now that I think about it makes total sense.  I will rent a mini-ex with a thumb and see how that goes.  I already have a root grapple for my Kubota MX6000, I will try mounting that on my 287B (the tractor has trouble on some of the steeper terrain).

Appreciate the steer away from the mulcher - I think it make sense.