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Best mechanical forest vegetation management?

Started by Okefenokee_D, July 13, 2019, 09:34:52 PM

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Okefenokee_D

Hi, I am trying to figure out the best thing to use to manage forest vegetation during times we can not prescribed burn our understory (young timber, very thick areas, etc).

I have used a rotary mower before and am thinking a full caged tractor with a brown tree cutter would be best. We are thinking about a skid steer with a rotary cutter on front, but then the issue is that this area can get really wet at times and I do not know how a skid steer will fare in the mud. The other issue is stumps and stumping the skid steer.

We are trying to get an excavator and put our brush head on it, but going down a pine plantation with that just isnt really efficent, I think.


What would be the best option?

Thanks

mike_belben

I built a front mount hybrid flail mower for my garden tractor that exceeded my expectations by a lot.  If i were in the business of mulching and didnt want to spend 200k on a dedicated mulcher thatd be worth 5x my house, id build a head for a small crawler loader with forestry cage.  Using a reefer engine to drive the head, remote throttle.  The crawler loader wont notice it a bit and wont sink like a tire skid steer.  


Praise The Lord

Okefenokee_D

Well, we did have a mulching head like that on an old Franklin skidder we had, but the skidder and the head was always messing up. We got rid of it.

I just know lots of people dont stay in business long with the skid steers because of the repairs.

But we are mainly going to use this on our State managed forest.

Looks like yours does a good job.

mike_belben

Mine doesnt like grass, but it loves briars, cinder blocks and fallen limbs.  I wont give all the details but its a cross between a bush hog and a land mine flail.  It smashes more than it cuts so woody stuff is pummeled into composts.  It"ll also curl forward and flail the sod off.  I broke the rearend on the tractor so its sat a while.
Praise The Lord

Okefenokee_D

Quote from: mike_belben on July 13, 2019, 10:00:01 PM
Mine doesnt like grass, but it loves briars, cinder blocks and fallen limbs.  I wont give all the details but its a cross between a bush hog and a land mine flail.  It smashes more than it cuts so woody stuff is pummeled into composts.  It"ll also curl forward and flail the sod off.  I broke the rearend on the tractor so its sat a while.

Sounds like you need to name it "The Hulk"

mike_belben

Well, just another hunk of metal on a pallet in the yard.  Eyesores only a hoarder could love.
Praise The Lord

livemusic

Couple of years ago, I came across a rig that did a real good job of clearing a tract of everything but tall trees, which gave a park appearance. A guy was building a homesite. I looked at the rig and it was a mid-size tractor with full cage armor and had what looked like a Bush Hog behind it. I looked it over and it was a bush hog type rotary cutter made by Brown. I don't know exactly what model it was but it sure mulched everything up. It looked pretty much exactly like the Blue (Ford?) tractor with full cage in this video -- Brown Tree Cutter - YouTube

I have actually been thinking of hiring somebody to do this. I think I checked on this a couple years ago and I could get somebody for $800/day, which seems a bargain as they can certainly clear brush.
~~~
Bill

Okefenokee_D

Quote from: livemusic on July 15, 2019, 09:56:12 AM
Couple of years ago, I came across a rig that did a real good job of clearing a tract of everything but tall trees, which gave a park appearance. A guy was building a homesite. I looked at the rig and it was a mid-size tractor with full cage armor and had what looked like a Bush Hog behind it. I looked it over and it was a bush hog type rotary cutter made by Brown. I don't know exactly what model it was but it sure mulched everything up. It looked pretty much exactly like the Blue (Ford?) tractor with full cage in this video -- Brown Tree Cutter - YouTube

I have actually been thinking of hiring somebody to do this. I think I checked on this a couple years ago and I could get somebody for $800/day, which seems a bargain as they can certainly clear brush.

Yeah, I am debating a Brown tree cutter with a Ford/NH tractor with forestry package.

Riwaka

The NH forestry tractors are? (I would imagine the well used ones could be troublesome )
Vegetative Mowing Equipment/ Cobb County Tractor, Marietta Ga, usa.  (winch on front, common rail engine = need clean supply of diesel)
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treemuncher

If you have lots of stumps, you need horsepower to get through it the first time, efficiently. It will be cheaper for you to hire out the first cut if you need a big machine. Until you own and operate this stuff, you have no idea of the repairs/maintenance or money that will be required to keep it going. A small CTL with a good rotary cutter will be relatively cheap to own/operate for all future maintenance cuts once the stumps and heavy stuff is gone.

You will want a drum-style mulcher head to get everything done the first time. If you don't need it very clean and tidy, you should be able to get away with a single forward pass cutting except where the stumps are. One pass cutting will leave it looking lumpy but won't affect much other than looks.  If the ground is not excessively wet and you can do in in the drier parts of the year, you can likely get away with a rubber tired mulcher, providing your ground is not excessively steep.

After that, maintenance cuts could be accomplished easily with a tracked skid steer. If the material is small and lots of grasses, a rotary deck will be your best bet. It will leave a cleaner cut and be faster than a drum mulcher head. Again, horsepower will be your friend if you want to be efficient. A rotary that can handle at least 3500 psi or more and at least 40 gpm should be a good starting point. More is always better if you want to go fast in the thick.

Example: Parts of this job were wet but the thick mulch helps hold the machine up. The property was selectively logged so I had 18"-40" stumps at the cut plus tops to eradicate, as well as all of the other junk trees. The objective was to make the property into a homesite lot and allow a 20' bush hog to pass between the saved trees. This machine tops out at 375 Hp with about 10 psi ground pressure. The project was about 25 acres and I saved the property owner $13k over what the bids were for slash&burn with dozers and excavators. He's been able to keep it maintained with his bush hog.



 

If your ground is really wet, most of the tracked machines in the 300 Hp class will have lower ground pressure than higher Hp machines. With the correct cutter mounted, these machines are efficient but lack the ground speed of rubber tires. They will cross some of the worst swamps and climb exceptionally steep terrain, all in a days work. Tracks cost more to operate but they are not as limited in terrain conditions. This machine regularly chews up stump balls, trees in excess of 30" when required and anything else in its path. I've been able to run it across swamps that my feet were sinking into without issues. Gp about 4 psi.



 
 
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