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Newbie, 75 acres needs clearing/mulching - equipment advice

Started by NavFed01, February 21, 2021, 01:19:42 PM

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NavFed01

Hi,  Brand new to the forum and need some advice.  I have 75 acres of growth (see attached picture) that needs to be cleared and mulched. The trees will have to be thinned out but anything over 12 inches will be kept unless it's diseased. The property is in central California in the foothills close to Yosemite. We missed one of the massive California fires last year by a few miles and the property has never been lived on for at least the past 80 or 90 years, extreme fire danger. Lots of small live Oak and brush.

I am in the market for a new skid steer and I'm looking at the Takeuchi TL12 or the Kubota SVL 95.  It is possible that I will have an additional 75 acres to clear next year. I would be keeping the skid steer after the clearing/mulching for general use around the ranch. I am considering the Cimaf/Fecon or FAE drum mulching heads and wanted to know what folks with experience would guide me towards.

I like the look of the Takeuchi, but the dealership is quite a distance away (3 hours), there is a Kabota dealership an hour away from the property.  Could you guys give me some advice as far as which of the two machines to go with and which of the drum mulcher heads might be best suited to the machine in task at hand. Thanks.


 

Haleiwa

The Takeuchi is just big enough, the Kubota won't do much for you.   You need an absolute minimim of 110 or so, bigger is definitely better.  Ground clearance cannot be over emphasized,  and I don't think you will have enough with either of them unless you are super careful running it if you are running a drum.  They cut going forward and mulch going backwards,  so you run over a lot of coarse material.   
Mulching heads are heavy,  so extra lift capacity helps a lot on slopes.

You definitely want a forestry equipped machine.  Anything else is asking to be killed by flying shards.  A regular cab won't protect you. 

ASV or a Cat with an ASV undercarriage would be my preference.   If you don't get a high clearance machine then I think the disc style is a better choice,  as you grind as you go and don't back up over unground material. 

Another possibility would be a Fecon 128.  There are several of them around.   Steel tracks,  so they may not work for you,  but that is pretty much a purpose built mulcher that can be used as a loader rather than a loader that can run a head.

Walnut Beast just got a new unit, look up his posts on it.
Socialism is people pretending to work while the government pretends to pay them.  Mike Huckabee

NavFed01

Haleiwa thanks very much for the input.  The Fecon 128 is way outside my budget I am afraid.  I do like the idea of a disk Mulcher and possibly putting it on the Takeuchi.  I am also open to a Cat or ASV.  I will follow your advise on the forestry package no matter what machine I end up with.  Thanks again.
 

BAN

Quote from: NavFed01 on February 21, 2021, 04:24:40 PM
Haleiwa thanks very much for the input.  The Fecon 128 is way outside my budget I am afraid.  I do like the idea of a disk Mulcher and possibly putting it on the Takeuchi.  I am also open to a Cat or ASV.  I will follow your advise on the forestry package no matter what machine I end up with.  Thanks again.

Are there any state programs to help pay for forest health projects? Up here in WA the funds come and go but with the budget issues from covid im told no money through summer at least.

NavFed01

Ban - there are funds in California but dry up very fast.  I have started the steps to put in an application.  Regarding the equipment, I am leaning towards Haleiwa's idea for a used Fecon 128, but it's not my area of expertise and so I not sure what pitfalls to look for when buying used equipment.  With some slopes on the property I just don't think the Kubota/Takeuchi would be a wise choice.  I know it's all dependent on the type of property and things like that but would something like the Fecon 128 be able to clear an acre a day? I'm just trying to get an idea.

Cheers

G

Haleiwa

Quite a bit more than that, once you get used to running it.  There's a huge difference between mowing brush clean and working around trees that you want to keep, but it isn't easy to predict.  Sometimes it's faster to mow clean, but the biggest determinant is the height of the material you are cutting.

A six foot head has to run approximately two miles to cover one acre, allowing some for  overlap and rough terrain.  If you are mowing grass/brush/saplings, you can probably run two mph in a straight line.  If you are mowing material that is heavy enough to require running forward, backing up to mulch, and then running forward again, you might not average more than a quarter mph.  On a hot day you will have to stop occasionally to let the hydraulics cool down.  In dusty conditions you will have to stop frequently to let the hydraulics cool down.  If you are going through headed out goldenrod, you will be stopped more than running unless you have a compressor handy to blow out the screen and radiators every half hour.

Here's my Virnig running through very light material, really more grass than brush. [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hasmKlgrQog&ab_channel=Haleiwa]Mowing brush - YouTube[/url]

Socialism is people pretending to work while the government pretends to pay them.  Mike Huckabee

NavFed01

Haleiwa, awesome info - Thank you.  Would anyone have experience buying a used Fecon 128 that could give me some things to consider or watch out for?

Cheers

Walnut Beast

http://www.rowmec.com/

Call Robert at (832) 236-3377  he is very knowledgeable and a really good guy. He could fix you up with a used machine they have and point you in the right direction. They have a CMI unit that has 4,200 hrs on it for 65k. Robert will fix you up they deal in many others 

Walnut Beast

Just looking they also have a 6125 Lamtrac for 98,500. Unless your going all out they have  a used 2019 Prinoth for 575,000 😂

NavFed01

Thanks Walnut Beast - I will give Robert a shout. Cheers!!!

Walnut Beast


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