Paging rural GRMers: Learn me clearing land

The area north of Atlanta is rolling hills covered with trees, brambles and brush over red clay soil.  I’ll soon be responsible for grooming and caring for 5-10 acres of land that is currently wild forest, almost none of which is level.

Job one will be to clear the land of brush and saplings. Next I’ll need to thin out clusters of mature trees to open the property up some.  I’ll need to somehow dispose of everything that’s been uprooted or chopped down.  I’ll need to cut a driveway, compact it and put in gravel.  To get the most out of the land, I’ll also want to grade any really rough or uneven patches.  Once the land has been set straight, I’ll need to mow it from time to time to keep it groomed.  Something that can move dirt will also be really handy once we pick sites on the property and start to build.

My only previous experience with clearing brush is with a machete, pruning saw and string trimmer.  Clearing land with hand tools is for the birds; I need some real tools if I’m every going to keep up with a property this size.  My wife suggested getting goats but we will need the land cleared sooner rather than later.  Here are the options I’m currently considering, in order of cost:

- 1) Walk-behind wheeled brush mower like a Billy Goat or DR mower (https://youtu.be/biXo7Tmt1-M?t=61)
- 2) Walk-behind tracked brush mower like a Brush Blazer or Toro Dingo (https://youtu.be/fdaSirzTpcI?t=25)
- 3) Farm tractor with a bush hog (https://youtu.be/_vNLfHDBjGk?t=94)
- 4) Backhoe loader (https://youtu.be/28ODe7IaemA?t=78 and https://youtu.be/EOh9S07VmBE?t=333)
- 5) Skid steer loader, track loader or mini excavator with a forestry mulcher attachment (https://youtu.be/u4LBqUY6ZyQ?t=176)
-6) some combination of the above

Sure I can hire someone for one-time clearing, or rent whenever I have a specific job to do, but I think the best investment would be to pick the right machine, buy a nice used example, and use that from day one.  What's your experience?  What would  you recommend?

Do the goats. That soul erodes quickly. Leave the root structures to hold that fine red clay in place

In reply to nderwater :

Buying used ground engaging equipment is a risky venture.  There is often hidden damage that even the previous owner doesn’t know about.  Repairing in the field is typically slow and delayed by a lack of proper parts.  Hauling it in takes time and may not mean parts are there. 

I’d rent new. Get things cleaned up and then maintaining things you can use that lighter equipment you first spoke about to maintain things. 

The thing about goats is that by the time you build a fence that'll hold them, you might as well just clear the land yourself.  BTDT (well...the wife, mostly managed the goats but I had to clear the path for the fence).

I have a stihl chainsaw, an 8N with a brush hog, and we build lots of brush-pile bonfires.  It's slow.  It's very satisfying, however, to see the results of your hard work.  

A loader is surprisingly effective at tearing up underbrush.  10 minutes with a loader will clear out what takes an hour with a chainsaw.  We learned this when we rented a little track loader ("stand-on" style) to move manure and dirt around.

Fall and winter are the time to do this.  Summer time is too hot and buggy.  The only risk with winter is that you don't always know when you've gotten into poison ivy (well..you know eventually).

This kind of work is hard on chainsaw blades/chains.  Cutting stuff off at ground level means your chain finds the dirt a lot.  

You need to rent a midsize excavator with a thumb and a brush rake. For what you want to do you will need different equipment at different stages. It would not be economical to try to buy a piece of equipment to clear land and then keep it to maintain the land later. United rentals will rent you a 12 or 14 thousand pound machine that will get you started, for surprisingly little money.

A few years ago and I was selling a dr field and brush mower.  They work pretty well, but manhandling one on terrain is rough going. One of those, a chainsaw, a machete, and very good gloves. Look out for big rocks and stumps.

Tractor + front loader +Rear brush hog + rear grader blade and/or box blade.

That should do most anything you'd need to do from clearing brush to leveling dirt and spreading gravel, and eventually maintaining the property. Depending on the topography and how tight the spaces will be, I can see the argument for a belly mower instead of a 3 point brush hog deck, but you wouldn't want to use a belly mower for clearing anything.

A skid steer with similar attachments might be even better, but that will probably be less budget friendly.

C'mon, we're GRM!!

Pay someone to clear with a Hydro Ax. Google/YouTube them to be impressed. They are fast. Dangerous as hell so stay away. Think 4” tree trunks coming at your face at 80mph dangerous. They can clear an acre a day or more. Good thing is that it retains the root structure so you're soil doesn't erode away. 

While we’re talking soil here. If you’re going to be doing mass grading (I.e. making it level), do not do it yourself in areas you want to build or plan to build. Hire a competent grading company to construct a building pad.  I could talk all day about density/compaction but I won’t. 

STM317 hit it right on the head.  You will find you can't live without one.

When you buy a tractor make sure it takes standard skid steer implements. (JD doesn't and yes, I've had both)

This time I have an LS which is the same thing as the New Holland except about 25% cheaper in price.  I had a Deere and sold it and then realized how much I depended upon the tractor for the jillion "little" things that you can't do easily by hand.  Oh you can do them, but it takes a tractor 15 minutes and it takes 2 days by hand.

If I had that much land I would have the tractor with appropriate attachments like STM317 mentioned. Not only will it do a great job, you will find yourself finding things to do cause it's fun. If you don't know what you want rent a couple so you can see what size works best. You don't want one that is too small.

I Am doing the same thing over on 411 near Chatsworth, were waiting for JANUARY to clear it so we can see where we want to end up.  Hopefully, a bob cat/ skid steer  will do most  but may need a bigger bulldozier to do the big stuff quickly, look around where you are moving to you may be suprised at how many people are out there with SKIDSTEER's looking to work them, meaning a couple day's for not to much money. LARGE PINES ARE WORTH MONEY. AND HARDWOODS ARE MORE.

The big thing is not having to do it again. This is the south. The south is basically jungle growth. If you knock it all down and don't have an easy way to maintain it you'll be right back where you started in 6-24 months. Get it low enough to run a regular brush hog over it 3-4 times a year. If you can get it low enough to run a finish mower, even better. No matter what I did with my yard (and I'm only trying to maintain about an acre and a half in east Texas) nothing really mattered until I could run a mower over it when it got mid shin-high. Now it gets nicer every year. 

Napalm.  It worked in 'Nam, and it can work for you.

GTXVette said:

I Am doing the same thing over on 411 near Chatsworth, were waiting for JANUARY to clear it so we can see where we want to end up.  Hopefully, a bob cat/ skid steer  will do most  but may need a bigger bulldozier to do the big stuff quickly, look around where you are moving to you may be suprised at how many people are out there with SKIDSTEER's looking to work them, meaning a couple day's for not to much money. LARGE PINES ARE WORTH MONEY. AND HARDWOODS ARE MORE.

Listen to him! hardwood trees are worth money and you can get a small to medium sawmill to cut them down and haul them away.  Same with pine, but a mixture of the two won’t be as valuable. 

Youll also need a wood chipper to turn branches and brush into wood chips. Around here if there aren’t immediate plans to develop the land the chips can be used as fill to decay without the expense  of hauling away. 

We used chainsaws and a bulldozer with a winch too clear 7 acres of wooded land. It worked fantastic for everything.  We did have too rent a backhoe for a day to do some trenching of a stream on the property. 

As has been said, offer your lumber for sale. Be clear on what they have to take and what they can leave. It can sometimes work out that they do everything you want and take the lumber as a net zero transaction.

For any land on grade you should do some research into the soil composition. You don't want conditions to create a series of mudslides to occur. 

I will be the one to let you know that you are responsible for verifying endagered organisms are not impacted by your work. Just because you didn't know doesn't mean you won't be found guilty of federal crimes. 

Bias your equipment choice to those in Similar red clay hills. It is an interesting topography that way. Some equipment gets bogged in and other maintain grip. Similar to the coral in South Florida it takes some special local knowledge.

Have rented a couple of Bobcats for clearing on our last house and our present one.  Our current house is built on old river bank, so lots of rocks.  When I rented the last Bobcat, never thought I could get stuck with all of the rocks, so rented the wheeled unit.  Proceeded to get it stuck.  Up to the axles stuck.  Had to go rent the tracked unit to pull the wheeled unit out.

If you get a skid steer, get one with tracks.  That's all I've got.

If future grooming/mowing is in the cards, I suggest a brushog on a tractor followed by some grading with a small dozer or bobcat.  Just cutting it leaves 2" jagged stumps which can and will pierce shoes, tires, and otherwise make life crappy.  Not to mention, a fair percentage of the saplings will regenerate.

You could skip the brush hog part and just doze it, but you'll have a rather large pile of brush to contend with.  The mower will mulch the vegetation into easily composting bits.

When looking for a brush hog, look for one with one huge blade instead of three or four.  One big blade is designed for coarser material.  Smaller blades are for small stuff like grasses.

Great info so far, I appreciate it.  It sounds like my best option is to pay someone with a forestry mulcher (like a Hydro Ax) to initially clear out all the brush and small trees.  I plan to keep as many big trees as is practical... ultimately we want to be able to freely walk the property between them.

Going forward it sounds like I'll need to buy a good used 4wd tractor with some specific accessories. I don't know a thing about tractors, but they seem to be classed by horsepower (25, 35, 45, 55, etc).  What sizes and brands would you recommend?

The properties we're considering currently look more or less like this:

never underestimate a riding mower for large area's of brush, I cleared 2 acres of this 6+ foot tall brush last summer. Set the blade high, go slow, and let her eat. Also be ready to buy new blades by the next season.

this was the first of 2 paths back to the barn that I had not been able to get to previously.

Depending on where you are, you should be able to find a couple goodfellas to do it for $75-$85 an hour. The guys that cleared ours did in 3 days what would’ve taken me months, and graded, and burned everything. Money well spent.

Also: LISTEN TO MAZDEUCE. I’m about to have to pay to have it cleared again :/

In reply to poopshovel again :

You disappoint me. Your suggestion did not involve multiple push mowers and a Land Rover.

Id call up a logging company and see if you have enough there to make it worthwhile. The will also cut in the road to do what they need to do so itll be like getting it for free.

Ive lived in the woods for many years, you dont need to buy anything exotic and any equipment you need to level for homesites is better hired than bought, especially the more digging you need

Appleseed said:

In reply to poopshovel again :

You disappoint me. Your suggestion did not involve multiple push mowers and a Land Rover.

Patience, my precious.