Time to clean the fence rows out some

Today I went to the field with the intent of just cutting down 1 dead tree that already dropped on limb, and then 4 hours later I was putting the saw back in the truck after trimming alont the entire fence row of the field, and gained about another 5-10' from the over grown brush and scrub trees.

Not much bigger than 2", but still plenty of it there. Back is hurting now from bending over with the saw, but it'll be better in the morning.

Still debating if I should do some more of the fields this year or not. I do have to take care of some downed limbs and such, so something tells me I'm not done yet. Been working a little at a time at cleaning the fencerows out every year, as it's been years since we've done it.

Had a neighbor who cut down a bunch of our dead trees a couple years ago,(he kept the wood for heating/selling, whatever he wanted to do) but he never cleaned up the brush or the rest of his mess. We had to take care of it in the spring when we should have been planting. Never gonna let him do it again.

Donovan from Wisconsin

Last winter I cleaned up around a giant cottonwood tree in my field. Every year a few more scrub trees would grow around it, and lean out a tad more, and a tad more.

Took me 3 days of crawling on my belly and cutting the stumps, it was quite a thicket, but think I gained a 1/4 to 1/2 acre back around that tree. And a little firewood, tho most of the wood was small scrub treelets.

Shouldn't have let it get that bad, but - every year, just a few inches or feet lost....

The big cottonwood can stay, even left 3 other trees to take it;s place some day, I understand my grandpa - he was gone before I came along - parked the horses under that cottonwood for lunch on the far side of the farm. Tree is 5 feet or so across. Neighbors that live close say they watch the lightening hit it a few times over the years.

I ran the combine auger into it years ago, but I'm not gonna talk about that.....

--->Paul

This Spring I bought a Gas "Pole Saw" or.."Pruning Saw"..which-ever you like to call it..
Has a 10" chain saw on the end and has a weed eater attachment too, etc..
At the standard length, it is real nice for cutting Brush and reaching into brush to cut without leaning over much at all...
There are several Brands available and I would guess "Echo" would be the best, but costs more too..
I think mine is a Ryobi and the 2-Stroke engine is much better than the 4 Stroke engine available..
For higher trimming and pruning, the 36" extension can reach 12 Ft (they say)..have not measured it..
It make fence-Row cleaning a lot easier..

Ron..

A number of years ago when I first bought my house I was debating about buying either a string trimmer, or the power head with different attatchments. The check book had more pull than practicality, so I bought just a straight shaft trimmer.

Wishing I would have sprung for the power head/trimmer combo, and I probably could have got Dad to help spring for the pole saw attatchment. Would be nice, but for now atleast I've got a chain saw. In the last year, I think we've regained close to a 1/2 acre with this field alone. One side was always so wet when a tree farm was across the road because they watered every single day, even in the rain. All the water came through the culvert under the ditch and across the field to a creek, and practically made part of it an island for a few years. The tree farm is gone now, and now we're reclaiming some land we haven't seen in 10 years or more.

What I did today was like has been said- only a couple inches or so every year but over time it really adds up!

Donovan from Wisconsin

Every year for a couple of days during the winter, I go around a few fields pushing back brush and trees that have fallen out into them. I usually gain 20 feet or so in places, but maybe an acre or more in some fields. It doesn't take long for them to grow out...

My main business is cutting back hedgerows..we have to do it every
year in Northern Ireland.Our fields are so small we need every inch!
and our ash has grown 8-12 feet this year, plus our ground is
soooo wet it is difficult to get the job done.Plus our EEC
government only allows us to work from 1st Sept to end of Feb,The
real wet months! I use a tractor and flail trimmer , will post some
pics when Iremember to bring the camera!
Sam

Its amazing how much land the vegetation, limbs and branches take over at the perimeter of the fields around here. Its even worse when bad weather knocks trees and limbs over. Spring of 2009, following that Dec 2008 ice storm mess, I went ahead of my long time friend and farmer, clearing all the perimeters of the fields he plants, was about 500 acres worth, using his 3150 FWA JD my Stihl saw and my '64 F600, as I took in a couple o truck loads and some of the oak I still have to burn this year.

This was hard work, and highly dangerous with all the spring loaded blow down,leaners and so on, plus you can hear that 7420 and IH 5 bottom not far behind you, I think I lost 25 pounds between that and picking rocks when cultipacking after planting oats.

The icing on the cake was riding with the spray applicator in that fancy JD late model spray rig and seeing the increase in acreage, its significant, one farm he rented 60 acres from the perimeters in some areas were 20 feet into brush, it adds up.

I really had to hustle to keep ahead of him, filled my truck at the same time with 6'-8' logs, used the loader on the 3150 and my makeshift forks, so I was getting paid by him with the bonus of getting the wood, had to hustle though to get both done.

When I cut wood, I take everything down to 1" if possible, I either cut the tops up so I can toss em in where the hedge row is or other out of the way place, one thing I don't do make waste, the very tops ok, but theres enough heart wood in smaller diameter, it makes great kindling and it all burns. I know its easy to leave brush laying about, and loose the loader can usually make short work of it, anyone working in a field doing this ought to be cognizant of at least getting it out of the way. Its hard work, you get to keep the wood, at least toss the tops into a piles to be pushed off or by hand into the hedgerows.

The forestry outfit working on the power lines here had some long reaching on a boom with a buzz saw, that would have made limbing so easy, I got pretty good with his loader and shearing off branches, but I'd have loved to tried one of those machines. A power pruner and someone working off a bucket on a tractor, though not osha approved also works pretty good, then you just push off, use a grapple, no matter how you look at it, it can be a lot of work but really needs to be done, saves exhaust stacks, lights, window glass, mirrors and or anything that can get caught, also very appreciated if running any kind of open station tractor, the worst around here is the pricker bushes, they are just mean, I get ripped and poked by them often, also am getting good at rolling out of the barbs when moving slow, have to wear safety glasses, I got one across the eye, thought it scratched the cornea, that was war on those, they do uproot easily but they're smart they always grow in the worst darn places you can't get with the loader.

Have you ever walked into the brush along a field and seen the successive furrows left over the years as the field gets smaller and smaller?
I nearly lost an eye from a branch coming off the muffler when plowing a field for the first time.
For those reasons, plus constant drainage work, I own a backhoe and dozer!

I assume you're talking about the real, serious hederows that are so dense they are like a solid wall?
Do you mean you can only do trimming Sep-Feb? What's that all about?

Over the years seem to have accumulated string trimmer, same with blade, long reach power/pole saw and the manual pole saw. Manual version is my favorite. No gas to mix, no noise, and I can reach 16" or more. Keeps the drive through the woods open.

Did anyone else notice this year that right around
any fairly large tree in the ditch, the corn only
grew 2 ft tall? I saw a few places next to even
moderate sized trees that looked as if the tree had
taken every bit of water from the corn.

It sure is nice to be able to zip a 6" limb off, trim it up and move on to the next and the next...
You could keep 4 people busy cleaning up what you are cutting with that gas powered Pole chain saw...

Ron..