Best way to clear saplings and brush?

Hi, so I have a pasture its probably 18-19 acres that hasn't really been grazed in probably 30 years. I mean we've had a few jersey steers on it but all they eat is the grass, so the problem I'm running into is all the brush, weeds and saplings. Probably 5-8 acres I've been brush mowing with my tractor, I'm hoping to be able to mow more of it with my skidsteer when I get a mower for it. My plan is to pasture beef cattle on there and I'd like to get the most that I can out of this pasture. So my question is what do I do about the areas I cant mow, I know the cattle will clean them up somewhat. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
-Garrett
 
The goats are a good idea. Anything so big you can't deal with using a bush hog rotary cutter, needs to be cut off and pulled out. Look up Stump A Frame for some ideas. Jim
 
You'd probably need 50 goats for something that size to just put a dent in it. For the money you'd spend on fence you could hire it done and still have money left over.
30 year old overgrowth can mean different things in different areas. Here it would mean some sizeable trees. What exactly are you dealing with?
 
Here we have Chinese tallow(we call them chicken trees)and willow trees usually that come up..if they are too big to Bush hog I drill a 1/2 inch diameter by 1 1/2 inches deep hole at a 45 degree down angle.then pour about an ounce of straight 2/4/D in it.you need to reach the center or heart of the tree with the 2/4/D.this way there is no drift to worry about killing someone else’s crop/garden.it can get expensive but so are the alternatives
 
I reclaimed some a few years ago. Put a batwing on a 70hp tractor so it would bog the tractor down before breaking something on the mower. Mowed it 3 times let it sit for about 3 weeks then disked it several times and planted it. Worked great. Sound like you might need a dozer or mulching head for your skid steer though
 
I'm dealing with some actual trees that I
will need to cut down, but alot of
saplings all the way up to 5-6 inches
thick. And alot of weeds and brambles.
-Garrett
 
Meat goats are bringing 2X per pound more than calves,they'll clean up the brush pretty good you'll have to chainsaw the taller stuff,1 doe per acre year around plus maybe 5 cows to keep the grass down will probably do it since does usually have 2 kids there will be 3 goats per acre until you sell the kids.The goats are where the money is at these days not cattle.AS far as fencing it takes no better fence to keep goats in than it does a calf.You can put up stock panels using T post for less than $2 ft. easy and quick to put up.That way you'll make money clearing your land not spend a fortune doing it.
 
(quoted from post at 15:17:49 07/08/20) Hi, so I have a pasture its probably 18-19 acres that hasn't really been grazed in probably 30 years. I mean we've had a few jersey steers on it but all they eat is the grass, so the problem I'm running into is all the brush, weeds and saplings. Probably 5-8 acres I've been brush mowing with my tractor, I'm hoping to be able to mow more of it with my skidsteer when I get a mower for it. My plan is to pasture beef cattle on there and I'd like to get the most that I can out of this pasture. So my question is what do I do about the areas I cant mow, I know the cattle will clean them up somewhat. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
-Garrett

I hired a local guy with one of these and he knocked down lots of 6 and 8 inch trees up to some 15 inch pine trees. Once down, this machine chews them up and all you have left is wood chips.

mvphoto58103.jpg
 
I figured my goats are 75% profit and cattle is barely breaking even. The money from the goats pays for a 7 day vacation for all 7 of us ever year. Meat goats are bringing $3.50 a pound at the local butcher, he butchers and then delivers the meat to the ethnic food stores.( i found selling them as pets pays alot better.
 
I reclaimed some pasture land once. I had many flat front tires on the bush hog tractor! I dug the bigger ones out with my backhoe.

I guess it depends on what you want to do with the land, and your preference for the job- whether it be chemical, or chainsaw/bush hog/skid steer attachment/etc.

I like to pop out brush and trees root ball and all with the hoe. If you like that idea, maybe renting a mini excavator would be feasible.
 
Not a very good picture, but this is my Stihl hand held brush cutter, it will easily cut off 1 inch saplings, I use it in places I don't want to use our Bush Hog. My wife comes along behind and sprays the stumps with strong Roundup, then they won't sprout again.
cvphoto49862.jpg
 
I rented a Bobcat skid steer with a Befco mulcher to clear about 5 acres here that looked just like you described. It will chew up the small trees and brush and you have a bed of mulch left. You will be surprised how fast it will clear the property. I could mulch a 3-4 inch tree at the base then it would suck the tree through before you could blink.
 
i guess a lot depends on your soil. I cleared mine with a bulldozer and it took 20 years for grass to come back. This time I'm re-clearing the land with a chain saw and a weedeater. I have an old weedeater I've been trying to put a saw blade on it but haven't had any luck getting it running.
 
very hard to say as no pictures nor size of trees. after 30 years it could have trees to make lumber from. like is it willows, poplars. spruce trees or what . cattle always destroy bush no matter how big the trees are.
 
Can say it is the best way and certsinly depends on the land, trees etc...

But grandpaps used a dozer with a root rake for lots of land - as well as a tractor stump puller, then rock picker and viola.

Our neighbor used one of the mulchers as mentioned above, made a geat driving lane through his woods, but certainly didn't create plantable land - if that is your end goal.
 
Using a bulldozer is quick,that said its expensive and leaves a huge mess to deal with requiring a lot of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ to get the land to a point it'll be useful for anything.
 


You say that you want to get the most out of it. If you really mean that, your best option is a large excavator. The way they do it is to push-pull the large trees down using the trunk as leverage, then windrow them, using the thumb. After they have them in windrows they mount a hydraulic pincher to cut the large stumps in two in order to release the dirt, and convert the windrow into piles, which they then set on fire, as they go down the windrows. This is standard procedure for clearing larger tracts.
 
Clearing the land will be an expensive operation. It may take years of running beef cattle on it to recoup the expense. I suggest having a logger appraise the trees, depending on what type, maybe a source of income. I know this next part sounds crazy but if its fenced well I would run Corriente cattle on it. They seem to like brush, my neighbor runs them, his pasture is brush free.
 
In my case the bulldozer did great, I wouldn't have had to do anything more. The ground was smooth and level but my soil is sand and the grass just wouldn't come back until years of fallen leaves created enough topsoil to support grass. The cost of the rental was a bit high but the amount of work I was able to get done made it worth it. I spent two months this year clearing most of the land again I had done then in one week with a bulldozer. I lacked more than an acre doing it by hand.
 
You already have a Skid Steer. Just get a brush cutter attachment for it and go to work. You may have to keep at it in those cases where you may have species such as elders and aspen where they put out shoots from their own root system but the combination of cattle and diligent pursuit by you and the skid steer will eventually overcome.
 
The plan is to have alot of the large
trees logged and I'll have to figure out
how to get the stumps out, but what I'm
trying to do right now is get rid of
everything that isnt grass or a large tree
.
 
Get you a coupla goats, in the spring they peal the bark off small trees and kill them. They also eat leaves not grass so the leafy weeds the cows don't like they do.
 

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