# Clearing land of brush with skidsteer-is it an option?



## oz in SC (May 13, 2002)

I posted this on shop talk but thought it might belong here too,it may have already have been discussed but I thought I would post it anyway...  

We were up on our land for the long weekend and while we cleared about half an acre of land of the unwanted trees and brush that left about 15 more acres to go....SO we came to the conclusion that a small piece of equipment could get a lot more done than us.

We know we could probably hire someone to do it and it would probably be done quicker and all but we want to actually do it ourselves.

So the local equipment rental company has the following for rent:

ER023 Daewoo 601, 1300 lb. rating
ER024 Daewoo 1760 XL, 1700 lb. rating
The skidsteers rent for $175/day and can be delivered to our land for a small fee.

They also have a Kubota L-35, 35 HP Diesel with 24" Bucket and a JCB 214, 80 HP Diesel with 36" Bucket.

We saw the skidsteers and the backhoe and the skidsteers seemed to be a lot more manageable to us...

The largest tree we would be knocking down would be less than 5'' in diameter.

So what do y'all think?


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## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

They make brush hogs that attach to skidsteers. The leave the property looking like parkland covered with mulch...very nice looking. The brush hog will even whack down stumps. A good operator can clear several acres in an hour.


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## frugalville (Mar 11, 2005)

I have used one of these on many occasions and works extremely well. You can just pedal up/down to adjust your cut height. They are however extremely nose heavy... Only downside is your type of wheels on the skidsteer (wheels, tracks, or catipillars) may chew up the terrain when you turn. You also have to lift the attachment at turns as well.

But they chew up just about anything (within reason)..


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## Ramblin Wreck (Jun 10, 2005)

If you go the skid steer route, we've had better luck with heavier, tracked versions. As CF pointed out, you can run a bush/brush hog on the front of one of these, but my BIL's tends to overheat his machine. Once he got his property cleared, he switched to a farm tractor and mower.

As for clearing, I've used skid steers (just a little...they bounce you around like crazy), a farm tractor with loader, and a tracked Cat loader. As a novice/rookie/infrequent user, I've had better luck with a Cat loader. People who know how to use them can get amazing amounts of work done with skid steers. I do not like to clear with my farm tractor. You can do it, but it is rough on the machine.

Good luck, and be safe whatever you do.


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## Gideon (Sep 15, 2005)

Skid steers are very nimble and strong but I believe a crawler loader would save you money. Twice as powerful at least and much easier to level with afterwards. You can turn the teeth vertically and "root rake" lots of vines/roots easily. The difference in cost should repay you in more work done. A safety note: a neighbor was pushing a dead tree and the top came right down into the cab and killed him. It is a "bulldozer" but they will turn over. Carrying a large load high in the air is dangerous. 06


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## oz in SC (May 13, 2002)

The skidsteer comes with a bucket with teeth.It is $175/day and $50 picked up and delivered.
Not sure if the brush hog attachment is available...

A tracked skidsteer is $250/day plus the same delivery/pickup charge I would imagine....

We really want to try and do at least some of this ourselves...any other ideas?? :shrug:


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## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

The question I have is why do you want to clear the entire 15 acres? We have 40-acres and all we have cleared is a couple acres around the building site and garden. The way I see it, if you clear the 15 acres, you're going to have to constantly maintain that 15 acres or the brush and unwanted trees will just come back in time.


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## oz in SC (May 13, 2002)

Cabin Fever said:


> The question I have is why do you want to clear the entire 15 acres? We have 40-acres and all we have cleared is a couple acres around the building site and garden. The way I see it, if you clear the 15 acres, you're going to have to constantly maintain that 15 acres or the brush and unwanted trees will just come back in time.


Well woods here in the south are basically impossible to walk through. :shrug: 
It quickly becomes overgrown with brambles and undergrowth...
So honestly to map out the future homestead we need to be able to walk it.  

We will leave probably a 1/4 in a somewhat natural way although with a lot of the undergrowth cleared out.There is a hillside that will become an orchard and screen of trees along the property line.

The back part(maybe 5 acres or so) is going to be pasture scattered with trees(no big trees unfortunately as all the big old trees were cut before we bought it)

There is a section that we have not even been on since we bought the land due to it being overgrown with some sort of brambles that tower over my head-this is the flattest part of the land and is next to the big creek so it would be a nice area.

The homesite and barn area is where we were clearing this past weekend,we are leaving any tree that is a decent size as we can always cut them later on if needs be.

In the end we want a mix of 70/30 pasture to woods.


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## Jena (Aug 13, 2003)

If you can't walk the land, be very careful with machinery. I am not sure about a bulldozer, but skidsteers and tractors like to roll when confronted with large holes. Drop the wrong wheel into one at the wrong moment and you find yourself under the machine...probably dead.

I said before that skidsteers are tippy anyways. At least get the tracks so you have more stability. I had a Case 1835, both an old one and a brand new one. I was totally amazed at the LACK of power in the thing and I would not use one to clear a large area just because it would take my lifetime for me to do it.

Jena


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## silverbackMP (Dec 4, 2005)

Why not just cut wide paths/roads for either walking or driving rather than trying to clear every bit of it; at least until you know exactly what you want it to look like and how it will be utilized.


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## fordy (Sep 13, 2003)

oz in SC said:


> The skidsteer comes with a bucket with teeth.It is $175/day and $50 picked up and delivered.
> Not sure if the brush hog attachment is available...
> 
> A tracked skidsteer is $250/day plus the same delivery/pickup charge I would imagine....
> ...


...............OZ , you will get a a much greater bang for your buck by renting a small trac loader like a John Deere 450 or equivalent . Were it me I'd rent a loader first and cleanOUT all my fence lines along with larger tree's that you don't want . One you've got the heavy lifting over with , then you can rent a Bobcat to accomplish the second tier cleanup . fordy...


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## Ramblin Wreck (Jun 10, 2005)

fordy said:


> ...............OZ , you will get a a much greater bang for your buck by renting a small trac loader like a John Deere 450 or equivalent . Were it me I'd rent a loader first and cleanOUT all my fence lines along with larger tree's that you don't want . One you've got the heavy lifting over with , then you can rent a Bobcat to accomplish the second tier cleanup . fordy...


Agree with Fordy. A tracked loader is much easier to get the hang of, and as Jena pointed out (sort of), it's safer (I think)...but you can get hurt/killed on anything if not careful...so be careful.


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## Dave S. (Jul 5, 2006)

Are you trying to clear between trees or are you doing full scale land clearing? A SSteer will be better to get in between the trees. If you want to pull up the stumps then a backhoe is a better bet. The L-35 will work nicley on 4-6" stumps, and will take out much larger stumps if needed. Be careful, though, you can spend an awful lot of your rental time on one stump! Are you going to use a saw first or just uproot and bulldoze the brush? If you can you may want to rent a set of pallet forks or even a set of grapple forks to sweep the brush into a nice burn pile. The larger pieces of equipment won't be able to work around trees as well. You don't want to damage the remaining trees, which you may want for logs at a later date. I have cleared a lot of ground with my L-48 and it is more versatile than just a SS.

And for a way out in left field idea, maybe you could purchase a used B-21 Kubota (baby of the L-35), I don't know what you plan on doing with your property in the future, but think of the amount you will spend on rentals, and what your future needs may be. The B-21 has a removable backhoe so you could use it as a mini farm tractor as well in the future and for many of the phases of building your homestead. The L-35 and L-48 also have removable backhoes and 3point hitch.


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## boonieman (Dec 28, 2005)

The last skidsteer loader I rented within the first 15 minutes it was stuck (not on tracks) and I spent the first two hours dragging it out with the tractor. I'm not talking about mud, just a moist depression. If you are wanting to clear out a bunch of saplings, small trees and underbrush I agree with the previous comments about a tracked loader or dozer. You'll be money ahead and a lot more satisfied with the end result in my opinion. Heck, might as well rent it for two days and build a pond while you're at it!!!


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## oz in SC (May 13, 2002)

Thanks for all the replies...  

We aren't planning to clear ALL the land,just get rid of the brush and brambles so we can see where things will go.

We have already decided one slope along the driveway will remain wooded and we will plant some fruit trees there,it will not be cleared as heavily as the part behind the barn which is going to be pasture-although pasture with as many trees as we can have and still have grass...

Near the big creek is all flat and overgrown with some fairy tale like growth of thorns(right out of Cinderella) and that will most likely be all grass except for the cane growing along the creek(hence the creek's name-Cane Creek.  )

The slope in front of the homesite will be cleared but again with as many trees as possible without obstructing the view(we chanced into some GREAT mountain views  ) from the future home.

So it isn't outright clearing as with a dozer(the guy doing the driveway has offered to clear the land with his dozer while he is finishing the pad for the barn and the driveway) but more like getting rid of brush,finding what is what(although it seems pretty good so far-no major problems like rocks or steep slopes) and prepping it for the next big step...

Thanks again.


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