Are you one of the two million farmers in the USA we rely on for our daily bread?
Do you want to expand your cultivated area but not sure how to start clearing the necessary land? Perhaps you’ve noticed a growing infestation of alien trees encroaching on your crops and you want to stop them in their tracks?
There are so many questions when it comes to clearing land. Find out more about what’s involved here.
The Ins and Outs of Clearing Land
There are two major issues to deal with during land clearing operations. The first is how to fell the trees and the second is figuring out what to do with them once they’re on the ground.
Another issue is avoiding creating more problems for yourself when you solve one of the above.
If you decide to use a bulldozer, step one is cutting the root system. That means you need to move a whole lot of dirt to get there.
Once you’ve done that, the bulldozer can make quick work of the tree. Problem solved, right? Wrong.
Now you have a big hole where the tree once was. You’ll need to fill that with soil from somewhere else, creating another unwanted hole.
You also have a huge tree strewn across your land taking up plenty of square feet. It’s not easy moving a large tree to a location where you can safely burn or bury it without destroying everything in its path or leaving a messy trail of branches and leaves.
So, while a bulldozer, backhoe, or track hoe have their place in land clearing, specialized land clearing equipment will complete the job way more efficiently, quickly, and safely.
Check out these top machines that make light of all your land clearing tasks.
Skid Steer Attachments
The first skid steers came about in 1958 equipped with 9hp engines. Today, you get skid steers with powerful 100hp engines that are up to any land clearing task.
These machines run on tracks like a bulldozer except they’re made of rubber to minimize the amount of pressure placed on the land. This limits compaction and preserves your soil for future use.
The best thing about skid steers is that you can use them with a variety of attachments and implements. You can change these out in a matter of minutes, transforming your everyday skid steer into a tree guzzler extraordinaire.
When a forestry company makes use of a skid steer, they attach specialized implements that chop the tree into chips before it even touches the ground.
Alternatively, you can use another attachment, called a tree shear, to snip off the trunk at ground level, so it vanishes from sight. Then you can use the tree shear to chop it into firewood or pick it up and carry it out of the forest vertically, so it doesn’t damage anything on the way out.
Another specialized skid steer attachment slides under the stump to cut off the roots and then pick it up and relocate it. There’s no mess, no hole, and no fuss involved.
Stump Grinders
There another option for dealing with stumps too. A stump grinder attaches to a large ride-on mower, excavator, or skid steer.
It works by digging into the center of the stump and chipping away at it with a powerful rotating blade. This device rips the stump to shreds as it turns, reducing it to little more than matchstick-sized wood chips.
You can keep chipping away at the stump until it disappears well below ground level, and you’ll never see it again.
Excavator Power Packs
A forestry excavator power pack attaches to an ordinary excavator and makes short work of mulching stumps, brush, and other undesirables.
It replaces the counterweight on an excavator and boosts hydraulic power to suit the task at hand. These attachments grind everything in their path into easily manageable chips you can scoop up with your bulldozer and cart away.
Since an excavator can reach up higher than most machines, you can tackle taller trees from the top with this type of attachment without the risk of them toppling over onto you or your machinery.
Mulchers and Wood Chippers
Mulchers and wood chippers reduce tough brambles, brushes, and even small trees into small particles that you can leave on the ground as compost or sweep up and cart away.
These attachments are compatible with most tractors, skid steers, and excavators, and are by far the easiest way to clear tenacious bush and brush.
The tractor attachment hooks onto the front of your tractor and you simply drive over the offending vegetation, leaving a trail of ready-made mulch in your wake.
Mulchers make quick work of a task that can take days to complete by hand or with the incorrect machinery.
When they’re reduced to this state, tenacious invasive species can’t simply bounce back as they would if you snipped them off above the ground or cut them with s slasher.
Mulching plants in this way doesn’t spread the seed pods far and wide as other methods do, it mulches them along with the rest of the plant.
Get Help When You Need It
Clearing land is always a major job, but you can make it so much easier when you have the right equipment for the job. Don’t waste time and valuable resources, rather take advantage of professional forestry supplies and all they can do for you.
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