Dirt Men ? Dozer or Excavator for small brush?

[fantasymaker]

For small brush clearing which do you prefer Dozer or Excavator? Brush rake, stumper or something else?
I'm looking at 20 creek bottom acres with one area mostly 3 inches or smaller and a lot of briar's and another area very clear except for trees 4 to 16 inches concentrated in the 6 to 10 inch sizes.

[fordson major]

this for the small stuff, excavator for the bigger!!

YouTube

[Darren]

I've got some scattered brush in an old pasture I'm thinking of removing. I'll probably leave some of it for bird cover. For the rest I'm thinking about getting one of these:

YouTube

It would be somewhat slow for one man to use, but for scattered stuff it would be inexpensive.

[maverickxxx]

is the area really wet

[BTO]

For brush that is 2.5" and under I used a DR field and brush mower. My wife and I did 15 acres. It's better than a bush hog in that it mulches the brush and pulverizes the stump that is left behind. The stump rots better and doesn't puncture tractor tires when you roll over them. I really can't say enough good things about the machine. I have a 30", 17HP pro model. It is virtually indestructable! Its true, I can't count the number of big rocks I hit with it. Other than having to file the blade it took a likin' and kept on ticken'!

Edited to add link:

YouTube

YouTube

[ryanthomas]

Of your choices, dozer. Here's what the guys who did mine used:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJxlK-_vUrs

[agmantoo]

Since you have 20 acres and not 2 and area is near a creek I would use a KG blade on a dozer. It will be fast and can handle the mix of trees and brush that you have to clear.

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[Climber]

Depending on what you want to use the land for afterwards, you may want to consider hiring someone with a forestry mower

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Most of the smaller units can handle trees up to 6" and it leave behind nice mulch that rots out quickly. I cleared out 10 acres with one last year and am very happy with the results. No big dozer tracks, no mud holes, no big brush piles. Just nice fluffy mulch left over.

[PrairieOaks]

I second the forester mower, we did 70 acres several years ago. Have used a dozer in the past and would never go back unless the stumps need to come out for row cropping.

[Ross]

I'd choose an excavator because it strips brush cleaner and you can make piles where you want easier. Dozer should be cheaper though. Nice thing about an excavator is you can hook out rocks and rip out temporary ditches to drain wet spots. JMO

[agmantoo]

Price will have you to reconsider the dozer once you get the quotes. The track hoe/excavator is great for stumps but it moves from point to point slowly. The brush mower is an expensive machine to hire as it is very high maintenance. The dozer will be fast and yes the finish is not as good as the other two but you can manage the acreage to take care of that. The dozer can level fairly well as it strips the brush.

[highlands]

Depends on if you're in a rush or patient.

Rush: dozer in the cold of winter.

Patient: pigs and sheep.

The patient way will give better pastures.

[Wayne02]

Originally Posted by Ross

I'd choose an excavator because it strips brush cleaner and you can make piles where you want easier. Dozer should be cheaper though. Nice thing about an excavator is you can hook out rocks and rip out temporary ditches to drain wet spots. JMO

We have both an excavator and a dozer and use the excavator for most of the brush clearing chores. It provides a large amount of flexibility as Ross points out, and something that many folks don't consider is it tears up the land much less than a dozer does.

An excavator with a thumb (make sure get one with a thumb) and a brush rake attachment is a flexible, brush clearing, burn pile stacking, small tree removing, stump digging, ditch digging power house. In addition, if you need to finish level the site you can use the blade on the excavator, but the best method is to clamp a large piece of steel I-beam in the thumb and use it to rake the area level.

We don't even use the dozer to make or feed the burn piles any longer. Even with a careful operator the dozer pushes up too much dirt into the pile, where the excavator feeds clean fuel to the top of the pile and keeps the pile burning clean and hot.

[BamaSpek]

forrestry mulcher if somone in the area has one. The benifit is it leaves behind mulch so there is no erosion.

[Tricky Grama]

Originally Posted by BTO

For brush that is 2.5" and under I used a DR field and brush mower. My wife and I did 15 acres. It's better than a bush hog in that it mulches the brush and pulverizes the stump that is left behind. The stump rots better and doesn't puncture tractor tires when you roll over them. I really can't say enough good things about the machine. I have a 30", 17HP pro model. It is virtually indestructable! Its true, I can't count the number of big rocks I hit with it. Other than having to file the blade it took a likin' and kept on ticken'!

Edited to add link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lARerPPgYKk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yESegO-AQlQ&NR=1

Can't tell ya how valuable our DR mower has been. Even runs thru 3" saplings.

Patty

[fantasymaker]

Sorry folks Ive been working in the creek bottom......
The area is wet now and will be used for row crops as soon as its both clear of brush and dry....so it needs to be a pretty good clean job with the stumps and roots out.

[maverickxxx]

i would go with excavtor then you will have alot less area dirturbed dig stumps out know trees and also you can rough in the wet areas alot easier when mudy and spongey

[agmantoo]

fantasymaker

For the 20 acre creek bottom what is the budget that is allocated for the clearing?

[fantasymaker]

$20,000?

[just_sawing]

Forestry Mulcher builds the ground and I charge $100 per hour 5 hour min.