25 Acre clearing job. (Dirtman,TSS,ARP) lil help?

[alldayrj]

With that style grapple you could probably keep it open and a couple inches out of the dirt and make looooong pushes like plowing snow (I'm assuming this grass is light) pushing right towards the road
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[Dirtman2007]

Well you know that would burn well.... just saying

I would like most everyone said go through there and pick up all the trash that the brush dump wont take. this will prolly take a few people some time to do so looking at all your pics.

then I'd run around and pick up all the large poles and debris and pile that seperate. now you say you want to rake up all the grass?

by the time you run around grabbing the poles and raking the grass up theres not going to be much "grass" left anyways.

If it was my job one all the trash was picked up I'd run the dozer with the root rake through it and rake it all into a row or pile near the road to be loaded out.

[Junior M]

It's hard to estimate how long but it's gonna be slow carrying one grapple at a time to the road. It was slow going on my last 5 acre thinning job and we were only carrying from the back to around the middle.
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[Cornell]

Sounds like a plan. It's a great job to use for bidding similar projects in the future IMO. It's just hard to knwo what pace you can keep without having done it before. Would just hate to see you not make a profit because of not having done something like it before and underbidding it.

If it were me with your equipment I would:

Find cheap labor to pick up smaller trash you don't want to mulch/mow up. Hook your tractor up to your gooseneck if possible and throw it in the trailer so you don't have to make so many trips back and forth to the road with a grapple. That trailer IIRC is a decent size and could hold quite a bit of trash.

Meanwhile you would be moving the big trash with the T300 and bucket/grapple.... and brushhogging/mowing the areas the cheap labor already cleaned up while they moved onto a different section.

Grapple the big trash (poles, downed trees, heavy stuff, etc) to the road and put in a separate pile.

Bush hog everything twice and don't even bother pushing it to the road. Will like really nice when done I think.

Again like Andrew said you will use more fuel than you think!

edit: It's interesting to see everyone's spin on this!

[weesa20]

If it were me i would use your tractor and forget about the rentals- rent/buy a root rake or grapple for the loader or a large rake for the 3 pt hitch. Pick up all the big stuff- haul it to the road. Then rake with the rake on an angle to windrow it and then haul it to the road for pick up. Then bush hog. Seems you're putting a lot of money in your friend's rental company pockets.

[whiffyspark]

I agree with dirtman. I'd get around a d5 size machine and run up and down windrow the trash
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[mellimac]

I think there are two ways to skin this property...dozer with rake or lots of laborers to pick up the trash, machine for big stuff, then bush hog it with your tractor. I only spent a couple years down there (seismic), but I'd be worried about getting your tractor stuck in the soft spots.

Shame you can't burn it...one day to pick up big stuff, make a fire break, and another to burn.

I agree with others about time...as straightforward as it may be, 25 acres is 25 acres...

[KrayzKajun]

Or i can do the job using the equipment i own. My mustang skidsteer w/ grapple. And my 4wd tractor w/ feint end loader and the only rental fee would be a root grapple for $225/week.
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[alldayrj]

If you think the ground will support tire machines thats obviously the way to go.
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[KrayzKajun]

I walked over 3/4s of the property so its pretty hard. Before the property was flooded and covered with debris it was bushhogged once a month. It does have some soft spots but i can mark them off.
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