Land Clearing - Any Experience with rotary skid steer cutters?

Has anyone had any experience with these rotary brush cutters that are mounted on skid steers?

http://brushbusters.biz/videos

I recently got a place that was completely neglected by the previous tenant and there are cedar trees, black berry thickets and general brush are grown up all over that a brush hog will not be able to handle; and I got a couple of quotes from different skid steer operators for brush clearing and I honestly believe its the right tool for the job....

Only thing that has me hung up about it is that the skid steers with brush cutters are being quoted at $150-$165hr while I can get a D6 for $135hr.

Just wondering if the added maneuverability, speed of travel, less disturbance to soil and most importantly production is worth the extra $30hr over a D6?

Depending on how big the trees are a forestry mulcher will be much faster / more productive per hour and reduce / eliminate debris piles. They walk right through underbrush / thickets.
The chips it produces can be left to break down on the surface then turned into the soil or stockpiled.

If soil disturbance is a concern a dozer is a last resort, but a track hoe or dozer is necessary if dealing with large trees to get the roots.

No matter what, if you don't get the roots much of the brush will grow back.

I agree with Rustler. Those mulchers do a good job (cosmetically) but if you really want to clear a property then you need to doze and root plow. I leased a place in S. Texas where the rancher had a pasture mulched. The brush grew back worse than ever in about 5 years.

I had a guy try to convince me to forestry mulch my place with alot of Mesquite and Honey Locust. I told him that would just piss it off and he got pissed, lol. If you are dealing with thorny plants you need to go after the root system.

I found a gentlemen that uses a bobcat with a hydralic fork that gets below the crown root and pulls it up completely. Some ground disturbance but the brush is gone...good luck!

I've had about 800 acres of cedar cut with a bobcat and shears.

A couple of pieces of info. If your cedar is blueberry juniper you can get by with shearing it only. It will not grow back from the root. If it's red berry juniper you have to poison the root after cutting (or doze it).

A word of caution about those mulching machines. If you have a high concentration of cedar you are going to need to do something with the mulch (unless you want a giant mulched bed). Those things were gaining popularity until folks discovered that nothing would grow under the layer of cedar mulch.

Thanks for the input guys!

I should have mentioned location- This property is in Oklahoma about 20min north east of the Choctaw Casino in Durant.

Cedars - I have been told by several qualified people and other property owners in the area; that they will not grow back if taken to ground level.

I don't have large clumps of cedar, they are just spread out and they are mostly in the pastures that I am trying to clean up so a brush hog can be brought in, any piles of cedar mulch should be small enough for the brush hog to roll over and spread evenly.

Black Berry - The plan of action that I was going with was to have them taken down to ground level while its still warm enough for them to start growing back, which I know they will start doing in a hurry and come back stronger than ever in the beginning.

After mowing them down the new growth on the berry thickets will be sprayed with a herbicide combination and the plants will absorb the herbicide and take it into the root system to kill it out.

I have been researching and talking to several Agriculture agents & professors and the concept of cutting then spraying the new growth will not provide an immediate kill; instead it is meant to get the herbicide deep into the roots as the plants become dormant and initiate a complete kill.

I know I will be having to bring in an excavator and D6 to fix the larger problems I have, I'm just trying to clean the place up as much as I can before bringing the heavy equipment in so they can concentrate on doing the heavy work in isolated areas instead of spending time traveling around and pushing over light brush.

On another note has anyone hired someone to come in and brush hog their place?

I'm not at the stage of building a barn to park a tractor in and would like to put that off for a couple of years - If I can get the place cleaned up with the skid steer brush mover what do you think would be the going rate to have 80-90ac of pasture mowed?

I would look for someone in the immediate area. Maybe a local rancher who wants to pick up some extra money. JMO

I recently got a quote for $10 an ac.to mow plus a trip charge because I was out of his 30 mile radius.

Good luck.

I would.... But their all busy cutting hay

The hydro axes are very high maint. And expensive to work on and you need a 90hp + skid steer to run them, in my opinion it's better to sub out someone