Forestry Mulching

Watching this stuff is addicting - these guys can turn a mess into a beautiful sight in no time

or a beautiful property in to a clear cut clean mulched open acreage in not time too

The only problem is everyone and their brother owns a skid steer with a mulching head these days. Some of them are good, many are not and it is hard to know how good they are until after they are done!

Great point

So many questions on this topic.

I've been looking at this for almost a year, but yet to pull the trigger. I love the look from selective clearing, but I have also seen some bad jobs, where stumps and stubs were left sticking up and trunks left half shredded. I've tried to talk to two landowners that have had work I like done, but neither will return my calls. Who has had this done personally? Did you like the results? Who did you use? How was the work quoted? (Fixed fee, hourly, by the acre?) Can these things shred an old fence line if there is buried barbed wire,or does that need to be carefully removed?

Virgin East TX hardwoods bottom (near Palestine ), never grazed. I'm looking to get 1200' of county road frontage cleared back 60 -100 feet, leaving big trees, plus another 3500 feet of fence line cleared cleared for a new fence, plus about 5 acres cleared of underbrush, leaving the big trees. Lot of trees up to 8",maybe 10", need to come out . From what I read, the skid steer mulchers are under powered to do this efficiently.

Any advice or people I should be talking to?

Thanks

My first call would be to the Texas A&M Forest Service office there in Palestine. They may maintain a list of local reputable vendors that can help you out. I know we do at my office, but we dont cover that area. The new statewide vendor database is kind of a mess and hard to navigate. It shows the vendor contact info, but doesn' have a detailed list of the equipment they have so you just have to call and ask. It can be found here: https://texasforestinfo.tamu.edu/MyLandManagementConnector/FindSP

Look for a vendor that can provide references and can show you a portfolio of past work. Look for a website, google their name, check out their Facebook page. Skid steer mulchers are capable, but with that much work you may be better off in the long run looking for someone with a dedicated forestry mulcher.

Next, a reputable vendor should be willing to meet you at the property and look at the proposed project for free. You should not have to pay any sort of fee for a vendor to look at your job. EVERY aspect of the job needs to be looked at, and your expectations should be clear and up-front. I get so many calls from upset landowners that want us to do something about a job they are not satisfied with. These mostly end up being a case of the landowner telling the contractor to "Get after it" with no real guidance on expectation. What looks good to the operator may be different in your eyes, but they are not mind readers. You cant hire someone to come paint your house and tell them to "Get after it", then be upset when it isnt the right color! Eliminate the guess work.

The old barbed wire will have to be removed or marked. This will wreak havoc on a mulching head.

The pricing of the job will vary from vendor to vendor. Most will bid by the hour because it is so hard to tell what they may come across once they get off in the woods. Some vendors who know the capabilities of their machines MAY be able to bid by the acre, but that is another topic of discussion to be had in the beginning. Before any work starts, you need to have some sort of signed agreement.

It should also be noted that mulching is not a "One and done" treatment. You WILL have to keep it mowed or sprayed to keep the vegetation from taking over. Mulching is just a tool to give you access to the property and allow other, cheaper machinery in to work (Tractor, lawn mower, ect)

Call Lonestar land enhancement. It's who I worked for and they do a great job taking care of the customer.

Big country you always take the time for good explanations. You’re awesome

My experience. I had seen videos of the mulcher with the round tiller looking attachment. They seem to be key words forest mulcher what I got was a forest brush cutter and mulcher and it was like a front mount brush hog with a round disk and big re-moveable teeth. It could take down a 10 inch Black Jack. I only had 7 to 8 acres of 25 year under growth under big Oak trees of brush, brambles, cedars, mesquites and blackjact/Locust.

I think I had the right machine and operator $1,000.00 for a day more or less, as he made lots more progress than the mulchers. Concern is the shattered pieces of Mesquites and locust with thorns all around. Next concern is super big chore to get control over grow backs on mesquites, junipers and locust.... NOTE it look damn nice. Deer hunterquit saying I ruined deer habitat.

The real forestry mulchers spins vertically not horizontally these are the good ones, I have a Bradco 72" it's a 30k attachment and is what you want doing your work with even that said 8" is the biggest it can do with a 95 hp skid steer, if the ground is clean with no rocks you cna really get the mulcher down low and clean it up good if you have rocks most guys arent gonna dig their teeth into the soil and tear up the teeth their $300 a peice if you break them. We normally charge between $1000-1500 an acre depending on size of job and how thick the brush is or difficulty.of the job.

I used this guy and was very happy with the results. Cleared a shooting lane and a food plot and roads through the trees.
I would use again without any hesitation. Here is photo of shooting lane before and after. This was near Hughes Springs.
Joe at Adams Mulching Co. 903-733-7617