cedar clearing

[smwhorn]

We are looking to clear a bunch of cedar from our ranch property near Lampasas. Has anyone done this lately? If so, what company did you use?

Thanks in advance.

 

[NCAAFBALLROX]

There's three ways of doing this:

1. You do it by hand with as many friends as will work for beer & burgers with you supplying all the tools & chainsaws / etc.
2. You hire out as many Mexicans as you can afford @ around $ 11.00 an hour with you supplying all the tools & chainsaws / etc.
3. You find a co. that has any of the following: chipper / shredder fan blade type, hydro-axe, or a related product.

A hydro axe is going to be your fastest way to work, but a bunch of guys with chainsaws will be the most "surgical" & save more Oaks than the other methods. The big 'ol blades know nothing about good vs. evil...

The pics I have posted are mostly from wimberleyconstruction.com & you can look them up to see if they'd go as far as Lampassas. Prices will be fluid right now due to the cost of diesel going so high.

 

[badexcuse]

You, my friend, are about to embark amongst one of man's greatest challenges. Good luck, and God be with you.

 

[El Sapo]

You might be able to get a lot of it done for free.

We have a crew out here (Kerrville area) that cuts cedar for use in the perfume industry. They cut it, load it themselves, and haul it off on an 18 wheeler about once a week. We don't pay them a dime and they supply themselves with everything. The guys live out here full time in their own camp and cut cedar 7 days a week.

I don't know how big your ranch is or what kind of cedar you have, so it may or may not be practical for you. These guys go after the big stuff / heart cedar mostly and aren't interested in the dumpy, bushy, stuff that is increasingly more common. Also, you would still need to pay someone to come along behind them with some clippers or a weedwhacker to get all the small stuff the crew will pass over. A lot of the guys on the crew are looking for extra cash so we've payed them to clean up the small stuff in their free time.

Pros : A lot of your cedar is cleared for free
Cons : It's a somewhat slow process. They aren't always good about cutting the tree completely at the base so you're often left with 'second growth' that you have to come behind and clean up. The crew will live on your ranch. They're generally very respectful but there have been a few 'issues' we've encountered... like the time I found one of the workers drunk in a ditch.

If you use a service or some other arrangement to clear the cedar and they're going to leave you with the piles, you might look into a new company called Mesquite Fuels. We are looking in to them and are still working out a contract for our ranch in Eden, Texas. They're looking to burn brush : Mesquite, Cedar, and almost anything I understand, for use as energy. They're a new company and I'm not sure what area they service but they'll come out - free of charge and take your old brush piles off your hands. I believe they will clear mesquite down to the tap root but I am not sure if they clear cedar. I guess they would, too.

Lastly, $11 per hour sounds a touch high for an hourly rate if you go that route. You might pitch a shade lower or offer $40-$50 per day plus food & lodging - if you're in the position to do that on your place. I think this would have you coming out ahead in the long run.

Hope this helps.

 

[Thunderhoof]

Hey fellas (I'm still waiting for you to show up out here one of these days, NCAA).

We've cleared a lot of cedar out here over the past few years, using just about every method you can imagine. I've cut and dragged it, stacked and burned it. I've used shears and a grappler on a Bobcat (this is my method of choice if time is not of the essence. I've used a bulldozer and burned piles of the **** as big as my house. We've used controlled burns and we've had crews with clippers remove young juniper from open pasture.

Last year, we hired these guys cedarsolutions.org/index.html

We have used them some recently, too. Apparently some of their business has dried up with the economy where it is right now, so we got them at sort of a deal. You'll have to see what they offer. We had them use a "cedar eater", much like the photos on NCAA's post. Incidentally, they are from Drippin', as the man says.

I think there are some downsides to mulching the stuff, depending on your situation. The mulch that the big machines make is not stuff like you buy from the store. It's bigger and rougher, and it's also a danger to tires, both ATV and truck tires. Also, big cedar mulch lasts a long time. You will still be looking at it out in the pasture a few years from now, because there are places where the machine will leave it pretty thick on the ground. Grass, agarita, and persimmon take awhile to poke back up through the really thick mulch.

The main plus of the mulching method is that it's really fast, and you don't have to burn. In places where cedar is really thick, you need to be burning as you go with other methods. Besides not being the most environmentally friendly thing to do, there are huge periods of time where burn bans may impede your progress. Also, the big piles of the stuff that you'll end up with take up room, and sooner or later you won't have any space for new piles unless you are burning regularly.

In short, if you want it done fast, hire somebody to turn the things to mulch. If time is not really a concern, you might explore different options. Your options will also change depending on just how much sweat and blood you are willing to shed on this project. Believe me, there are routes you can take that will result in shedding both in liberal amounts.

Good luck.

 

[NCAAFBALLROX]

Thunderhoof,

I've been wanting to make it up thataways for some time now... just never seems to be the right opportunity.

One thing that you can count on with a "burn in the pile you make right there" type thing, is you're creating craters of scorched Earth. Cedars burn quite hot & it will take awhile for the ground to recover. The nice thing about chipping it up is that you can use it for erosion control if you have issues anywhere.

 

[judgroybeanbag]

Like they said, if you aren't concerned so much with time, hand-clearing and renting a big chipper/mulcher is the way to go. If you hire a hydro-axe, you will NOT be able to use it for pasture for at least 4 or 5 years.

I've used bulldozers, hydro-axes, and chainsaws - chainsaws are the least destructive and allow you to keep the stuff you want to keep. 2 good workers with a chainsaw and mulcher can clear an acre a day.

 

[NCAAFBALLROX]

JudgeRoy, I declare 'shenanigans' on that "acre a day".

I don't know if that's full on cedars or what, but that seems to be mighty fast work to me.

 

[Thunderhoof]

Spot on about the scorched earth where piles are burned, NCAA.

Generally, we plant native grasses on newly cleared land. Where we burned piles, we back drag with a dozer and then replant. We usually have grass back in those areas quickly, and you can't tell where the piles were burned within a year or two.

I have see places where large cedar piles were burned stay barren for years, but following these steps solved that problem for us.

I agree that an acre a day seems very optimistic with only two capable men on the job.

I should reiterate that my method of choice is a bobcat with shears and a grappler attachment. Having a couple of guys on the ground with chainsaws and clippers helps out a lot with this technique, too. What makes this method so great is that it doesn't disturb the topsoil nearly as much as some other methods. Again, burning is pretty much the way to go here, and that is probably the only drawback I can think of with this method.

I have to admit that I draw sadistic pleasure from destroying juniper. There are state regs against bringing down a juniper over 14" in diameter. I might have done that a time or two, but the really old growth junipers I always leave alone. They are actually pretty when they are large trees. It's the regrowth that is so damned ugly.

We also have places where we will trim tree shaped junipers up and save them for fence posts and potentially furniture.

 

[judgroybeanbag]

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[NCAAFBALLROX]

My planned method for cedar whackin':
Get a chainsaw on a pole; cut away @ branches next to the trunk from 6' away. Gain entry without having to cut a few just to get into the trunk.

Have 2 guys doing the draggin' because when one is out, the other is coming back in & you can keep on cutting.

Once you're into the trunk, do your faster cuts with a shorter chainsaw (easier to balance, faster chain speed, easier to use overall). This also applies to cedars you intend to fully take down or cut for deadman type posts, i.e. 5+ ft. circumference.

Make strategic piles & do this all @ one time.

Come back the next day or occasion with a chipper & do 90% of your chipping all @ one time (I am a fan of the Vermeer units like they rent @ Big Orange Box). The way I figure it, why pay rental for it to just sit there & not get used most of the time.

For scraps that we don't burn, I lay out two long pieces of chain (like 50' long) & pile the cedars on top of the chain, then when @ the right size pile, I fold the chain back towards the truck & drag it into the horse pasture. I burn it there 'cause ain't nothing going to hurt 6" of built up horse ****. All I end up with are smaller bits & some ashes, but the ground isn't sterilized too badly.

Oh, & on the subject of stumps: Get the hydro-axe to cut stumps to around 18" above grade, then drill a few holes as deep as you can... get the really long auger bits. Next, pour salt down the holes & set the stump & root system to drying out.

You then have two choices: Pull the stump in 6 months & that leaves a large crater OR you can use a chainsaw & cut the stump as close to grade as you want it. The reason for the 18" stump is so that you have something to grab onto when it comes time to pull it out.