Clearing Land

[Cedarsavage]

So I have 14 acres, and want to put buckwheat and rye on 1/4 acre of it. I have a couple trees to drop but it’s mostly clear except the pungy sticks left from cutting poplar saplings and worse than that raspberries that take everything over. Looking for advice on how to get it ready for planting. Right now I got two ideas.
1. Rent a skid steer on tracks $1k for a weekend and use the bucket to rip as much out as I can and do minimal leveling. The leveling isn’t really even necessary. Or
2. Buy a gas rototiller and keep tilling multiple times to kill the roots of the raspberries.

I’m hoping the buckwheat will choke out the undesirables and then replant with rye in the fall. I really don’t wanna spray with glyphosate so I’m trying to avoid that. I can afford the $1,000 for the skid steer but I hate to dump that sort of cash if I don’t have to. What do you food plot gurus think?

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Try to find someone with a forestry mulcher. That's what I did on my place in MO. That thing took down everything in it's path. Then keep it mowed.

 

[Skerhunter]

I would look at what attachments are for rent with the skid steer. Lots of options for clearing trees/brush. Then follow up with a disc or tiller if needed.

For the small area you need done it maybe worth it to hire it out (~$150/hr for a few hours is all it would take).

 

[omicron1792]

I would look at what attachments are for rent with the skid steer. Lots of options for clearing trees/brush. Then follow up with a disc or tiller if needed.

For the small area you need done it maybe worth it to hire it out (~$150/hr for a few hours is all it would take).

Agree. Cheaper (and prob better) to rent it out.

I rent a skid at my farm for a month at a time. There is a learning curve If you don’t do it for a living.

 

[rookieforever33]

I used to use my garden roto tiller to till a plot that size. Always took 2 passes at 1 1/2 hours each. Stumps would shear pins constantly adding to that time if I did not avoid them. I suggest renting the skiddy. You dont necessarily need the track model. The implement needs to go slow anyway

 

[Maverick1]

So I have 14 acres, and want to put buckwheat and rye on 1/4 acre of it. I have a couple trees to drop but it’s mostly clear except the pungy sticks left from cutting poplar saplings and worse than that raspberries that take everything over. Looking for advice on how to get it ready for planting. Right now I got two ideas.
1. Rent a skid steer on tracks $1k for a weekend and use the bucket to rip as much out as I can and do minimal leveling. The leveling isn’t really even necessary. Or
2. Buy a gas rototiller and keep tilling multiple times to kill the roots of the raspberries.

I’m hoping the buckwheat will choke out the undesirables and then replant with rye in the fall. I really don’t wanna spray with glyphosate so I’m trying to avoid that. I can afford the $1,000 for the skid steer but I hate to dump that sort of cash if I don’t have to. What do you food plot gurus think?

Not sure what type of equipment you have, but you could look into frost seeding and planting food plots without a tractor/ATV. Has worked well for me under the right circumstances. Glyphosate is typically needed with that approach to keep the weeds manageable. (If you have the equipment, time, and $ though, the tractor or equipment way works, too.)

 

[Macintosh]

Not necessarily what you asked, but food for thought—around me raspberries are great wildlife cover and food, including for deer who browse the leaves pretty heavily as well as bed in the bramble patches. Rather than replace a zero-maintenance native food source, why not cut more trees elsewhere for a food plot rather than replacing whats already there?

 

[rookieforever33]

When I bought my property I was excited by all the rasberries. I have never seen deer do anything but avoid them. Trails loop around them with a wide berth. Cut them back and they grow right back, especially at the edge of mowed trails. Those thornes rip off and bed in your skin also. Im not saying they dont have a place. Just saying deer or myself do not love them like I thought we would.

 

[30338]

Hit it with glyphosate in the spring, hit it again 4-6 weeks later. Throw in a variety of wheat, or cereal rye in late August and brush hog all the dead stuff down over the seeds. Google throw and mow for more ideas of low cost successful food plots.

 

[Teodoro]

We took out a blackberry patch about that size a few years ago. Paid a neighbor who was good with a skidsteer to do the work. I didn't have to go through a learning curve, and it also meant I didn't have to bother renting and transporting the equipment myself. For something I was going to have to pay for one way or the other, I thought it was a much better deal.

 

[Legend]

So I have 14 acres, and want to put buckwheat and rye on 1/4 acre of it. I have a couple trees to drop but it’s mostly clear except the pungy sticks left from cutting poplar saplings and worse than that raspberries that take everything over. Looking for advice on how to get it ready for planting. Right now I got two ideas.
1. Rent a skid steer on tracks $1k for a weekend and use the bucket to rip as much out as I can and do minimal leveling. The leveling isn’t really even necessary. Or
2. Buy a gas rototiller and keep tilling multiple times to kill the roots of the raspberries.

I’m hoping the buckwheat will choke out the undesirables and then replant with rye in the fall. I really don’t wanna spray with glyphosate so I’m trying to avoid that. I can afford the $1,000 for the skid steer but I hate to dump that sort of cash if I don’t have to. What do you food plot gurus think?

You should embrace herbicide use. Hit it at least twice this spring before you get equipment in. And then after the ground is prepped promote the weeds, trees, and raspberries to grow one last time.....and hit it again with herbicide.

You really want to eliminate all competition before you put your preferred seed down. Farm it.

 

[Random Dude Guy]

I agree with what everyone else is saying, if there's a local guy with a mulching head, he could have that done relatively quick. Or, by looking at the photo, a front brushog implement on a rented skid steer wouldn't take long at all either.

However, as someone else mentioned, keep as much cover and brush as possible. Food is but 1 aspect to seeing deer. The other two, which are more likely to hold deer in your area, is water and cover.

Maybe you know this, maybe you don't. No need clearing 5 acres or something if you're planting on 1/4.

 

[Arcola]

I’ll second the forestry mulcher. There is no better tool for that job. I would check local classifieds for someone doing it for hire with their machine though. By the time you rent a skid and the mulching head AND get the hang of using it, you’ll be well over $1k.