Looking for the right tool

[l3lumarlin]

I'd be looking at what machine you need longer term, and maybe buying that. Do what it can do during the setup, and either rent or hire out what it can't do. Otherwise you'll need to buy a too big machine (or wrong machine), then sell/rebuy. Not that it matters that much, tractors don't lose much value.

For some of your setup work a tractor isn't really the right machine. Do you have appetite to buy an older (but big) machine - bulldozer or excavator - until some of the work is done, then sell it?

Sounds like you want a cab tractor? If so, Grand L or M. MX I think doesn't have a factory cab, or at least not a good one? If you want a front snow blower, then Grand L is the right machine. If that's not essential (and you can move snow with a bucket, with a plow truck, with a rear blade, or with a rear blower) then M is an option.

In terms of your jobs:

• Cutting down trees. If someone will cut them and take away the timber, that's great. Otherwise, the actual cutting is a chainsaw, the question is what you're doing once it's cut. If it's a massive pile of firewood, then you need a splitter. Make sure you get rear remotes to run one. If you're trying to get lumber out of it, then you need a sawmill or a guy with a sawmill (probably the latter, they're not super easy to use I gather).
• Cleaning up after cutting down trees. Lots of branches and trash. A grapple is essential, therefore also a third function. Assume you'll make a huge burn pile and just burn it, anything else is too much work
• Stumps need good thought. What are you really doing with them? Grinding them means you're leaving most of it in the ground, they'll rot over time and the ground will subside, and it'll annoy you. You'll be constantly filling/levelling, or driving over holes and mounds. I think it's a better investment to take them out. A TLB is not really the tool for that job - it'll do it in a month of Sundays (as in, 30 Sundays, so half a year or more of work every Sunday). A big excavator will do it in a couple days. But then what - now you have holes all over your property, and a big pile of stumps to burn? A big bulldozer will flatten that again, but your topsoil will all no longer be on top.....and you don't want to bring in soil for 20 acres. Make sure you know the plan for what you're doing with the stumps, I doubt your tractor is really doing it
• Digging ponds can be done (slowly) with a TLB. Putting in a driveway can be done slowly with a bucket. Home foundations can be dug with a TLB. Septic can be installed with a TLB. To be honest, you're spending good money building a nice house, you're not living on the bones of your ass. A professional will do all those jobs way better than you ever will, and the guy plus his machine will cost less than your time/fuel/wear and tear. And the foundations will be straight and level, the driveway will have nice drainage, crowning and fall lines that you'll be pleased with but couldn't do yourself (or wouldn't even know to do), the septic will last a lifetime instead of giving you constant problems because you got something not quite right. I love doing jobs myself, but I'd personally limit myself to installing the pole barns and the like that I'm the only one who uses, and leave the house, septic and driveway (i.e. the bits my spouse uses) to professionals.
• If that's what you're doing, then your tractor is really a farm tractor plus snowblower. Grand-L, perhaps with a backhoe for smaller jobs, would be a great machine for that. Get the snowblower, some rear remotes so you can run a wood splitter and top+tilt for driveway maintenance, 3rd function and a grapple. Get the factory cab. Get a land plane for driveway maintenance. Make the yard bit of your house a couple of acres, and use your tractor to make it very level and lay a beautiful lawn with curves that the tractor can run around. Get a RFM and mow it fast. Get a rotary cutter for keeping the fields down. You'll be super happy.

This is what I'm hoping to do, I don't want to buy too much machine for future use. I'd rather rent/hire out for jobs too big for the tractor until then. I do like the other comment saying to buy a CAT420 for now and sell once we get settled in.

 

[l3lumarlin]

I'm heading in rc51 and Jay's directions too. Have someone else get the stuff out, then start from there.

"At least" 15-20 acres is a sizable clearcut in the northeast, probably more-so in MA.

A regenerated pasture could have some sought-after hardwood species at 40-50 years, although hardwood timber markets are depressed now. Softwood market seems to be robust, at least in my part of NYS.

But for the "BIG" Eastern White Pines, can you generally characterize the 15-20 acre stand as far as species, height, and DBH (diameter breast height...4.5' up)?

Also "form" of the trees - - are they predominately short and bushy, or tall and pole-like?

These are part of my own woods and only a few acres. First photo is a little older than yours, but would be marketable. Second much younger, but tree form and size would make Sale difficult.

View attachment 96174

View attachment 96175

The forestry report says avg diameter 12.5", 10.5 MBF/20 cords per acre. That was from 2005. There's a lot of wood out there.

 

[jyoutz]

The forestry report says avg diameter 12.5", 10.5 MBF/20 cords per acre. That was from 2005. There's a lot of wood out there.

A bit of unsolicited advice from a forester. Talk to state forestry or a consulting forester to have a forest management plan written for your property. Don’t deal with loggers directly; have a professional develop the timber sale contract and help with administering the contract. Lots of landowners have learned this lesson the hard way.

 

[RCW]

^^^^ x2.

I have a degree in Forestry but got diverted to another field 35 years ago.

10.5 MBF/20 cords/acre is quite a bit 18 years ago.

 

[l3lumarlin]

A bit of unsolicited advice from a forester. Talk to state forestry or a consulting forester to have a forest management plan written for your property. Don’t deal with loggers directly; have a professional develop the timber sale contract and help with administering the contract. Lots of landowners have learned this lesson the hard way.

I had a nice talk with the forester who did the survey for the previous owner. I'll likely have him come out and we'll figure out a nice logging plan to maybe clear cut 15-20 acres and selectively harvest the rest. The property used to have 2 saw mills on site about 100 years ago, it abuts a 5000 acre state forest.

 

[BAP]

Why do you want to clear cut 15-20 acres? That’s a lot of land to maintain unless you are going to farm it. Do you even know what 15-20 acres is in terms of actual size? Do you know how to operate equipment? Many people buy equipment with great plans without any clue on how to operate it and never develop the skills.

 

[l3lumarlin]

Why do you want to clear cut 15-20 acres? That’s a lot of land to maintain unless you are going to farm it. Do you even know what 15-20 acres is in terms of actual size? Do you know how to operate equipment? Many people buy equipment with great plans without any clue on how to operate it and never develop the skills.

The acreage being cleared is multi purposed. A portion(likely 10 acres) of the cleared area will be planted into an orchard ( walnut, apple, pear, plum, cherry. The other portion will be cleared for home site, driveway, barn, stable, greenhouse, garden, pond, paddocks, and pasture. The rest of the property will be carefully managed forest where we will tap the sugar maples and grow hay on existing pasture. My wife grew up horseback riding ( got scholarship to college for hunter jumper) and I spent a lot of time on my grandparents farm riding and bailing hay. I have a skid steer and a ventrac on my existing property an hour away where we live on 5 acres surrounded by farms (there's a dairy, horse, cattle and 2 production farms within 1/4 mile of our house). This purchase has been a decade in the making filled with a lot of planning and research and it will take another decade to see it through to completion. Once our kids are in college we plan to make this our primary residence at which point horses and sheep(the area we purchased in is known for sheep) will be present on the property. My main concern is that I don't want to buy a piece of equipment and it not be enough, but I also don't want to get something and it end up being way too much machine for what I need. I'd rather be told "you should get XYZ machine and rent to do tasks 1,2 and 3" than get the machine needed for those tasks just to have too much machine for the long haul. I'm sure at some point ill end up with multiple tractors but right now I just need to get something to at least do basic maintenance of the existing pasture and start roughing in the driveway. Juggling multiple pieces of machinery when all ill have is one temporary garage would be too difficult.

 

[jyoutz]

^^^^ x2.

I have a degree in Forestry but got diverted to another field 35 years ago.

10.5 MBF/20 cords/acre is quite a bit 18 years ago.

Yes, that’s a lot of volume per acre.