Big forestry mulchers - work rate?

[RichardT]

I want to reclaim some spruce clearfell for other uses, I can find hourly hire rates for Ahwis etc locally but no indicator of how long it takes them to grind their way through an acre. Obviously site-specific, but ballpark/average?

[Chris Sheppard]

What part of the country are you in? I have a mate with a 300+ hp tractor mounted mulcher who covers most of northern england and that thing makes short work of anything.

 

PM me if you want his number and he should be able to give you an idea of price

[Buzz]

How big are the trees ? What size machine where you looking at hiring in ? Access etc etc. How fine do you want it mulched ?

 

They's get an acre done with a big machine in about 3/4 day with 2 passes. You should be looking around 700-1k + haulage.

[Mr Ed]

Has the spruce already been harvested? ie. is it just the lop and top thats left? how many acres?

[RichardT]

Yes, clearfelled 2 yrs ago, stumps up to +/-22", I just want some usable grass so I don't need stumps lifting, just mulched to a whisker below final ground level. I've lifted & burned on small areas before but 1 Ha+/- with my wheezing old digger is a lifetime and if I have to hire in a big 360 I may as well bite the bullet & get a mulcher in instead.

[Buzz]

You'll have to scrape it off with a 360 and brash rake afterwards anyway and bund the arisings if you want to stick down grass.

[Tom D]

i have seen a patch of land that was mulched a year or so ago, it has grassed over really well, it was larch rather than spruce but i would say the mulcher would be ideal for the job. Just run over it a few times then seed it.

[RichardT]

The wood's been a plantation in some form since the 1810s at the latest, so the soil's taken a hammering anyway and will need tlc for a while. I meant grass as distinct from cultivable land. Or heather/blaeberry/ birch scrub, which is the local default, and we've plenty of that already.

[Mr Ed]

You'll have to scrape it off with a 360 and brash rake afterwards anyway and bund the arisings if you want to stick down grass.

 

Ditto.

 

The kind of vegitation that grows through a mulching job is not that nice. Usually docks, nettles, gorse etc.

 

To do a good job of the mulching would also require an excavator and rake working alongside the mulcher, otherwise you just get the top skimmed over.

[Rt400]

Hi Richard, if you have a look at my website we own and operate a RT400, drop me a line and I will get you a quote