Just bought some property and wanting to make some it pasture for cows. It's currently woods. Big trees and little really just untouched woods. It's probably 3 or 4 acres. What's my best route here. If logged I would love to have them pushed over so im not dealing with stumps.
I doubt "logging" profit would cover "clearing" cost. The two would seemingly over lap. My experience is a few clearing grading outfits would do work and keep the logs. Sometimes for a cheaper fee. But often just to pad the profit margin. As for loggers most are interested in getting the timber and moving on. Only the really good ones even clean up after themselves at all. And the greedy one charge for that professional touch. Much less roads and landing zones.
If it's smaller acreage either or may be less interested. I had a dozen very large pines pushed out. Nobody wanted to relocate equipment for a small load. Unless it was free. Hope it's hardwoods. You'll have more interest and possible income.
Outside that, if it's some acreage...like over ten. I'd get a Forester come do a real survey of the intended cut. Then open it for bid from a list he provided.
I had two acres cleared and it was 7500 bucks. It went from 40 years of growth and 100+ ft tall pines to ready to grow grass. Just depends on how bad you want it cleared. The guy gave me a fixed price and I know him well enough to trust him. He said he made out decent on it and I did too, so no complaints here. Some people will charge by the hour...sometimes that works out, sometimes it doesn't.
He had a buyer for the pine and I let him pile up some stuff in the back and make a berm...it gives me a back stop for shooting and it'll rot away after a few years. It kept me from having to pay to haul ALL of it off. Every time a truck leaves, it costs you more money.
If your lucky you might find a small(one or two man operation) outfit that would be interested in paying you something for the timber but keep in mind alot of the guys have no kind of insurance at all. They just can't afford it. A larger outfit can't justify moving their equipment for such a small parcel. But if you can get someone to pay you something for timber you could put that toward stumping/clearing.
Other have said in the past, as DLOR says, buy a excavator [Used] for the short term; something you can sell later. Do your own clearing. Give the logs away, to get them hauled, unless you have a way. You might find a NC4x4 member that has a machine & time, willing to help you.
I cleared most of mine using a small dozer. I had a small local guy come in and take away the bigger pine. Got nothing from it, but it didn't cost me anything. I've hauled a few logs myself. Very market dependent. One time I got $27 for about 3 trees, and one time closer to $250 for the same amount. If you can find someone who does timber and firewood, they might give you a little for the pine and a little for the hardwoods. But your best bet is to check craigslist/etc and call around.
For 3-4 acres you will be best off just offering it up as free IF they clear all the stumps. I would make them stack all the wood off to the side until they were done with the stump clearing though.
