I had two large Ash tree stumps that size. Hired a guy that showed up with a remote control stump grinder. Took him about 40 minutes to grind both of them about 12" below ground. Dug all the mulch out with mybskud steer and filled it with dirt. He charged me $175. Located in Buffalo, NY.
What kind of maintenance comes along with the forestry mulcher? I've been looking at getting one. After a job such as this, what do you typically do to maintain the mulching capability? Do you have to sharpen the blade studs very often? Are they, or the central drum, easily replaceable? Thanks.
I could surely use someone like yourself right now. Just had 2 1/2 acres of planted long leaf pines cut now have all the tops and stumps to deal with. Biggest stump is about 24" average is 12
If you are trying to carve a 2 acre food plot area out of a cutover/clearcut with stumps in it from 80 yr old loblollies that were harvested, would it better to get an excavator to pull out the stumps, pile and burn? Trying to decide whether to use a mulcher or an excavator
Hi I just watched your video as I have a huge willow stump I need to remove and would rather just going it down. We have a diamond cut forestry mulcher which I'm wondering maybe a little large. Could you send me the information of your mulcher please
Hi I’m considering starting a mulching business in central texas where we have Cedar trees and in lots of places it’s so thick you can’t even walk through it. Could you please give me an idea how much it cost to operate that bobcat per hour ? Thanks!
Hi, and thanks for watching! No matter how you slice it, the answer is “quite a bit.” It is important for you to know the cost of your cutting blades or carbides, and roughly how long you should expect them to last, and the same for other longer-range costs like new tracks. And fuel, and regular maintenance, as well as certain other parts that will break and will cost you extra money and/or downtime. And transportation, insurance, payroll, and taxes. My advice would be something like this. Texas has a load of mulching contractors, That’s something to consider, but it isn’t a dealbreaker necessarily. You just need to get a good sense of the demand before you make this big of an investment. If the demand is there, go for it. Regarding how to charge: Do as much research in your area as you can to find out the standard rate for this type of work. Once you know that...here’s the important part...put yourself right in the middle of it. If you try to undercut your own market, several things will happen. One, you won’t last long. The market is where it is for a reason. It’s more expensive to do this than you think. Two, the other contractors in the area will hate you. Not just because you’re stealing their business, but because you’re actually damaging the market itself. Be professional, do some reasonable amount of quality marketing, make sure each customer is happy, and you can make it, while charging enough to stay in business and make a few bucks. You probably won’t get rich, but it is fun and satisfying work. Good luck!
Job costs across the industry vary pretty widely, and there are a number of ways to figure it. I think an operator will mostly settle on one method, but sometimes use another if it makes sense. I most often charge by the day if I can, which works well if the client has plenty to clear and the limits aren’t super well defined. Sometimes I do a contract price if there is a clear and measurable amount of work to do. I don’t do hourly all that much, but I own the business and can do whatever I want. Case in point: This job was for my neighbor and didn’t take long, so I went easy on him. I doubt that answers your question, but it is as specific as I’d like to get in the comments section. 😬
Southwest Virginia Land Clearing I completely understand for sure. I appreciate the info so far maybe contact me by email and we can chat about some other questions Bicrtfd3@hotmail.com Thanks
@@SWVALandClearing What does it cost to run the equipment (fuel, gas, filters, grease, tracks, machine amortization based on 5000 hours till dead, and consumable teeth per hour?) I would bet you probably have at least $50-$75/hr in costs
This is an Akaso sport camera. Basically a GoPro knockoff at a fraction of the price. We like to call it a GoAmateur. I think I have three of them, and they're pretty good. Thanks!
Dylan Knight - It has skid shoes on either end that keep it from going too far into the ground. So it isn’t really designed to take a stump below the surface.
I’d use a stump grinder instead of a drum mulcher. It takes forever to grind stumps with my mulcher. A lot of wear and tear on the mulcher and teeth too. 🤷🏻♂️
What do you guys recommend for grinding hundreds of stumps in a black walnut and bur oak plantation? Stump grinder or mulched head? The stumps are all 14” diameter and less, some are older and starting to rot, some are fairly fresh. Just need to get them low enough to be able to run the brush hog mower easier. Thanks.
@@andrewklein2349 If they’re 14” and less and starting to rot you should be able to get it with a mulcher as long as you keep your teath sharp and have enough HP.
Hey Renato. I have definitely had some overheat warnings, but I can usually figure out why if I do a little looking. If I'm working under a canopy, I need to get out from time to time to remove leaves and debris from the air intake. Once when working in an area with a lot of tall grass, I had to open the top panel, then remove the top cooling panel as well because it had sucked up a lot of that fine fuzzy stuff and it had gotten down inside the machine. Once I cleared all that, it went back to normal. In my experience so far, the Bobcat cools itself just fine as long as it is clean, clean, clean. Not sure if this helps, but that's been my experience.
@@SWVALandClearing We run cattle in Ohio and have a 2018 T770 with the high flow kit. Have been thinking about getting one a forestry head. I have looked at Fecon and Loftness drum cutters and went to see a demo of Diamond rotary cutters. We have several thousand acres of reclaimed coal mining land and a lot of it is overgrown. A large percentage of our clearing would be light work... Autumn/Russian Olive, Sumac, multifloral rose, and grapevines, but there are also a bunch of very large tree stumps left over from where trees were harvested. I keep wondering if this is the type of tool we need. We probably have 300-400 acres that could be cleaned up to make usable cattle land. My impression between the drum and disk is that the disk seems faster and more dangerous and doesn't do nearly as clean of a job. What do you think?
@@KirkDickinson There are a number of factors, but generally you are on track. I wouldn't mind having a disk mulcher for some tasks, but the drum mulcher is more appropriate for most of what I do. If you're only going to be working for yourself on your own property out in the (relative) wilderness, it might be a good fit. It'll cover a lot of ground really fast. But a drum mulcher will too, particularly with the small stuff you're talking about. Stuff too big to efficiently bush hog, but smaller than mature trees. For the amount of land you have to clear and maintain, it sounds like it would be a pretty sound investment. You'd spend a lot more than the cost of a head hiring someone to do it for you, that's for sure. If you do get one, please invest the extra money ($8-9k) in outfitting the 770 with the forestry package, which includes the bulletproof glass, extra roof (FOPS), and a number of other little pieces that'll keep you safe while mulching. Good luck!
@@SWVALandClearing Thanks for answering my questions. I spent an hour on the phone with the main Loftness guy yesterday asking lots of questions. We are for sure going to get the door and the FOPS before trying this. Someone at our Bobcat dealer told us that the high flow is factory set lower and we can't even run a high flow forestry head without the door... they won't turn it up without the door. And we are not insane. :) Did you look into other drums or choose that one because of local dealer support? We have a Bobcat dealer 6 miles away and that would for sure be the best support. The Loftness dealer is 25 miles away and haven't really sold many of these units. I think Fecon and Bradco are even farther away and no idea about support for FAE even though I hear they are really good.
KirkDickinson I got this head because it was the default, and I needed to finance it all together. Next time I hope to be able to consider other options, but this got me off the ground. What I didn’t know then is that, if I understand correctly, Bobcat actually can deal in all Fecon products, not just the Bobcat branded one. I’d suggest doing some research on the other Fecon options and ask your local Bobcat guys if they can sell you one. I might have picked a different one if I had known. At least I would have done the research. I’m going to look something up real quick and send it in another reply.
In Georgia, the company I use charges either by the hour or by the day (day is best value), and amount depends on which machine you want to use, as he has different sizes. A machine like this and mulcher this size, he would charge about $1,200 per day.
At :7:50 you said - "It's not all that terribly interesting". That is decided by viewers, not us. Viewers have the ability to run at 2 times speed and seriously, does anyone need viewers that live their life at double or 12 times speed? I wonder how many play my songs at double speed; liking the chipmunk aspect of music I suppose? :) I recall when Jon from Upstate brush control came into here and did the same thing. Zoom, bam, fast, don't bore them yet no growth in his channel. I kept on him about slow it down, show more, explain more and get in tune with daily viewers. He did and found out that most viewers want to hear the machinery, hear the wood shredding, get to know some about him and the crew and BAM, his channel took off quite nicely. Content, listen to viewers, watch Jon, no competition with me in NC between you both. CZcams is not for everyone. It is very demanding, viewers can be really vocal minorities compared to those that watch and say little and no matter what one does, some can be darn right nasty. A thick skin that can differ between constructive criticism and a troll is critical. Good luck if you decide to post again. :)
Thanks so much for the thoughtful assistance! This is absolutely the best input I've received, and I think you're right on. I've noticed with the most popular channels that it is more about the people and relationships than it is about the machine or whatever. Take something like Chant's Daily Hustle. Half of his stuff is just walking around talking to the viewers, but it seems to be working for him. I find myself rooting for him. Anyway, I took some video today and had your comments very much in mind. Thanks again for taking the time.
Hi Matt! Thanks for watching. At the time of this video I was using all carbides. Since then I have started running 12 knives in the middle and 9 carbides on each side. So far it has been working nicely.
@@mattpooler5237 Have you spun it up since you added the knives? Sometimes you need to experiment a bit to find out how to move to partial knives and have the head still balanced. Knives usually weigh less than carbides, so it can definitely introduce a wobble.
Looks nice, just love watching these mulchers at work and how much they clean up everything.
That is an awesome tool. we just purchased 30 acres of land. Will be looking into this attachment for sure.
I had two large Ash tree stumps that size. Hired a guy that showed up with a remote control stump grinder. Took him about 40 minutes to grind both of them about 12" below ground. Dug all the mulch out with mybskud steer and filled it with dirt. He charged me $175. Located in Buffalo, NY.
Good looking work.
What kind of maintenance comes along with the forestry mulcher? I've been looking at getting one. After a job such as this, what do you typically do to maintain the mulching capability? Do you have to sharpen the blade studs very often? Are they, or the central drum, easily replaceable? Thanks.
Beautiful work. I love your videos... Have a great day and stay safe.
This was an amazing job you did here
Thanks!
I could surely use someone like yourself right now. Just had 2 1/2 acres of planted long leaf pines cut now have all the tops and stumps to deal with. Biggest stump is about 24" average is 12
I'll be right over. 🙂 Thanks for watching!
If you are trying to carve a 2 acre food plot area out of a cutover/clearcut with stumps in it from 80 yr old loblollies that were harvested, would it better to get an excavator to pull out the stumps, pile and burn? Trying to decide whether to use a mulcher or an excavator
Hi I just watched your video as I have a huge willow stump I need to remove and would rather just going it down. We have a diamond cut forestry mulcher which I'm wondering maybe a little large. Could you send me the information of your mulcher please
Hi I’m considering starting a mulching business in central texas where we have Cedar trees and in lots of places it’s so thick you can’t even walk through it. Could you please give me an idea how much it cost to operate that bobcat per hour ? Thanks!
Hi, and thanks for watching! No matter how you slice it, the answer is “quite a bit.” It is important for you to know the cost of your cutting blades or carbides, and roughly how long you should expect them to last, and the same for other longer-range costs like new tracks. And fuel, and regular maintenance, as well as certain other parts that will break and will cost you extra money and/or downtime. And transportation, insurance, payroll, and taxes.
My advice would be something like this. Texas has a load of mulching contractors, That’s something to consider, but it isn’t a dealbreaker necessarily. You just need to get a good sense of the demand before you make this big of an investment. If the demand is there, go for it.
Regarding how to charge: Do as much research in your area as you can to find out the standard rate for this type of work. Once you know that...here’s the important part...put yourself right in the middle of it. If you try to undercut your own market, several things will happen. One, you won’t last long. The market is where it is for a reason. It’s more expensive to do this than you think. Two, the other contractors in the area will hate you. Not just because you’re stealing their business, but because you’re actually damaging the market itself. Be professional, do some reasonable amount of quality marketing, make sure each customer is happy, and you can make it, while charging enough to stay in business and make a few bucks. You probably won’t get rich, but it is fun and satisfying work. Good luck!
great job, I bet you could spread seed on your last run through
We've done a couple jobs where the client was out seeding the area before we finished loading out. In both those cases, the grass came right up.
Was just wondering what a small job like that costs? Over $1000 ? Over $2000? Wasn’t sure if it was by job or by the hour.
Job costs across the industry vary pretty widely, and there are a number of ways to figure it. I think an operator will mostly settle on one method, but sometimes use another if it makes sense. I most often charge by the day if I can, which works well if the client has plenty to clear and the limits aren’t super well defined. Sometimes I do a contract price if there is a clear and measurable amount of work to do. I don’t do hourly all that much, but I own the business and can do whatever I want. Case in point: This job was for my neighbor and didn’t take long, so I went easy on him.
I doubt that answers your question, but it is as specific as I’d like to get in the comments section. 😬
Southwest Virginia Land Clearing I completely understand for sure. I appreciate the info so far maybe contact me by email and we can chat about some other questions
Bicrtfd3@hotmail.com
Thanks
@@SWVALandClearing What does it cost to run the equipment (fuel, gas, filters, grease, tracks, machine amortization based on 5000 hours till dead, and consumable teeth per hour?) I would bet you probably have at least $50-$75/hr in costs
bruh no one will pay 1k for a stump removal
Subbed and like your vids
Nice clear picture. What camera are you using?
This is an Akaso sport camera. Basically a GoPro knockoff at a fraction of the price. We like to call it a GoAmateur. I think I have three of them, and they're pretty good. Thanks!
@@SWVALandClearing Good call.
Could that mulcher continue grinding remaining stump thats below subsurface
Dylan Knight - It has skid shoes on either end that keep it from going too far into the ground. So it isn’t really designed to take a stump below the surface.
I’d use a stump grinder instead of a drum mulcher. It takes forever to grind stumps with my mulcher. A lot of wear and tear on the mulcher and teeth too. 🤷🏻♂️
Thanks for watching! In real life, you use what you have. 😁
What do you guys recommend for grinding hundreds of stumps in a black walnut and bur oak plantation? Stump grinder or mulched head? The stumps are all 14” diameter and less, some are older and starting to rot, some are fairly fresh. Just need to get them low enough to be able to run the brush hog mower easier. Thanks.
@@andrewklein2349
If they’re 14” and less and starting to rot you should be able to get it with a mulcher as long as you keep your teath sharp and have enough HP.
I have T870 with 60 inch disc mulcher, do your hydraulics every run hot and get warning in cab? If so, what did Bobcat tell you?
Hey Renato. I have definitely had some overheat warnings, but I can usually figure out why if I do a little looking. If I'm working under a canopy, I need to get out from time to time to remove leaves and debris from the air intake. Once when working in an area with a lot of tall grass, I had to open the top panel, then remove the top cooling panel as well because it had sucked up a lot of that fine fuzzy stuff and it had gotten down inside the machine. Once I cleared all that, it went back to normal. In my experience so far, the Bobcat cools itself just fine as long as it is clean, clean, clean. Not sure if this helps, but that's been my experience.
What model of Bobcat are you using and which Forestry head? Is that the re-branded Fecon head that Bobcat sells?
Hi Kirk. It is a T770, and that's the re-branded Fecon.
@@SWVALandClearing We run cattle in Ohio and have a 2018 T770 with the high flow kit. Have been thinking about getting one a forestry head. I have looked at Fecon and Loftness drum cutters and went to see a demo of Diamond rotary cutters. We have several thousand acres of reclaimed coal mining land and a lot of it is overgrown. A large percentage of our clearing would be light work... Autumn/Russian Olive, Sumac, multifloral rose, and grapevines, but there are also a bunch of very large tree stumps left over from where trees were harvested. I keep wondering if this is the type of tool we need.
We probably have 300-400 acres that could be cleaned up to make usable cattle land.
My impression between the drum and disk is that the disk seems faster and more dangerous and doesn't do nearly as clean of a job. What do you think?
@@KirkDickinson There are a number of factors, but generally you are on track. I wouldn't mind having a disk mulcher for some tasks, but the drum mulcher is more appropriate for most of what I do. If you're only going to be working for yourself on your own property out in the (relative) wilderness, it might be a good fit. It'll cover a lot of ground really fast. But a drum mulcher will too, particularly with the small stuff you're talking about. Stuff too big to efficiently bush hog, but smaller than mature trees.
For the amount of land you have to clear and maintain, it sounds like it would be a pretty sound investment. You'd spend a lot more than the cost of a head hiring someone to do it for you, that's for sure. If you do get one, please invest the extra money ($8-9k) in outfitting the 770 with the forestry package, which includes the bulletproof glass, extra roof (FOPS), and a number of other little pieces that'll keep you safe while mulching.
Good luck!
@@SWVALandClearing Thanks for answering my questions. I spent an hour on the phone with the main Loftness guy yesterday asking lots of questions. We are for sure going to get the door and the FOPS before trying this. Someone at our Bobcat dealer told us that the high flow is factory set lower and we can't even run a high flow forestry head without the door... they won't turn it up without the door. And we are not insane. :)
Did you look into other drums or choose that one because of local dealer support? We have a Bobcat dealer 6 miles away and that would for sure be the best support. The Loftness dealer is 25 miles away and haven't really sold many of these units. I think Fecon and Bradco are even farther away and no idea about support for FAE even though I hear they are really good.
KirkDickinson
I got this head because it was the default, and I needed to finance it all together. Next time I hope to be able to consider other options, but this got me off the ground. What I didn’t know then is that, if I understand correctly, Bobcat actually can deal in all Fecon products, not just the Bobcat branded one. I’d suggest doing some research on the other Fecon options and ask your local Bobcat guys if they can sell you one. I might have picked a different one if I had known. At least I would have done the research. I’m going to look something up real quick and send it in another reply.
How much is that set up great vid...Hello from Texas.
Six figures. Thanks!
nothing if you steal it
Love it. Can I rent your equipment?
No, but you can hire me if you're nearby. 🙂
How much does a job like this cost?
In Georgia, the company I use charges either by the hour or by the day (day is best value), and amount depends on which machine you want to use, as he has different sizes. A machine like this and mulcher this size, he would charge about $1,200 per day.
At :7:50 you said - "It's not all that terribly interesting". That is decided by viewers, not us. Viewers have the ability to run at 2 times speed and seriously, does anyone need viewers that live their life at double or 12 times speed? I wonder how many play my songs at double speed; liking the chipmunk aspect of music I suppose? :)
I recall when Jon from Upstate brush control came into here and did the same thing. Zoom, bam, fast, don't bore them yet no growth in his channel. I kept on him about slow it down, show more, explain more and get in tune with daily viewers. He did and found out that most viewers want to hear the machinery, hear the wood shredding, get to know some about him and the crew and BAM, his channel took off quite nicely.
Content, listen to viewers, watch Jon, no competition with me in NC between you both. CZcams is not for everyone. It is very demanding, viewers can be really vocal minorities compared to those that watch and say little and no matter what one does, some can be darn right nasty. A thick skin that can differ between constructive criticism and a troll is critical. Good luck if you decide to post again. :)
Thanks so much for the thoughtful assistance! This is absolutely the best input I've received, and I think you're right on. I've noticed with the most popular channels that it is more about the people and relationships than it is about the machine or whatever. Take something like Chant's Daily Hustle. Half of his stuff is just walking around talking to the viewers, but it seems to be working for him. I find myself rooting for him.
Anyway, I took some video today and had your comments very much in mind. Thanks again for taking the time.
Do you use carbide or chipper teeth?
Hi Matt! Thanks for watching. At the time of this video I was using all carbides. Since then I have started running 12 knives in the middle and 9 carbides on each side. So far it has been working nicely.
@@SWVALandClearing
Great to hear. I have be also put 3 rows of knives in the middle. Haven't got a chance to try them yet due to the snow up here
@@mattpooler5237 Have you spun it up since you added the knives? Sometimes you need to experiment a bit to find out how to move to partial knives and have the head still balanced. Knives usually weigh less than carbides, so it can definitely introduce a wobble.
@@SWVALandClearing
No I haven't got to yet. I'm still waiting on my new hoses. Hoping It works. Haha
I have watched a lot of mulcher jobs and you are tied with first place
Thanks so much! Glad you're here!