Recuperating Old Pasture (new project)

Tjcib

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We purchased a little place in 2020. Previous owners has a few horses and had T-posts fencing set up all around, but they allowed the back pasture to overgrow. It was about 2/3rd pine saplings and some sweetgum. Fenced area is about 3/4ths of an acre.

The wife and I cut down most of the saplings (leaving a few choice trees as possible shade) and we're planning to chip them (because who doesn't love wood chips). But due to access issues for the size chipper needed, we have decided to use a friend's forestry mulcher on the area. In reality, we left stumps about 6 inches high, which means we really couldn't mow if we needed to. So we are thinking the forestry mulcher will eliminate the stumps while still leaving the the organic matter in the ground.

There are also some huge wild blackberry patches that have sprung up, and rather than dealing with those by hand, the mulcher can at least get those to a manageable state. The pigs will probably take care of the roots...

Plan is to run our pigs through there for a season to help stir things up, then hopefully sheep rotating through our 1 fenced acre.
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Tjcib

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Google Earth Shot: You can see the back half behind the barn (white roof) is totally overgrown with trees. That is how this started...
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Baymule

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A forestry mulcher is a wonderful thing! We had parts of our property at the old farm, forestry mulched. It was awesome! What got done in a few days time would have taken us a year to hack and chainsaw, pile and burn.
 

Tjcib

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A forestry mulcher is a wonderful thing! We had parts of our property at the old farm, forestry mulched. It was awesome! What got done in a few days time would have taken us a year to hack and chainsaw, pile and burn.
I am thankful that one of my former students owns one. Giving me at least a decent deal I think... I'm still getting over paying for what I could do manually. But I am paying for efficiency. Like you said, one day vs one year...

I was quoted $15,000 to clear my entire 5.5 acres by another company (none of our trees are of any size value except for pulp :( ). Stinks to have to put chunks of that into partial clearing, way less efficient long-term, but oh well...
 

Mini Horses

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Sometimes it's best to "bite the bullet" and pay! I know the money is hard to part with😋 but the time and use you gain makes it worthwhile. I speak after a few years of paying for my tractor and attachments instead of a new vehicle! 🤣. Happy for last payment but, happier to have it than not. Clearing mechanically, then refurbishing with animals...next year you will be thrilled to have it done.

Hey, pigs and goats are amazing helpers for this! Some guineas for tick control 👍
 

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Goats, especially stocked a bit heavy are excellent at making a place look like a park.

Painful though the price is, I think you will be happy with the results from the forest mulcher.
 

Baymule

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This is a thread on making pastures at my previous farm in Lindale. A lot has happened since then, but I wanted to show you before and after pictures of forestry mulching. I no longer own this farm, buying another one and waiting on it to close.

 

Tjcib

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This is a thread on making pastures at my previous farm in Lindale. A lot has happened since then, but I wanted to show you before and after pictures of forestry mulching. I no longer own this farm, buying another one and waiting on it to close.

I actually read through quite a bit of your post before posting this. Super-encouraging and grats on a ton of work. Our space isn't nearly that big.

We have bermuda in the front field, and since it spreads indefinitely and is the only thing that survives a nuclear blast, we've decided to embrace it and we starting taking sprigs and relocate it all over, like you did with the bahia. Our hogs (AHGs) aren't crazy about the bermuda,

Once the forestry mulcher comes through (hopefully in the two weeks, we will run the pigs through that field through until next spring. We've found some low spots that will probably need to be graded since they hold water, but that will be much easier to do once the trees and brush are gone.

My ultimate goal is a couple milk sheep running through the fields. Pigs are a short-term animal for us, I think, just to help us work the ground...
 

Baymule

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Low spots that hold water could be dug out for small ponds. You can fence around them once dug out, and use the pigs to seal them. The pigs wallowing actions seal the edges. It's nice to have a source of water in emergency situations. Wells can go down, even community water can have problems. Having a pond or two for back up would be nice.

The place I'm buying now has LOTS of grass and 2 ponds. I won't have to start from square one. I'll only have to fence for the sheep and dogs and build a barn. :yesss:
 

Tjcib

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Low spots that hold water could be dug out for small ponds. You can fence around them once dug out, and use the pigs to seal them. The pigs wallowing actions seal the edges. It's nice to have a source of water in emergency situations. Wells can go down, even community water can have problems. Having a pond or two for back up would be nice.

The place I'm buying now has LOTS of grass and 2 ponds. I won't have to start from square one. I'll only have to fence for the sheep and dogs and build a barn. :yesss:
You are speaking my language. I've been researching small ponds and what goes into building them. We are surrounded by wetlands, but not on a wetland ourselves. When digging the trench for irrigation, we hit water at 18 inches! When we bought the house, the well inspector said, "Welp, you'll never run out of water."

Our big decisions are based on efficiency. We are running out of cleared space, so we have to make the most of every inch right now :)
 

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