Fallen trees

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herofan

herofan

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Joined
Dec 28, 2011
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Kentucky
How much time do you all spend cleaning up fallen trees?

I have a large amount of fencing that is in wooded areas. I can frequently count on a large limb or entire tree having fallen on an area of fence. Recently, we had storms in Ky, and there is a lot of trees lying out in pasture and hay fields. It's more than I care to tackle with just a chainsaw and myself. I suppose I'll have to have a dozer come in and clean up.

It seems like I spend a lot of time cleaning up fallen trees. Do any of you have that issue, and how do you deal with it?
 
I do and I must say a excavator of any size is crazy helpful, you can pick up large portions of it without killing yourself cutting it into manageable size and you can lift a laid down tree straight up off your fence instead of dragging it off your fence doing even more damage
 
Before I put fence up I clear a nice wide path and remove any dead/dieing trees I can reach. After fence is up I ride around on the 4 wheeler with a chainsaw frequently, if needed I come thru with the skid steer and grapple bucket or excavator to move debris away.

Just a way of life when you've got fence going thru dense forest.
 
Can't afford all the toys, but I have a chainsaw and tractor. If it's in the woods, I cut it off the fence and repair the fence. In pasture, I cut it up and push it off the field into the woods with the tractor before I bushhog.
Grass was so thick the other day I didn't see a tree down. It cost the rest of that day in the barn..... It happens.
 
I have places in these hills and hollers that have lines of fence that I can't even get a four wheeler; it's all walk. I often joke that I have places that I can barely get a hammer. In addition, I don't have a skid steer, excavator, or any of that kind of equipment.
 
herofan said:
I have places in these hills and hollers that have lines of fence that I can't even get a four wheeler; it's all walk. I often joke that I have places that I can barely get a hammer. In addition, I don't have a skid steer, excavator, or any of that kind of equipment.
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We are in the foothills of the mountains here in the edge of the Appalachian region of KY. Most of our place is accessible with a vehicle or side by side but a few places aren’t due to water flow or lay of land. Every once in a while we’ll have to walk a short distance into a wooded area.
We have to check fences very often, and seems like there’s always a tree down and with just a couple chainsaws, a tractor, and not very good health it’s more than I can do to keep ahead of it.
If I had the financial situation to do so I’d hire the fence ties cleaned out, and take down all the questionable trees that are an away from the fences too.
We recently had to get 3 small trees if of an interior fence before we moved cattle in. And about the same time a humongous tall KY coffee bean tree came down in a line fence. It was in a tight place to get too, and took a lot sawing fortunately a neighbor helped and he had an excavator coming so that was a big relief as far as cleaning up on his side.
 
About half of my 160 acres is heavily forested with mixed hardwoods, and it seems there's always a fallen limb or tree somewhere that needs cleaning up. The brush grapple on my skid steer is very handy for picking up the debris and stacking it into piles. Even with entire trees, it typically only takes a few cuts with a chainsaw to break the tree into manageable chunks that I can move and stack with the skid steer.
 
One of the best things I ever did was put 2 strains of High tensile fence through my woods. If it tests good usually it is. If it has a tree or limb on it, I cut where the tree is on the fence and it pops back into place. I have had hundreds of dead ash trees (a lot in fence rows) and without the HT fence I don't believe I could have kelp it going. Not a lot of help from neighbors joining. Some of these trees are 3-4 feet through and the trunk is still standing.
 
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