We have about 30 acres of non heavy woods that I would like to make some trails in and also make a winter dry lot. I don’t want to clear any big trees and don’t need to but there is a lot of brush and smaller trees that I would like gone. Is there some non professional equipment that I can buy that also won’t break the bank?
Equipment we have now is a small JD with a FEL. Can that do the job?
Some of those battery saws on a pole would work, or is it a bigger job than that?
There are attachments for FEL tractors/skid loaders that are “tree grubbers”.
Maybe those?
Or a heavy duty brush hog? How “little” a tree are you cutting down?
We cleared mesquite along the roads with our bulldozer, made brush piles out of it, the quail and wild turkeys love those.
Maybe rent one of those for a day or two?
The trees are approximately 2-4" diameter, they are pretty tall though
If you don’t feel comfortable using a light weight chain saw a battary powered recplical saw would easily take down small trees
How wide will the trails need to be?
[QUOTE=Serigraph;9010827]
The trees are approximately 2-4" diameter, they are pretty tall though[/QUOTE]
Everything Bluey said, plus this:
Stihl makes a brushcutter line that looks like a weed whacker but with the addition of a blade on the head works very well to take down brush & trees up to 3". We’ve been using it to cut trails through thick briars full of small trees and the thing is a godsend – light and powerful. For 4" and up, a chainsaw. I’ve used a reciprocating saw on trees but hate the whipping action of the blade and don’t feel I’m safe with it.
I love this thing: https://www.amazon.com/GreenWorks-20672-Cordless-Battery-Included/dp/B00AW72WR0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1484524343&sr=8-3&keywords=greenworks+pole+saw
Use it to clear cedar trees on my place. I suppose for you one concern is going to be little stumps if you are clearing trails. But this will cut pretty close to the ground.
For the smaller brush and little saplings, I use a pick mattock, which takes care of the stump problem.
I prefer slow methodical handwork (my farm is my lifelong hobby). Nothing makes more of a mess than an idiot on clearing equipment.
We cut things down with a chain saw and I pay a guy with an excavator to push out stumps. He puts them in a pile and I burn them. I can level with my JD and bucket.
Back home, we have an excavator but you are better hiring the work, that is generally a six figure expense.
Bulldozer work is pretty cheap compared to buying a lot of equipment. You would be surprised at how fast they can clear paths.
Dan
[QUOTE=Dan;9011089]
Bulldozer work is pretty cheap compared to buying a lot of equipment. You would be surprised at how fast they can clear paths.
Dan[/QUOTE]
This.
I did this when we first moved where we are now and wanted some trails build and some cedar and scrub vegetation cleared. What would have taken almost a month with a couple of guys with chain saws (@ $7.50/hr. each) was done in three days (24 hrs.) of dozer/tractor work at @$40/hr. You can’t argue with those economics. 
G.
[QUOTE=Guilherme;9011116]
This.
I did this when we first moved where we are now and wanted some trails build and some cedar and scrub vegetation cleared. What would have taken almost a month with a couple of guys with chain saws (@ $7.50/hr. each) was done in three days (24 hrs.) of dozer/tractor work at @$40/hr. You can’t argue with those economics.
G.[/QUOTE]
Plus running a dozer is fun and you get to do it your way, not have to live with what others do and some they don’t do right.
Locally we have an individual that will do this for you for around $1500. He has a Bobcat with a heavy duty grinder/chipper thingee that plows thru brush and small trees. He calls it surgical tree clearing. Does a great job but leaves a lot of debris that has to be cleaned up; however it is so worth it. Seems it would be much cheaper to hire someone to come in and do this then buy equipment you may only use once or twice. The down side is it doesn’t get up the roots so you might need to have someone go thru with a disk or plow to dig up the roots.
We were just out clearing trails yesterday! It is a lot of work to DIY.
In https://www.flickr.com/photos/10803470@N00/31503569174/ you can just see the path straight in front and then curving off to the right before the big poplar.
DH cuts the trees (chainsaw or pole saw) that are too big to push over and shred with the brush hog, then I come behind with the loppers and cut off branches/tops enough to get them out of the path.
(For extra credit, sometimes we bring out the chipper. But usually I just make piles unless I need chips for something.)
He goes back and forth with the brush hog on the tractor. Then the fun part. We get out the shovel and pick-axe and dig up the stumps. (This takes place over the following weeks, as we have energy for it.)
Alternately, we have a brush grubber: https://www.amazon.com/Brush-Grubber-BG-08-Heavy-duty/dp/B001DZLJPQ
With that, you cut the tree at about waist height to leave enough for it to grab onto. But… it only works if the conditions are just right – often you have to use the pick-axe anyway to cut some roots in order to get the stump out. And we’ve already managed to bend it out of shape. 
Good luck! At least it’s good exercise!
-Wendy
I do quite a bit of this sort of work. I have a battery powered Greenworks 40V chain saw, and it is good, and useful. But for smaller stuff, 2" and under, it whips the victim around too much, so I prefer hand cutters with long handles. What I like about those is that you can get right down below ground level and completely remove anything above ground level. Hard to do that with the chain saw, and I DON’T like leaving anything sticking up which can cause injury to a horse. If you have an area that you can get a tractor into (some of mine I can, some I can’t) then a brush hog is nice. But things have to be level enough for it to operate.
Thanks for the suggestions and replies everyone! Wsmoak your wood pic look very similar to what we have here at our place so the process would be similar.
