What land clearing equipment do you need for your property?

Perhaps you have a few acres of rural property and you're looking to take down trees and clear land for your next project?

Or you own a woodlot and you need a wood chipper to help deal with clearing all your wood debris?

Land clearing equipment can be expensive, but it doesn't have to be, as not every property owner wants to own an excavator or a bulldozer. Many can make do with more affordable land clearing machines like chainsaws, wood chippers or stump grinders.

For your next land clearing job, consider your needs, your budget and think about what equipment you'll need for the future of your property.

Consider the size of your property and the scope of your jobs before investing in your equipment.

Any land clearing machine, whether you're talking about a PTO-driven stump grinder which can attach to your tractor, to a massive bulldozer, will have a cost you need to consider for your budget.

Today we'll be talking about property owners who need land clearing equipment, either for their own personal uses, or for small scale commercial, like owning a woodlot or running a tree care service.

Figure out a land management plan and research what are the best tools, for your budget, for the job. Land clearing equipment rentals are also available to fill the gaps, for any machines you don't think you'll need past the odd weekend job.

But when purchasing equipment, ask yourself:

• • How many times am I planning on using this tool?

  • Can I afford the purchase price of this tool?

  • Is the cost to buy it worth the amount of labor it will save me down the line?

  • Is there an affordable alternative, like borrowing one from a friend or neighbor?

If you've gone through all these questions and decided you've reached the point to invest in a new piece of land clearing equipment, now you have to figure out what is the best tool for the job.

Many rural property owners will have tractors or skid steers, as it's often an early investment for taking care of farms and country acreage.

So it may be wise to pick a land clearing tool that attaches to your tractor's three-point PTO, so you can easily haul it across your property, take advantage of your tractor's power source, and use it wherever you need. Another benefit of having a tractor power your equipment is it can help cross bumpy or uneven terrain, as opposed to tools which are walk-behind or need to be pushed.

Tree removal is often a common goal on land clearing job sites, so let's go over the steps and what you'll need as a property owner. To take down a tree you will need:

• • A chainsaw to cut down the tree

  • A tractor or other piece of equipment to move the log

  • A wood chipper for dealing with branches and debris

  • A stump grinder for tree stump removal

Those are the broad strokes of what you'll need to clear land. Large scale forestry operations will have more complicated equipment, like bigger, expensive backhoe loaders or dump trucks to move logs, dirt and debris, but most property owners don't need to invest in that type of heavy equipment unless they're clearing thousands of acres of land.

Instead individuals should focus on equipment which is highly maneuverable and can perform the land clearing jobs they need for their property.

It doesn't mean much to cut down a tree if you don't have a way of removing it afterward. Skid steers and tractors with a bucket are two common ways of loading logs, so you can remove them from your work area.

While many tree care companies will cut the tree up into small pieces to load into the back of a truck, that doesn't leave you with a useable log afterwards. If you want to keep the log whole so you can mill it up or use it for something else, it would be wise to have an option to haul it.

If you don't have heavy equipment to load your logs, that's okay! Even an ATV or UTV can be great log hauling tools, with the right attachments. An ATV trailer like the Pathlander or Multilander can help to move logs across your property.

Alternatively, a log arch could also be used, as it can be easier to snake your ATV through the tight spaces and steep slopes of your property to haul out individual logs.

If you're particularly dedicated, or if the logs don't have far to travel, you could even use a cant hook to roll your logs to wherever they need to go. Whatever your solution is for hauling timber, find something that works for you and your property, and won't break your back or the bank.

If you want to landscape your property, or you want to clear a space for a future structure, you'll need to remove the stumps leftover from the felled trees.

Stump grinders are powerful machines which can be used to efficiently remove the leftovers from even large trees and leave you with a satisfying hole in the ground which you can easily fill and level off.

Woodland Mills' stump grinders attach to your tractor's PTO, and can easily mow down hundreds of stumps with ease. While there are manual stump grinders, they can be exhausting to manually push, whereas with a PTO-driven grinder you can just drive your tractor back and forth.

That means you'll be making quick work of any tree stumps, and leaving the land ready for your next project.

Land clearing equipment can be a smart investment for property owners looking to shape the future of their acreage. Whether you're tree thinning on your woodlot, or clearing land for a new building, it's a good idea to have the right equipment for the job, and any jobs you may want to take on in the future.

Rural property owners, especially those living off grid with limited road access, should consider portability as a factor. Plenty of country property is dotted with large boulders, thick vegetation and rocky dirt which can make it hard for industrial land clearing equipment to access.

But if you can traverse your property via ATV or tractor, or you want a great investment for future projects across your home or farmland, consider the tools mentioned above, so you don't have to spend loads of money to get the best tools for clearing your land.