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Scrub land clearance dilemma

  • 15-10-2019 6:55pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 8


    Hi all,

    I recently purchased a house with 15 acres and would like some advise if possible. The property had been neglected due to the previous owner illness and I am now faced with a big task. Around half has been rented to a local farmer and has some cows, the remaining is overgrown with salis, gorse, brambles, rushes and ferns plus every weed you can think off.

    Besides renting part of the farm we got some ponies and two piggies that I was hopping to use to help with the land clearing but progress is slow and for now I have no machinery.

    I rented a 3 ton digger and managed to clear a portion but ended up with a massive pile of biomass and the Irish weather is not the best for starting a fire. Besides that after clearing the brambles I did not reseeded and ferns completely took over.

    To make matters worse the terrain is hilly, full of rocks, the land has poor drainage and clay is abundant so bringing in a tractor and a mulcher would be very hard and likely to get stuck or the mulcher damaged with the rocks. On summer and with care a lot of work could be done this way but it would need to be done often due to gorse and brambles, etc regrown.

    So my question is what would you recommend? I have some time and some money but I would like to make the best use of it. Mulching is quick, clears the site and gets ride of the biomass adding it back to the soil but it needs to be done often to control regrow but ponies could help in this regard.

    Hiring a bigger excavator would clear everything but you still need to get ride of a colossal amount of biomass. A wood chipper could be useful here.

    Herbicides are out of question for personal reasons.

    Another option, buy a cheap tractor to help with pulling the gorse and salis roots and do it bit by bit.

    The slowest option, plant trees and just clear around them, eventually their shade would kill and prevent regrown of gorse etc.

    Any suggestions would be appreciated


Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 6,701 ✭✭✭amacca


    If you are not interested in waiting for good conditions to cut and burn- maybe use a small tractor etc to make a pile etc

    Then maybe goats? If you can confine them they will do a hell of a job on briars, undergrowth etc


  • Registered Users Posts: 8 paam


    amacca wrote: »
    If you are not interested in waiting for good conditions to cut and burn- maybe use a small tractor etc to make a pile etc

    Then maybe goats? If you can confine them they will do a hell of a job on briars, undergrowth etc

    I am considering buying a small tractor but it is always a big investment and it is a small holding.

    I thought about goats but they have a reputation for being escape artists and they can be picky what what they eat but of course with some aggressive grazing they could help.

    My main issue is the regrown of the vegetation. Brambles, gorse and Salis, once cut will regrow but piggies or goat would help.


  • Registered Users Posts: 9,603 ✭✭✭Birdnuts


    Hardy traditional cattle breeds like dexters and Galloways would do a good job on that


  • Registered Users Posts: 254 ✭✭Track9


    Agree with Birdnuts ( Bring Traditional breeds to graze & forage )
    Probably good idea to use Electrcic Fence to keep rotating the animals. May need to feed small amount of nuts / hay if vegetation is of poor qauality. Following up with Traditional Pigs would rotavate & manure ground. Then could follow up with surface seed with suitable grass seed. ( Leaving ground with no seed is an invite to weeds )
    Consder renting a Mini Digger to level off the ground as follow up to the pigs ( if you decide to do that )
    Containment as in El Fence or similar would be important , as animals dont respect boundaries.
    Wishing you good luck .
    P


  • Registered Users Posts: 8 paam


    Track9 wrote: »
    Agree with Birdnuts ( Bring Traditional breeds to graze & forage )
    Probably good idea to use Electrcic Fence to keep rotating the animals. May need to feed small amount of nuts / hay if vegetation is of poor qauality. Following up with Traditional Pigs would rotavate & manure ground. Then could follow up with surface seed with suitable grass seed. ( Leaving ground with no seed is an invite to weeds )
    Consder renting a Mini Digger to level off the ground as follow up to the pigs ( if you decide to do that )
    Containment as in El Fence or similar would be important , as animals dont respect boundaries.
    Wishing you good luck .
    P

    Many thanks for the suggestions! Fortunately there is dry stone walls but I will only use them as a second tier, I will have to fence those areas.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 18,996 ✭✭✭✭gozunda


    paam wrote: »
    Many thanks for the suggestions! Fortunately there is dry stone walls but I will only use them as a second tier, I will have to fence those areas.

    If you have pigs - use them to clear ground and vegetation. They will eat briars, weeds, scrub you name it. Fence them to one area at a time and let them get on with it. The will also root and break up the soil.

    When you have moved them - then harrow and level. If you need to get more pigs!


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