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Brush pile removal

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Build It
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10:33a, 9/15/22
AG
New owner of 60 acres. Had some dozer work done to clean up brush, fix tank dam etc. 5-6 big brush/ debris piles to get rid of now. Burn ban lifted so can now burn.

I'm guessing options are to:

1. light the county up and burn it all. This makes me nervous. Very big piles. Should I donate to the VFD and beg them to come out?

2. Rent a big chipper $500 buck per day, then move the mulch around with a buddy's skid steer. I'm guessing a week of chipping.

3. Have it hauled off.

Any idea what it would cost to have someone just haul it off? Who does that? I'm close to La Grange.







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tamc93
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10:38a, 9/15/22
AG
Who did your clearing?

The guy who did ours several years ago would burn it and push it into piles for about a day's work.
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Build It
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In reply to Build It • 10:41a, 9/15/22
AG
Also a lesson learned, don't let your buddy drive around the ranchette with his city truck tires. Lots of new pointy things to puncture tires now that the dozer work is done.

What do you call 60 acres? I refuse to call it a ranch, is at a farm although I only have some ugly cows? Papaw called his 100 a farm. But he didn't farm it either.
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Build It
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In reply to tamc93 • 10:41a, 9/15/22
AG
Had a great guy do the dozer work. He pushed it all in to probably 5-6 big piles. He won't do the burning. Makes his living riding that nice ass dozer.
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cryption
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10:42a, 9/15/22
If it's open enough you should be able to burn it ok, that's what we do. If I'm burning a lot I call the fire department to give them a heads up what's going on
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CS78
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11:16a, 9/15/22
Move it to the deep water area of the tank for fish structure?

If not, burn in place. Only question is when.

How long has it been down? I'd give it at least a couple weeks to dry. A couple months is even better. Its crazy how hard it can be to get a good burn on fresh cut brush.

What type of groundcover is there in the surrounding 20 yards? If dirt, then let her rip. If grass, wait until you have a wet day. Might be next week or you could have to wait a couple months.

Windy on a dry day, wait. If its wet, no biggie.

Just because the burn ban is lifted doesn't mean you should burn.

DO NOT use gas to start it. LOTS of diesel. Sometimes takes a couple gallons if its wet. It doesn't like to light on big bare logs. Try to get it in some thick leaves down low. It can be stubborn to light but once it gets some heat, itll take off.



Pro tip, nosey nelleys can't see the smoke on cloudy days. If you have an active VFD, they'll come rolling in hot from 30 miles away on a clear day. A call to the sheriff's department or local dispatch ahead of time is definitely a good idea.
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fullback44
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In reply to cryption • 11:31a, 9/15/22
AG
cryption said:
If it's open enough you should be able to burn it ok, that's what we do. If I'm burning a lot I call the fire department to give them a heads up what's going on
this is your answer, call the burn in to the local fire department and light it on fire, I would suggest trying to pick a day thats not very windy, you wont worry about the burn as much. Also, the main part of the burn that has potential to cause issues is the very first part, once the brushy part burns down then its just a small pile burning down. I always have some type of water source around just in case something happens, i filled my 50 gallon tractor supply weed sprayer with water and had it sitting there on the polaris just in case i needed it.

good luck
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D&C 2002
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11:31a, 9/15/22
AG
I would suggest burning over chipping, if you can. Getting the VFD to come out and help is a good idea. Feed them BBQ and make a nice donation and you'll come out cheaper and hopefully with some new local relationships. This is what we do when we burn pastures on my family's place in north Texas. I say this as my wife and I have put a LOT of time into fire mitigation on our property in CO. We have been piling up the brush as we cut down dozens of fur and pine trees to come back and mulch up with a chipper. Rented one over Labor Day weekend ($500/day is accurate) and it was a tremendous amount of work, and we didn't get it all done. Just pulling limbs off those piles and getting them into the chipper was a lot more than we expected. I can't imagine trying to untangle piles of mesquite/cedar/etc that was balled up by a bulldozer.
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HTownAg98
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11:59a, 9/15/22
Park your vehicle further away from the pile than you think. When it gets to burning, it can put out a lot of heat and you can catch a vehicle on fire quickly.
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ElGoatarod
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1:53p, 9/15/22
AG
Burn them on a calm day.

The grass around the piles (if they were recently pushed there should not be much) will likely catch fire and that's okay. Allow it to burn out around the piles a little before putting it out.

I once burned dozens of brush piles on a drizzly morning. The grass didn't ignite initially but did later on that afternoon after clouds burned off. Made it exciting!

Like a previous poster said, clouds will make the smoke less obvious to neighbors adverse to fire.


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Apache
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In reply to Build It • 2:13p, 9/15/22
AG
Quote:
What do you call 60 acres? I refuse to call it a ranch, is at a farm although I only have some ugly cows? Papaw called his 100 a farm. But he didn't farm it either.
Most everyone I new growing up that had land referred it to as their "place", be it 5, 500 or 1500 acres.
"Ranch" was reserved for really big places like the King, the o6 or the Matador.

By calling your 60 acres just a "place" you accomplish a few things:

*People who seriously run cattle or have larger places won't snicker at you for referring to 60 acres as a ranch. That's a small pasture or trap size area of land.

*Folks who do refer to their small acreage as ranches will be embarrassed when you downplay yours.

*People who have no land will appreciate your lack of pretension.

On the other hand, this is the New Texas. Register your brand with the county and monogram it all over your stationary, flat brim cap and brodozer to let the Californians know you aren't a Texan to be trifled with.


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Build It
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In reply to Apache • 2:56p, 9/15/22
AG
Good stuff. Texas was founded on land speculation. I'm only going to own it long enough to make enough to buy a larger "place". This way I punish myself into a lifetime of land improvement. But it sure beats working.
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allMondjoy
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2:58p, 9/15/22
local VFD sometimes will use your burn for training. Call and ask but be sure to let sheriff office know when you light it up. Have a portable tank sprayer with water to put out embers that drift
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hammerhead
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3:02p, 9/15/22
During the next time it rains, take several gallons of diesel and spark them up..
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Cen-Tex
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3:21p, 9/15/22
AG
Post a couple of pics of the brush piles & property…if possible.
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Gunny456
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In reply to Build It • 4:21p, 9/15/22
AG
We had to burn about 300 large cedar piles when we cleared around 650 acres of cedar.
I would watch the forecast and do my burning in the winter on mist/rainy days when no cold fronts/ strong winds were coming.
To light them I got a 2 gal yard sprayer and filled it with diesel. Then get a hand small propane torch with a trigger light.
You can then spray your sprayer and hit the spray with the torch. It will light instantly and you can start the fires very quickly moving the flame around the pile as you need.
Works like a champ for me.
Diesel needs to stream with a slight mist to start. You will waste lots of diesel pouring it on and trying to light it.
ETA ... using this method is super easy and in the right conditions you can easily start them in a light rain and use very little diesel.
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O.G.
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5:07p, 9/15/22
Plow the ground around it a good bit. 10 or so feet, make double sure that you aren't in a burn ban. Its also something fun to do if it snows during the winter.

Cloudy day is a good idea, but a phone call to the local FD can't hurt, don't know that I'd go asking them to come out there but have a couple shovels and water on hand. If you have access to a sprayer, fill it up with water just in case.

Don't over think it. Mankind has been using fire as a tool since at least Donald Sutherland taught us how in Backdraft...........
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Lance in Round Mountain
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5:32p, 9/15/22
AG
Burn the piles; it's easy. Get something like this or a pear burner to help light them. I put my propane tank on my 4-wheeler and zip from pile to pile lighting them.

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flashplayer
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In reply to allMondjoy • 5:50p, 9/15/22
AG
allMondjoy said:
local VFD sometimes will use your burn for training. Call and ask but be sure to let sheriff office know when you light it up. Have a portable tank sprayer with water to put out embers that drift


That's more for grass and less for piles of downed brush. Nothing they will benefit from with that to make it worth your or their time.

The answer to the OP is absolutely burn it. Wood chipping would be insanity and there's really not another viable or smart option. Check the weather so you don't burn the neighbors place down.

Get a sprayer rig or water tote and fill with water and have it with you to help control any stray burn. If there's not a ton of dead fuel - leaves and grass) on the ground then you should be ok.
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chris1515
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5:51p, 9/15/22
AG
Or some paper feed sacks and a jug of diesel. That's the more "traditional" way of setting them ablaze!

Hopefully the piles don't have a lot of dirt in them and will burn clean.
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Build It
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6:11p, 9/15/22
AG
Thanks for the advice, will burn for sure. Really need to wait a couple weeks and pray for more rain. Brush piles and filling the tank are the biggest eyesores.

Maybe it'll rain in October


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alvtimes
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6:13p, 9/15/22
its yours.... call it a ranch if you want to..
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flashplayer
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In reply to Build It • 6:19p, 9/15/22
AG
Build It said:
Thanks for the advice, will burn for sure. Really need to wait a couple weeks and pray for more rain. Brush piles and filling the tank are the biggest eyesores.

Maybe it'll rain in October




I'm in the same boat as you and we are about 5 minutes northeast of La Grange. If we get rain before the end of next week (in the neighborhood of a half inch or more) you should be in the clear in the days immediately after that.
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Martin Cash
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6:52p, 9/15/22
AG
Start the fire on the down wind side to keep it from spreading too quickly.
The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left. Ecclesiastes 10:2
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WaldoWings
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7:01p, 9/15/22
Burn it. No one's gonna care. Everyone does that in the country. As long as you do it once every couple of years or so, no one's gonna have anything to say about it. I burn piles of stuff all the time in McLennan County. Call the sherrif's office to alert them before so no one shows up to put them out.
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Gunny456
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In reply to Build It • 7:18p, 9/15/22
AG
Add on to it by buying everything that touches you. Then keep doing that repeatedly until you got it the size you want it.
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Gunny456
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In reply to O.G. • 7:23p, 9/15/22
AG
We had some good snow at the ranch one year and I thought " perfect burn time". Then 4 hours and 15 gallons of diesel later I realized that all that snow on those piles turns to instant lots of water on that wood.
Lots of ice does the same thing. Burned where I lit it and then would put itself out no matter how many times I lit it.
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Gunny456
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In reply to Martin Cash • 7:25p, 9/15/22
AG
Unless the piles are wet... you will relish the help from the wind then by lighting it on the upwind side if so.
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Ribeye-Rare
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In reply to Build It • 8:04p, 9/15/22
AG
Build It said:
2. Rent a big chipper $500 buck per day, then move the mulch around with a buddy's skid steer. I'm guessing a week of chipping.
If you decide you'd rather not deal with burning, and you can part with $1200 - $2400 to get the job done in one day, you might just call a mulcher and commit to an 8-hour day.

I don't know the size of your piles, nor the size of the stuff the dozer piled up, but the smaller machines (100-120 HP) go for about $150/hour ($1200/day) and the bigger machines (150-200 HP) go for about $300/hour ($2400/day). The smaller machines are limited to about 8" diameter stuff, but the larger machines can pretty much handle it all.

I also had a job where I brought in a 300 horse hydro ax and that cost me $400/hour, but I was dealing with a large quantity of big standing trees. You're not doing that here.

There is no question that burning is cheaper, but you've got this option if you need it.
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Cen-Tex
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In reply to chris1515 • 8:24p, 9/15/22
AG
chris1515 said:
Or some paper feed sacks and a jug of diesel. That's the more "traditional" way of setting them ablaze!

Hopefully the piles don't have a lot of dirt in them and will burn clean.
I lit off 4 big brush piles last week using 2 paper feed sacks, a log lighter & 1/2 gal of diesel. Piles were pretty much gone w/in 3-4 hrs. Some of the bigger stumps smoldered for a couple of days.
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milkman00
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11:09p, 9/15/22
AG
Our dozer man did this: Light a paper towel with a cigarette lighter, throw it in the small limbs, and then hit it with a sprayer filled with diesel on the back of his Ranger.
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Animal Eight 84
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11:32p, 9/16/22
AG
Burn it. If nervous, disk up a circle around it. Burn it on a low wind day after a good rain, especially if barometer is falling.
Few gallons of diesel will get it going.

Don't burn it during a dry, high pressure day if you're concerned about sparks setting grass on fire.
Flames will be 3X height of brush pile and sparks can travel a long ways.

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schmellba99
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7:40a, 9/17/22
AG
Burn it. Keep the tractor around to both put out stray flames by dragging the bucketand to push the pile together to keep it burning. Easy, just have to stay on top of it - especially the first 20 or 30 minutes of the pule burning.

After that the percentage of stray runs of fire goes way down and its more maintaining the fire than anything.
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WhoopN06
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7:22p, 1/11/26
Have read through this thread and still having issues burning our piles.

We've burn each of these piles several times and they will just not finish burning. We've used diesel, a propane torch, and some road flares.

In between bruning we are pushing the unburned wood into the middle and restarting the burn. We have skid steer, multiple tractors but are really at a loss as to how to get these piles out of our pasture.

Most of the piles have a lot of dirt in them. Not sure if that shapes the advice or not.

https://imgur.com/a/struggle-burn-piles-LgZFK7G
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Deerdude
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In reply to HTownAg98 • 7:07a, 1/12/26
HTownAg98 said:
Park your vehicle further away from the pile than you think. When it gets to burning, it can put out a lot of heat and you can catch a vehicle on fire quickly.


For that matter, new trucks are made with aluminum about as thick as a beer can, so truck might melt like a Coors Light can does.
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