Hedge cutting

Thegingerbear

Anyone here know the current rate per metre to cut hedges with a 13t excavator using circular blade and afterwards gather them into piles? Or maybe the typical output per hour with this type of setup? Hedges are mainly whitethorn and some light ash/beech/sycamore. They are heavy as it is quite some time since they were last cut.

893bet

50-60 an hr

blue5000

More like 70+vat /hr around here for the saw, 50-60 an hr with the bucket tidying up. Good operator on the digger is half the battle.

lakill Farm

see if you can get someone with a tree shears. neat job compared to a saw

Jb1989

lakill Farm wrote: »

see if you can get someone with a tree shears. neat job compared to a saw

What about the big mulcher that's lots of digger men have. Takes thick stuff but leaves on branches to gather.

minerleague

lakill Farm wrote: »

see if you can get someone with a tree shears. neat job compared to a saw

Saw this recently, was able to gather and heap as they went, thought it broke the stems ( heavier ones ) rather than clean cut.

Thegingerbear

That sounds steep, I was quoted €45/hr incl. VAT for excavator and circular blade/mulcher including gathering afterwards. Another contractor quoted a similar rate but instead of cutting the hedge would use the bucket to flatten the branches into the hedge so less gathering of branches afterwards. I was trying to figure out what they would cover in a day and agree a rate per metre.

FeelTheBern

Thegingerbear wrote: »

That sounds steep, I was quoted €45/hr incl. VAT for excavator and circular blade/mulcher including gathering afterwards. Another contractor quoted a similar rate but instead of cutting the hedge would use the bucket to flatten the branches into the hedge so less gathering of branches afterwards. I was trying to figure out what they would cover in a day and agree a rate per metre.

That sounds cheap! Had a fellow in here with the shears in the back end. Think it was €70/hour for the shears, €50/hour for bucket work and can’t remember which for the mulcher (all plus VAT). The shears is a serious job on an escaped hedge - does splinter as opposed to saw but drops nothing on hedge and can place them whatever side you want. He put any heavy timber to one side and all bushes into big piles so no gathering up to do at all. If you get them to look at it before hand they’ll give a very good estimate of how many hours involved. Only regret I have is forget to tell him to leave any other trees he came across in the whitethorn hedge (woundn’t have been many) so he cleaned the whole lot out of it. Looks neat but going planting few trees along it now again.

Belongamick

Do you know of any Tree Shears operator down Mayo way?

ruwithme

If ground conditions suit, i prefer the traditional tractor & saw at hedges. Diggers seem to be doing most of it in recent years,I'm guessing there not ideal either for a nice reasonably level cut, as most i see cut with Diggers are up & down like a jockeys ball ox.

Must be the lack of height, compared to the tractor & saw for seeing your work as you cut.

Alot of lads round this way have let Diggers into cut when ground doesn’t suit so well either. If a tractor & saw made the same mess ,they'd be a outcry.

Only difference is a good digger man might mop up the tracks after himself.

Cavanjack

Can get the best of lads round here for €40 an hour including vat for a 13 tonne digger. Not sure how much a saw is on one but a tractor and saw is €50 an hour.

lakill Farm

minerleague wrote: »

Saw this recently, was able to gather and heap as they went, thought it broke the stems ( heavier ones ) rather than clean cut.

took a hedge down in the place I bought with shears back in Feb 2018. All timber left to one side. rubbish to the other side.

I cut timber and gathered it up with my own digger .

its a lovely neat hedge now and filled out shocking well. a few places to stick runners in this spring but they were bare areas before the process anyway

ml100

lakill Farm wrote: »

took a hedge down in the place I bought with shears back in Feb 2018. All timber left to one side. rubbish to the other side.

I cut timber and gathered it up with my own digger .

its a lovely neat hedge now and filled out shocking well. a few places to stick runners in this spring but they were bare areas before the process anyway

How low did you cut the hedge too, is it better to cut it to ground level?

wrangler

ruwithme wrote: »

If ground conditions suit, i prefer the traditional tractor & saw at hedges. Diggers seem to be doing most of it in recent years,I'm guessing there not ideal either for a nice reasonably level cut, as most i see cut with Diggers are up & down like a jockeys ball ox.

Must be the lack of height, compared to the tractor & saw for seeing your work as you cut.

Alot of lads round this way have let Diggers into cut when ground doesn’t suit so well either. If a tractor & saw made the same mess ,they'd be a outcry.

Only difference is a good digger man might mop up the tracks after himself.

Our local guy praises the digger for sawing, he claims that there's less tracks and he's over the work, The tractor isn't getting wrecked, he does a few weeks of it every year

lakill Farm

ml100 wrote: »

How low did you cut the hedge too, is it better to cut it to ground level?

Dropped it to 6ft above the bank. left all trees in between in the Feb 18

hedges cut by fail in September 18 and by following summer (2019) it had completely changed

orm0nd

got some work done here last Saturday , 2 flailed / tractor started at 8.00 at -5C temp. and worked until 5.30 pm , no stopping for grub, €90/hour for the 2.

ruwithme

"No stopping for grub" they hungry pair.

din090782

Hi. Just wondering about hedgecutting after 28 February. One of the conditions allowed is "works undertaken in the ordinary course of agriculture". What exactly does this entail? Cheers.

wrangler

din090782 wrote: »

Hi. Just wondering about hedgecutting after 28 February. One of the conditions allowed is "works undertaken in the ordinary course of agriculture". What exactly does this entail? Cheers.

Building ''works'' is it

ruwithme

A lane way for example in the month of July almost meeting again in the middle with briars. Visibility at a field gap onto the highway needing a trim in August.

din090782

Thanks guys. I presume running just a flail along sides of internal ditches is prohibited from Monday.

Dunedin

din090782 wrote: »

Thanks guys. I presume running just a flail along sides of internal ditches is prohibited from Monday.

Yes

ruwithme

din090782 wrote: »

Thanks guys. I presume running just a flail along sides of internal ditches is prohibited from Monday.

Mod Snip...... We don't allow or advocate illegal activity here.
Please read the charter if you're unsure. Otherwise this note can be taken as a warning. A recurrence of this behaviour will earn you an infraction. Thanks. GC

SouthWesterly

Got hedges cut last September. 40e an hour.
He came onto the road to do a job and got 2xdays work out of it.

FeelTheBern

Had guy in with hi mac and shears last October cutting escaped white thorn ditch. He made several piles of the bushes along the field. Know i need to comply with the County Council and Fire Brigade notification process to burn them. Just wondering would they even burn now or would I want to wait a few more weeks to give them a chance to dry out first?

poker--addict

How many metres are they doing a day when pulling hedge out entirely