Six acres of pasture opened back up near Elgin by taking out everything under six inches through the trunk and leaving everything above it. Two days with the Weiler M860A.
Open oak woodland in Elgin Texas after selective forestry mulching removed the understory brush
Six inches was the whole brief
The instruction on this job was simple to say and harder to run: clear everything under six inches through the trunk, keep everything over. Brush, yaupon and volunteer saplings out. Oaks stay.
That single number is what separates selective clearing from full clearing, and it changes how the machine gets worked from the first pass to the last.
Why a diameter rule beats a species list
Telling a crew to remove yaupon and leave oaks sounds precise until an operator meets a young oak in a thicket. A diameter rule is something you can hold to at working speed, from the cab, without stopping to identify every stem. Anything you can see through the head is small enough to go.
It also matches what the owner actually wants, which is not a species preference but a pasture with shade in it. Trees over six inches are the ones that will still be there in twenty years.
Six acres in two days with the Weiler
The Weiler M860A worked the six acres over two days. Selective clearing is slower per acre than full clearing because the machine has to be placed rather than driven, but the material stays on the ground as mulch and the pasture comes back through it.
What is left is open oak woodland you can run cattle under.
Before and after
Land clearing around Elgin
We work the country around Elgin regularly, across Bastrop County and the counties next to it.
Want your pasture back without losing your trees?
Tell us how many acres you have and which trees matter to you, and we will tell you what it takes.
Call 512-400-2693