For those who haven’t practiced good growth or forage management, bush hogging dense and overgrown areas can allow new plants and vegetation to regrow at more contained rates, in addition to boosting the biological climate of the surrounding environment.
Animals like deer, rabbits, quail and helpful insects are more likely to return to or populate fields and pastures that have been maintained and kept through the process of brush hogging and mulching the land. Besides these animals positively impacting the landowners who want to use their property to attract a variety of wildlife, this boost in biodiversity has benefits that are far-reaching and ongoing, including a higher rate of plant growth and flower pollination, which in turn increases the production level of surrounding beehives
Before you climb onto your tractor to clear your property, here are some quick things to consider to make your brush hogging session worth your while.
Know what you want to use the property for.
Bush hog cutting can be performed at different levels – as low as inches or as high as feet – depending on what the land is to be used for. If you are looking to refine a property for cattle grazing or hunting, the level of brush you would need to clear would be different than someone preparing land for construction and homebuilding. Do the work to determine exactly how close you need to get to the ground in order to get the results you want – remember, you can always go over the ground a second time if you decide you want to cut tighter.
Examine the land before cutting.
If your property is dense with tall grasses, rocks or contains saplings wider than two inches in diameter, become familiar with the ground prior to getting on your tractor. While bush hogging blades are known to resist hard objects and cut through thick branches in ways traditional mowers cannot, that doesn’t mean you or your machinery will be invincible. Particularly if you are mowing an area of land for the first time, go over the ground on foot before you take your tractor out. This will help you become familiar with holes, unseen ditches, sizable rocks, and trees that may need to be dug out by hand.
Remember the first time is the hardest.
If the land you’re bush hogging was recently purchased in its current condition or was part of a family inheritance, cleaning up the property can be a time consuming process and might feel overwhelming. But it’s important to remember that once the initial sweep has happened, what’s required from there on out is mostly maintenance. The first time a field or pasture is bush hogged, it will take the longest. However, if you do not mow or maintain the land sooner instead of later, you will inevitably change it into a forest – a project which is much bigger and more involved than dealing with brush cutting.
