I need to do some brush maintenance at our ranch near Laredo. Anyone know of a good dozer operator?

Freddie Gierisch out of Cotulla might be one to call. He used to do a lot of work in the Cotulla-Laredo-Freer area. I think it is South Texas Dozer Service. Let me know if you cant find the number.

Send the number...

Also - how much per day am I looking at?

Try (830) 879-3680. On price, I would imagine alot would depend on what you wanted. I think his D8 would be in the ballpark of $120/Hr, but I might be a bit off.

rent a dozer and do it yourself. It's a lot of fun and less expensive. Depending on the size trees you are dozing, you don't need anything huge. Make sure you get the roots or you'll be back in the same shape in a couple of years. I recogmend a grubber, but you can get the root ball with the corner of the blade after you catch on.

Where do you rent dozers from and do you have to have any qualifications to rent one?

what size do you need?

You can rent Dozers from Holt Caterpillar and pretty much the only qualification you need is a checkbook. If you are good with equipment and you have the time you might want to try it out, it will be cheaper. Just remember that it will be a lot of work. You will also want a rake/stacker (so you don't push too much dirt piling brush), so that will be extra.

A D-8 is much larger than what you need for clearing mesquite, unless you have some massive trees and plan to move a lot of dirt as well. I had a pair of high track D6's do a good job on some sizeable hackberrys at home (tough trees to get out), so that's probably more than enough, maybe even a D-5. A D-4 would be enough to take out medium sized mesquites but you probably would come out better financially/timewise with a larger dozer. Sometimes they don't cost all that much more to get a much more capable machine.

This rental you speak of... Will they deliver?

As for the size of "trees"... I have mesquite, black brush, and *****ly pear - typical STX brush.


ALSO: I would be willing to swap a deer hunt for some brush work.

[This message has been edited by Aggie Infantry (edited 3/18/2006 6:12p).]

Find someone local and let them clear that land out... you'll do better on $$$

[This message has been edited by aggiestud (edited 3/18/2006 9:04p).]

If you are wanting to take out the brush permanently, you will need a root plow. Mesquite and blackbrush are prolific root/crown sprouters. Call the USDA NRCS office in Laredo - ask for Jim. They probably have a contractor list.

B1, you could also aerial spray. We have done both, and if done correctly, the aerial thins out brush and pear, but still leaves some cover. To clear the brush, root plow, rake and stack is the way to go. If youve got some big trees you want to leave, then clearing has to be mechanical. Just whatever he is looking to do.

I have contacted NRCS and had a survey done. I have the contractor list. The problem is what NRCS will help pay for. They will only do grass strips. I have about 600ac of grass that does need some work. For this, I plan to use aerial spraying.

NRCS will not help pay for brush growing up on the side of my roads. This will be all on my dime.

Anyone got a dozer between Freer and Laredo that they what to lease out?

What do you mean by "grass strips"? They have the technology in hand to measure/design any sort of brush pattern you desire.

We have "grass strips" that are 100 yards wide and one mile long. So it is grass-brush-grass-brush. Makes for a good image on Google Earth.

I understand. They are paying for a "turn-key" job of dozing/rootplowing/reseeding.