Northern side of the Ducks, Benito Swan River area has some pretty good land. Straight east of the Ducks I have not seen much other than cows, and south you are back into farmable land. Lots of potholes and hills, so I was a flatland farmer and would not know what to do with it. Can't say much about the soils in that area, but they do get some really nice yields in the farmable areas on good years, but don't know the fall off if it is not perfect.
land clearing feasibility
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There is a reason the owner doesn’t want to pay for the clearing, it’s going to take piles of money, time and hard labor. Run away. We have done a couple treed fence lines and it is years before you see anything feasible and that’s just a fence line. I can’t imagine a full quarter section. You’ll have brush piles, roots, rocks etc…..forever, it never seems to end. You will be the loser on the end of this deal if you’re paying for the clearing.
The problem with that is bush pasture doesn't usually make good pasture unless there already some open areas in it.
Really you need to go prospecting dig some spots up see what the ground is like.
One thing I do know is big old growth bush is easier to clear than more recent stands or small bluffs.
Not many guys take on projects like this anymore.
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Guys around here are flattening anything and everything. Including bush that obviously the pioneers stopped clearing due to swamps and rock, lakes and ravines.
most guys here own their own machinery though. So does ownership have much affect on cost? I just struggle to get my head around guys clearing fifty acre woodlands and 50 acre lakes.
2000 an acre?
most guys here own their own machinery though. So does ownership have much affect on cost? I just struggle to get my head around guys clearing fifty acre woodlands and 50 acre lakes.
2000 an acre?
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What does the soil map say
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Like mentioned above if the land had been farmed previously it might not be that bad to rebrush. The ground will be more leveled for one thing making piling easier and cleaner. But also the majority of the rocks should have been cleaned up at one time so that will help. As far as roots go now with big discs they will mostly get buried just don’t try to use a hoe drill for the first couple 3 years. A disc drill would be a real asset.
If it’s not too bad for rocks it might work if you have a guarantee for 20 years but you’ll be so much into it for brushing let alone discing and repiling. Personal experience you’re better to brush after the summer solstice and leave piling till freeze up. Trees don’t grow back like winter brushing. Then you have to wait a year before you can burn the piles and then repile, burn again, and bury what’s left. My dads obsessed with clearing up corners on our owned land and it definitely improves the value and ease of farming but time and cost is enough let alone paying a contractor. I’m surprised what land once was seeded to grass for obvious reasons has been put back to crop with better equipment and farming methods making it feasible. However all out land clearing in this day and age you need to do it yourself and see a light at the end of the tunnel cause it’s expensive and time consuming.
Thought of that as well. For as much of a pain the Feds can be at times they’ve left us alone when it comes to that. I sound like a broken record but when my ancestors came here to be Sask there wasn’t a single tree for miles. When settlers started to work the ground it stopped the fires which naturally kept trees away. There’s been a pile of land brushed and virtually any unused land is bush. I kinda like a bit of bush around but in the natural state there would be none so brush control is keeping it natural kind of.
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Sometimes it’s a make work project for the help and if you own the tires it’s still probably cheaper to clean up your own land than chase more dirt that probably has trees.
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Nah, these are guys who are buying land with bush and swamp, clearing it and draining it.
I worry about if it gets so there isn’t a stick in sight, or a pothole anywhere, if aquifers and other unseen things ppl don’t think about may be affected? In this area, it was all bush when settlement happened.
Me I like hunting and leave my bush and think I have extremely beautiful and aesthetically pleasing land. My land can be sprayed any day of the week. I have seen in frost years where I don’t get frozen nearly so bad as neighbors do. I think in the future, owning some of this natural and untamed land will pay off because it will be so rare, especially if it’s a pocket in a rapidly transformed former parkland into a vast, treeless wide open Prairie.
Im kind of an odd old fashioned young guy. Money is not everything to me and my land reflects that.
I worry about if it gets so there isn’t a stick in sight, or a pothole anywhere, if aquifers and other unseen things ppl don’t think about may be affected? In this area, it was all bush when settlement happened.
Me I like hunting and leave my bush and think I have extremely beautiful and aesthetically pleasing land. My land can be sprayed any day of the week. I have seen in frost years where I don’t get frozen nearly so bad as neighbors do. I think in the future, owning some of this natural and untamed land will pay off because it will be so rare, especially if it’s a pocket in a rapidly transformed former parkland into a vast, treeless wide open Prairie.
Im kind of an odd old fashioned young guy. Money is not everything to me and my land reflects that.
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Oddest thing is then they come and beg hunt on my land. Umm, no.
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There’s some gorgeous land in pockets in that area … But those pockets are far and few in between …
Personally I doubt they left it too become standing bush if this happened to be one of those small pockets …
The dominant soil in that geography would be eroded slopes complex … or in other words- the side of a hill …
Personally I doubt they left it too become standing bush if this happened to be one of those small pockets …
The dominant soil in that geography would be eroded slopes complex … or in other words- the side of a hill …
There are already laws like that if you are involved in certain programs. For eg, if you are selling grain to a company that moves grain into Europe, you need to sign onto an ISCC agreement, where they will not allow you to de tree your farmland beyond a reasonable amount. Stripping down a 1/4 would be far beyond a reasonable amount.
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Had a grain company wanting us to sign something like that. Told them no and we still sell grain to them at the same price as everybody else.
It is not a necessity for the producers as long as they do not pull you into an audit, and the grain companies are very good at handpicking who they expose to these audits. The signing the agreement is not for the farmers, it is for the grain companies to be allowed to sell into the markets. They must have a certain percentage of there tonnes going into Europe being filled by the growers that are in the program.
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