Brush hogging in Columbia, Lawrenceburg & Middle TN

What our brush hog cuts

A brush hog is a heavy rotary cutter. Ours runs on the SVL97-2 track loader, which tracks well on soft ground. It cuts brush, briars and saplings, and small trees up to 10 inches thick. In Middle Tennessee that usually means tall fescue gone to seed, blackberry, briars, multiflora rose, privet, honeysuckle, sericea lespedeza and the eastern red cedars that move into any field left alone for a few years.

No mulching, to be clear

We do not offer mulching or forestry mulching. A brush hog cuts and lays material down; it does not grind it into chips. Larger stems leave stubble and stumps, and heavy cut material can be piled with the machine. If you want the ground cleared of stumps and roots, that is land clearing with the excavator, and it is a different job.

Where brush hogging makes sense

• Overgrown pasture and hay ground that needs knocking back before it turns to woods
• Fence lines swallowed by briars and saplings
• Long lanes and driveways that have closed in from both sides
• Pond edges, dam faces and field borders that need to be kept open
• Lots you are about to clear, as a first pass so we can see the ground

Before we start and what to tell us

Brush hogs throw whatever they hit. Walk the area first and tell us about old fence wire, buried posts, pipe, stumps, wells, septic lids, survey stakes and rock piles. Hidden wire and iron are the most common reason a cutter stops, and we would rather mark them than hit them. Very steep banks and standing water are safety limits for the machine, and we will say so when we look at the property. A field that is mowed once a year in late summer, before the cedar and briars get woody, stays a lot cheaper to keep than one that has sat for five.

How we work a field

We make the first pass with the deck set high so we can find hidden hazards before dropping lower. Then we cut in overlapping passes, work around trees, ditch banks and fence posts, and finish at the height you want. Muddy ground gets ruts and torn sod, so we wait out wet spells.

When to cut

Late summer, before the seed heads drop and the cedar and briars harden, is the usual window for pasture and field edges. If you have ground-nesting birds or fawns in the field, mid-summer is when many people wait to cut. Lanes and fence lines can be cut whenever the ground is dry enough to hold the machine.

What moves the price

We quote after seeing the ground. The factors are acreage; how tall and thick the growth is and how many stems approach 10 inches; slope, rocks and stumps; how far we trailer the machine; and whether you want piles made or the cut material left in place. Free on-site quotes, and we tell you straight if a job is really a clearing job instead.

Frequently asked questions