How to size up Roller Choppers

[ratterrier]

I was wondering what peeps on here thought a roller chopper was, what it should weigh, what should pull it, how long the work lasts, and what is the going rate per acre for roller chopping or is it done by the hour in your area of Texas. Does anybody on here know the difference between a Cat tracked Dozer pulled rollerchopper vs a rubber tired Lawson imitation? How can somebody tell if the equiptment is the doing a great job or a poor one? Why would somebody rollerchop a pasture in the first place? Does it really make the antler size any larger? Anybody on here own a rollerchopper and do custom work??

[Long Stem Wells]

if im thinking about the same thing your asking about ( Pasture renivotor) its bacially cutter/or slicer that aeriaites the ground to increse grass production

their made small enough to pull with a 4 wheeler and large enough that they have to be pulled with a lg cat.

Lawson cutters (the ones ive seen ) were pulled behind a dozer.

their more for increasing grass yealds for hay or grazing.... (farm/ranch) i guess it would be good for your deer too

[M. Bolfing]

I've spent a lot of time pulling a roller chopper and in my opinion an excellent management tool in South TX. I've used the big double drum Lawson that wieghs about 40000 lbs when drums are filled with water and pull it with a D7 dozer. Does not kill brush in most cases if that is what you are looking for but creates excellent regrowth for wildlife while creating an edge in habitat. Grasses will blow up once the brush is knocked down and wildlife flocks to the regrowth of brush and forbs. It is labor and time intensive . We need to redo most senderos about every 3-4 years because regrowth will get to tall to hunt. I have done some senderos where the brush has not come back and remains grass. I think it has to do with the time of year it was done but not sure. The times the chopper does not produce results is if too much ground moisture and soil builds up over the blades and turns it basically into a roller. If a tree trunk gets stuck in the blades it will also leave patches that do not get chopped every rotation. Not sure of going rates for hire.

[Russ81]

I was never impressed with the Lawson's model just b/c it didn't seem to break up hard pan as good as a roller blade chopper (Ones that have a continous blade horizontal to with the drum). If you want to Kill the brush then hitting it in late winter will do that, if you chop while the leaves are still on the tree your just going to turn a tree into a bush and make more problems.

Best one I've seen was out on the Pillioncillo and it was 5-6 smaller choppers in a "V" formation behind the dozer. Each chopper was about 3' tall and they could knock some brush down and mince it really well. I never heard how much it weighed but they too used a D7 to pull it, heavier is better when it comes to chopping, and the dozer has less problems with flats going over brush unless you really mad max a tractor to handle it.

[sundownbrown]

We just had one at our place in Beeville. It was a single drum that weighed 20,000 whhen filled with water. The operator pulled it with a D6. That thing does some damage.

[ratterrier]

We just had one at our place in Beeville. It was a single drum that weighed 20,000 whhen filled with water. The operator pulled it with a D6. That thing does some damage.

You had a lawson or a real roller chopper with the 1 piece drum blades??? How much an acre are they charging per acre or by the hour??? How wide and how tall was the chopper??? Anyway one can drive by and see the chopper or lawson or whatever it is from the road n where it was working?? Thanks for any info.

[ratterrier]

I've spent a lot of time pulling a roller chopper and in my opinion an excellent management tool in South TX. I've used the big double drum Lawson that wieghs about 40000 lbs when drums are filled with water and pull it with a D7 dozer. Does not kill brush in most cases if that is what you are looking for but creates excellent regrowth for wildlife while creating an edge in habitat. Grasses will blow up once the brush is knocked down and wildlife flocks to the regrowth of brush and forbs. It is labor and time intensive . We need to redo most senderos about every 3-4 years because regrowth will get to tall to hunt. I have done some senderos where the brush has not come back and remains grass. I think it has to do with the time of year it was done but not sure. The times the chopper does not produce results is if too much ground moisture and soil builds up over the blades and turns it basically into a roller. If a tree trunk gets stuck in the blades it will also leave patches that do not get chopped every rotation. Not sure of going rates for hire.

You pulled a pasture aeroater or a roller chopper made by lawson?, the double drums i have seen dont do much work compared to the single blade roller chopper, there is one near me that is a shop made roller chopper and has 9 blades and weighs 64,000 pounds when fully loaded with 3000 gallons of water, its 16 feet wide and 6 foot tall, so i figure its over 4000 psi when it hits the ground. i been figuring on trying to lease it out to do some work for a neighbor, its been sitting dead for over 10 years and has a dead d8 next to it as well that used to pull it. I know that 8.3 feet wide a mile long is one acre. So if i pull it 3 miles per hour i would chop about 4 acres an hour with loss from turning, I just dont know how to figure out what to charge per acre, the neighbor is really sneaky and might try to get me to go bankrupt if i get locked into a too low per acre price. I have been thinking a old D8 Cat should get about $125 per hour to pull it. But the cost of maintaining the chopper blades with all of that Amor plate cutting edges is scary, thinking there about $800 a blade nowdays due to the steel increase. I will try to get some pictures of it and see what you guys think it should bring if somebody is doing it for hire, the old mexican cat hand who used to run it is retired and says it used to go 1 foot into the ground and cut up mesquite like cordwood at the store. I been thinking I have to either get $150 an hour pulling it or do it by the acre for $40 an acre due to its size and extra HD cutting weight? Does this seem off in too low or too high per acre???

[ratterrier]

I was never impressed with the Lawson's model just b/c it didn't seem to break up hard pan as good as a roller blade chopper (Ones that have a continous blade horizontal to with the drum). If you want to Kill the brush then hitting it in late winter will do that, if you chop while the leaves are still on the tree your just going to turn a tree into a bush and make more problems.

Best one I've seen was out on the Pillioncillo and it was 5-6 smaller choppers in a "V" formation behind the dozer. Each chopper was about 3' tall and they could knock some brush down and mince it really well. I never heard how much it weighed but they too used a D7 to pull it, heavier is better when it comes to chopping, and the dozer has less problems with flats going over brush unless you really mad max a tractor to handle it.

I have seen one exactly like that one you are describing, is the piloncillo near Cambelton or that way, seems like the drums were solid and arranged like a flying wing, i have not thought of that in years, seems like last time i saw that was in the 70 or 80 out in Atsocatoa county, somewhere?? I thinking Marden Choppers out of Mulberry Florida made it too?? Nowdays Marden got bought out by Holt Cat I think and now they sell or make them somehow, kinda like the Rome Disc company got bought by Holt as well. I am going to look for a marden Chopper website link and see if i can find that flying wing chopper design.

[ratterrier]

I was never impressed with the Lawson's model just b/c it didn't seem to break up hard pan as good as a roller blade chopper (Ones that have a continous blade horizontal to with the drum). If you want to Kill the brush then hitting it in late winter will do that, if you chop while the leaves are still on the tree your just going to turn a tree into a bush and make more problems.

Best one I've seen was out on the Pillioncillo and it was 5-6 smaller choppers in a "V" formation behind the dozer. Each chopper was about 3' tall and they could knock some brush down and mince it really well. I never heard how much it weighed but they too used a D7 to pull it, heavier is better when it comes to chopping, and the dozer has less problems with flats going over brush unless you really mad max a tractor to handle it.

http://www.mardenind.com/our_products.php here are some videos that one can watch, i think i saw a 3 foot tall chopper being pulled by a old d7 in a photo on there website, if you want to see a weird machine check out that video of the brush crusher that they are using with a d8 cat on hillsides out in CalllyFonia, pretty cool but i dont see why they just dont pull it with the cat?

[FCTrapper]

I have seen one exactly like that one you are describing, is the piloncillo near Cambelton or that way, seems like the drums were solid and arranged like a flying wing, i have not thought of that in years, seems like last time i saw that was in the 70 or 80 out in Atsocatoa county, somewhere?? I thinking Marden Choppers out of Mulberry Florida made it too?? Nowdays Marden got bought out by Holt Cat I think and now they sell or make them somehow, kinda like the Rome Disc company got bought by Holt as well. I am going to look for a marden Chopper website link and see if i can find that flying wing chopper design.

The family that owns the Piloncillo owns a large ranch in Campbellton also, could have been the same Chopper. It was a one of a kind.. Never seen another one the size of that one. The one in question on the Piloncillo was there through the late 80's and early 90's, I know because I spent alot of time on the old thing... it was heavy as HECk.. I think it was pulled by a D8 if I rememeber correctly... the dozer was older than I was.


Russ
When were you on the Piloncillo??? With Ty B?

[FCTrapper]

I been thinking I have to either get $150 an hour pulling it or do it by the acre for $40 an acre due to its size and extra HD cutting weight? Does this seem off in too low or too high per acre???

Just my opinion.... ALWAYS charge by the hour.... My dozer operator charges me $90 per hour and I lease the chopper for $4000 per month... It's not even as big a chopper as I would like to have.

[ratterrier]

The family that owns the Piloncillo owns a large ranch in Campbellton also, could have been the same Chopper. It was a one of a kind.. Never seen another one the size of that one. The one in question on the Piloncillo was there through the late 80's and early 90's, I know because I spent alot of time on the old thing... it was heavy as HECk.. I think it was pulled by a D8 if I rememeber correctly... the dozer was older than I was.


Russ
When were you on the Piloncillo??? With Ty B?

Bet it was the same chopper, I am thinking i saw it on the Peelers or maybe the 74 or arrowS ranch at Cambelton, it was a Marden with low drums and had a D8 14a pulling it i am kinda thinking now, a freind of mine has a ranch next to them on the river off of Old 281, there used to be several choppers going around there at one time and Live oak county, unusual to see them where i am nowdays, the Steigers have taken over with the wannabee lawsons, the Lowmans have several choppers you can see from the FM 624 yard but they are solid and 24 inch barrels, never seen them with a large drum type. If one is running it every day for $4000 a month thats prob about $130 a day??? If one is in rock and owns the chopper be hard to replace blades and move it for that price, sounds like a good deal for the ranch but not the chopper owner unless they have lots of free AR400 steel for blades. I am thinking that i would have to rent it out for at least $10 a acre? So if a D8 is getting $100 a hour and renting the chopper from me that would make it cost about $30 or $40 an hour more, kinda like the point where nobody wants to rent it or hire ya. Thats prob why that one next to me it is sitting dead in that pasture with the dead 8 guarding itLOL Its too high to run!!!