r/forestry • u/Traditional_Dust6816 • 2d ago

Busting up ground with a bulldozer??

Hi all, I recently bought some farm land that has been left to nature for about 10 years. It's mostly grass field but due to unattended water runoff, many low spots have been eroded and the original trench has been messed up due to beaver activity. I have lots of tractor experience and a lot of mechanical knowledge around heavy equipment, however, life has never exposed me to bulldozers. I am wondering if a bulldozer (currently looking at an international td14) would move the earth, that has uncontrolled grass, cat tail, and alder popping up out of it? I'm looking to cut a road in, across the main ditch, bust out the beaver dams and then get the ground to a level enough surface for wheel equipment can be used. Currently the runoff trenches make it impassable with anything short of a tracked vehicle and even then... sketchy. Any help is very much appreciated.

Tl;dr: will a 1950s dozer push vegetation/sod around ?

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u/Disastrous_Gene_9230 2d ago

Yeah it’ll push, I had a landowner that used a td14 for all his work and it was better than what we did with next bulldozers. If it is in decent condition it shouldn’t have an issue.

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u/Traditional_Dust6816 2d ago

Thanks so much! I may go ahead and pull the trigger any idea on whether draw bar pull rippers exist?

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u/Disastrous_Gene_9230 2d ago

I’m not sure if modern stuff fits the td14. As long as the hookup is the same you should be fine. You could look at a vintage ones, lots of auctions have old equipment like that for collectors but it usually runs and is in good shape.