# Stumps in the pasture



## Midnite711 (May 30, 2014)

Recently the power company has cut down some trees that have been in the danger zone of the power lines. However, they have not done anything about the huge stumps that were left behind. How can I get rid of them? Without heavy equipment use? Same thing for large roots.


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## squirrelfood (Mar 29, 2014)

Get someone to chainsaw them down low to the ground, then rent a portable stump grinder to take them below dirt surface.


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## Phly (Nov 14, 2012)

Leave them tall. Or hire someone to take them out. A 4' stump is less dangerous than a 6" stump. 

Even with grinding, you will have a hole and roots.


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## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

Phly said:


> Leave them tall. Or hire someone to take them out. A 4' stump is less dangerous than a 6" stump.
> 
> Even with grinding, you will have a hole and roots.


 Quite agree here. 

Also, if the power company did the work then they should finish the job if the stumps have been left at a dangerous height -- I should think that if there was a horse accident as a result of these stumps they would be responsible.


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## squirrelfood (Mar 29, 2014)

Chevaux said:


> Quite agree here.
> 
> Also, if the power company did the work then they should finish the job if the stumps have been left at a dangerous height -- I should think that if there was a horse accident as a result of these stumps they would be responsible.


They are not liable. They own a right-of way under all power lines, I think 50 feet wide.


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## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

squirrelfood said:


> They are not liable. They own a right-of way under all power lines, I think 50 feet wide.


 Good point there. It would seem logical, however, that they still have some sort of duty of care to do their work and to put up their infrastructure in a safe manner.


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## ZabysMom (Oct 24, 2014)

Hay issue...I posted this in another thread and no one has replied, I purchased hay back in July and specifically told the guy I wanted first crop, he showed me it, I bought it and asked for delivery end of October, he delivered it Thursday, I noticed sticks, leaves, dried flowers, my horse didn't eat the first batch..does anyone know if this is 1st crop? With little sticks?? I've seen plenty of 1st crop and it's usually nice and green, thin free of 'weeds', I don't know what to do..is it good for him? I'm thinking not..please help!! It seems to me that this is last cut and everythinggrew thru the summer, or maybe 1st crop is full of this nutritious stuff? I asked him when he was stackingit if it was 1st crop, he said "oh yeah" and shook his head up and down..they are a very reputable barn, but just starting saying the past few years and got new equipment this year


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## TimWhit91 (Feb 3, 2012)

First crop is the weedy stuff if not sprayed for weeds. 2nd cut on us good stuff
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## stevenson (Sep 12, 2011)

what type of trees are they ? Pge has the right to cut down trees that could interfere with the power lines causing sparks etc. They usually clean up the limbs they cut down , and if the crew is nice and its a wood that could be used for firewood, sometimes they will take it down to the ground .


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## SueNH (Nov 7, 2011)

How to Remove a Tree Stump Painlessly

The power company just drops the tree and leaves it here. You aren't going to get them to do anything they don't have to.


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## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

SueNH said:


> How to Remove a Tree Stump Painlessly
> 
> The power company just drops the tree and leaves it here. You aren't going to get them to do anything they don't have to.


 
And that's the type of work standard that would turn me off voluntarily signing over easement rights to a utility company.


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## stevenson (Sep 12, 2011)

You do not voluntarily sign over rights here. They are in the deed. They can work with the state and get imminent domain. PGE has always removed the tree portions cut here, they come out with a ladder ext truck and limb shredder . At my old house they cut down a huge eucalyptus for me, a couple wanted the large pieces for fire wood, so they took it to the ground, left some wood for me, and took it all away. Guess this state is not so bad after all.


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## squirrelfood (Mar 29, 2014)

> The power company just drops the tree and leaves it here. You aren't going to get them to do anything they don't have to


Yep, same here.


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## squirrelfood (Mar 29, 2014)

stevenson said:


> You do not voluntarily sign over rights here. They are in the deed. They can work with the state and get imminent domain. PGE has always removed the tree portions cut here, they come out with a ladder ext truck and limb shredder . At my old house they cut down a huge eucalyptus for me, a couple wanted the large pieces for fire wood, so they took it to the ground, left some wood for me, and took it all away. Guess this state is not so bad after all.


It's not "in the deed" in THIS part of the country unless they are already on the property. You have to get permission from landowners here to cross their property with new lines. If a property owner says no, they must either find a way around, or, as in the case of running lines to my place, threaten the landowner with withdrawal of service to get co operation.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

If you want the stump gone, hire a backhoe, it's about the only way to eliminate stumps, properly that is.


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## Phly (Nov 14, 2012)

How we handle clearing. No stumps. This was a completely wooded area. We pull the stumps with the machine and their gone forever. Typically only takes a few minutes per tree.


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## SueNH (Nov 7, 2011)

At this house I have power lines passing through my backyard and heading out into the woods. Last year the power company did some line maintenance and dropped a bunch of large trees on my flower bed and left it. Left a bunch more laying in the woods. Most way too big for me to handle. I don't mind the stuff left in the woods but my flower bed bugs me.

The lines pass over my property in a few places. They were placed there years ago to bring service to houses that no longer exist. My husband vaguely remembers the last one being torn down when he was a kid. He is 64 yrs old. I'm especially fond of the street light in the middle of a field owned by the state and kept open by the snowmobile club that burns all year round for nothing and nobody but coyotes. No other street lights around for miles and miles. Not sure why they replace the bulb periodically. Just a couple cellar holes out there. The state also uses it as a pheasant stocking site and the power and phone lines are so full of bird shot holes that when it rains my neighbors and I brown out and the phone crackles and hums. Great fun but the power company isn't about to move those lines to the more accessible road. I even have one pole that is now in the middle of a stream thanks to hurricane Irene. I pointed it out to them. Was told when it falls they will move it. Lovely crisis management.

Small stumps can be pulled with a truck. I've done it. Bigger ones do take an excavator or backhoe.

A lot of stumps will resprout if you don't kill them somehow. I know I had a back portion of my property logged off about 6 yrs ago now. I was very surprised at how fast the woods came back. The stumps that died are rotted away now but the ones that survived and resprouted are 4 inches or better wide. Only a very small portion got stumped because a backhoe is very expensive to rent.

Then there is this amazing seed bank in the soil that sprouts when the competition is gone. I have all I can do to keep the woods back with my little lawn mower and the grazing pressure of the horses. The horses don't eat much that isn't grass. A nibble here and there and very seasonal. Mostly birches and poplars so I don't worry except for the incredible growth that makes my mowing endless.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

Here, if trees have to be removed on private land, they are cut low to the ground, with extra cuts in the top and then everything goes thro the chipper. The power company kept changing the rules. When I first moved here I cut down very small trees near the lines and they showed up. Then it was decided the power company would do it, safer. Fine, I left the sprouts to grow. When they were about 12' tall, the rules changed again. I was to look after the trees. Yeah right, after they'd grown 11 feet. Rules changed again. A crew started working full time with chain saws and the chipper shredder truck. The chips were either hauled away or the landowner could have them.


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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

ZabysMom said:


> Hay issue...I posted this in another thread and no one has replied, <snip>


It is considered impolite to "off topic" someone else's thread. If your thread didn't receive a response, you can try posting on the same thread again to "bump" it and ask if anyone needs more info.


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

I don't see this as a problem. The summer after I bought my 5 acres (2000) I started a burn pile for the stuff I had to chop down. There will ALWAYS be trees and weeds to take care of and it's better to chop them and burn them than spray them.
I would have that tree chopped up with my chainsaw in a nannosecond!!! I have a party in October every year and my friends LOVE the bonfire we have in the 3 acre north pasture!!.
The only thing you do NOT want is electric lines falling into and electocuting your horses!!!!!!!
Thank the power company for doing their best to prevent this.
ALL of my lines on my property are buried. The lines that used to run from the house to the barn and tool shed were buried in 2004 after the horse (that threw me and broke my arm--no love lost) pulled down the power pole.
I now have two burn piles. One is in front of the barn and I burn wood with nails, etc., and the other, in their pasture is metal free.
I am SURE you can find somebody with a chainsaw to help you take it down some, but it is NO danger to your animals, at all!!


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## ZabysMom (Oct 24, 2014)

The hay has rose Bush thorns all through it, as well as leaves, flowers, goldenrodthat grew over the summer, in Maine our first crop hay is nice and clean


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

Since we get snow, a common practice is to drill holes in the stumps, pour in diesel fuel, let it soak in for a day then ignite. They usually smolder for a few days.


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## SueNH (Nov 7, 2011)

The stump remover stuff isn't some weird chemical. It's a very high nitrogen fertilizer. Mostly potassium nitrate. The high nitrogen speeds up the rotting bacteria doing their normal job. 

I need a more ambitious group of kids. Told my daughter and her friends they could have a bonfire out there when the snow flies. So far they have cut about 10 2 inch poplars. I've also got a shed that has collapsed from old age they could drag to the burn pile but so far that hasn't moved. Yet they are all still talking about a bonfire. I think they expect mother to do all the work for them.


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## Midnite711 (May 30, 2014)

They are pine trees, they are about a foot off then ground. I want to avoid renting equipment, I am going to try the "chemical" stuff. I really hate that they have the right to just leave the trees and ruts and stumps all around my horses. It honestly looks horrible and its going to take forever to level and fix all the damage that was done. In my opinion they are making my property value plummet.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

The stumps aren't dangerous to the horses, they're not that stupid. Horses map every square inch of a pasture. Have you called the power company? If you get nowhere with them, have someone with a chainsaw come and cut them even with the ground then cross-cut the tops as deep as the tip will go in. Everygreens are very slow to rot as there is so much pitch. This is why people here use diesel and try to burn them out. Unfortunately the stumps contain too much moisture the first few years and the flames just sizzle out.


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## mrwithers (Jun 25, 2014)

The chemical stuff just kills the stump so that it stops trying to regrow a tree as far as I know. You really need a machine to pull a big stump out. Even my tractor with a backhoe has trouble pulling out huge stumps. I tried using my truck to pull them out and they wouldn't budge. I've never used a stump grinder but they're cheap to rent


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## SueNH (Nov 7, 2011)

The stump remover chemicals you buy in places like walmart or lowes is just a nitrogen fertilizer that speeds up the rotting.

The nitrogen gives the bacteria that decompose the wood a jump start. When decomposition of wood first starts it is kind of counter intuitive...takes some nitrogen to make nitrogen.

It's not a miracle in a bottle. It's still going to take a lot of time. It is still going to be dependent on warm, wet temps to really do it's thing. You probably be wasting your money this time of year as the winter rain and snow is going to just wash it away.

Banking the stump with a little eau du chicken covered in horse to hold the moisture will accomplish the same thing. Again not a miracle it will just rot faster than if you left it alone.

The hardwoods often survive being cut to the ground here. I've never seen a conifer stump regrow. Birch, poplar, maple and oak it seems like better than half managed to sprout again.

Out back where I don't worry too much about stumps and things there are several large pine stumps that are only now just starting to fall apart. It's been about 8 yrs since they were cut. They are still hard enough for me to sit on and watch the world go by.

Spectracide® Stump Remover Granules


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## Zexious (Aug 2, 2013)

Couldn't chemical stuff be potentially harmful to horses? I really have no idea, and am curious xD


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## SueNH (Nov 7, 2011)

I suppose if they were to eat enough of it. It is common grass ferts. They put it on hay fields in the spring. Same stuff. Only they often color the stump remover so the home owner can see it. It's also the same chemical they make fertilizer bombs with.

The msds sheet comes up easily enough when you google it.


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

I would advvise against applying ANY herbidice to your horse pasture. You have NO CLUE what the injestion would do to your horses. I have a better suggestion, but it takes some elbow grease. Dig down in the 4 corners of each stump about 12=18 inches deep and at least 1 ft in diameter. Use a reciprocating saw and chop as many roots as possible. Bury fresh manure in the holes. The manure will burn the roots and it NOT recommended to use when transplanting ANY TREE! It certainly won't hurt your horses.
If you are more ambitious, start digging and cutting roots and then backfill with manure.
Really, it's a "Citified, Suburbanite" belief that everything in a pasture should be removed. I admire the TB broodmare farm close to my house. They bought 10 acres to the south of their existing farm, bringing the south part of the property at the apex of two county roads. They build a very nice house, but left the oak trees in the property for shade and subdivided the 10 acres into two pastures with shelters, and the house, yard and driveway in the middle.


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## SueNH (Nov 7, 2011)

It's not an herbicide. It is fertilizer.

Potassium Nitrate. Major ingredient in salt peter, gunpowder, lawn fertilizer.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCcQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ncmissouri.edu%2Fhea%2Fbarton_epaosha%2F39036_MSDS_PotassiumNitrate.pdf&ei=jO5nVPn_LcjgsATQpoLwCw&usg=AFQjCNGnEjN5Aev-OrUvcLWosEdb1a4Llw&sig2=4f2rHWABI7r5nWxQqqMx4g&bvm=bv.79142246,d.cWc

material safety data sheet on potassium nitrate


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