Clear an overgrown lot without a full-size machine
A mini skid steer with a brush mower and grapple clears saplings, palmetto, and undergrowth on tight Northeast Florida lots that a big machine can't reach, and it fits through a standard gate to get there.
What the job involves
Land clearing in Northeast Florida usually means Florida undergrowth: palmetto scrub, wax myrtle, young pines, wild grape and greenbrier vines, and the head-high brush that takes over any lot left alone for a season. On a typical residential or small-acreage job you are not felling mature timber, you are knocking down and hauling off everything under about four inches thick so the ground is workable again.
That is exactly the work the Bobcat MT-120 mini skid steer is built for. At roughly 42 inches wide on rubber tracks it slips through a standard side gate and along a fence line, floats over soft ground without rutting it up, and swaps between a brushcat mower and a root grapple in under a minute. You mow the brush down, then grapple the piles into a heap or straight onto a trailer.
For a wooded quarter-acre lot, a fence line grown shut, or the back half of an acre-plus parcel out toward Middleburg or Callahan, this setup gets you cleared ground in a day or a weekend instead of paying a clearing crew four figures or renting a machine too big to fit.
Bobcat MT-120 Mini Skid Steer
The heart of our fleet. A versatile mini track loader that fits through a standard gate yet lifts 1,200 lbs. Ideal for landscaping, hardscaping, land clearing, and material handling on tight residential job sites. Swaps attachments in seconds.
What to expect on the job
Walk the lot and flag what stays
Mark the trees, meter, septic lids, well head, and property pins you want to keep. The mini skid steer is nimble enough to work around them, but flag them first so nothing gets clipped once you are moving.
Mow the brush down with the brushcat
The 60-inch brushcat mower chews through palmetto, saplings, and brush up to a few inches thick. Work in passes, keep the machine moving so the cutter does not bog, and drop everything to ground level.
Swap to the grapple and pile it
Pop the brushcat off, snap the root grapple on, and rake the cut material into piles. The grapple grabs a whole armful of brush at once and stacks it for burning, chipping, or hauling.
Grade and clean up
With the grapple or a bucket you can pull stumps and roots the mower left, backdrag the surface smooth, and leave the lot ready for sod, gravel, a build, or a fence.
Rough time and cost
Rates are all-in (tax and damage waiver included). A full rental day is a true 24 hours, so a Saturday-morning pickup gives you until Sunday morning. Weekly rates cut the daily cost for bigger parcels.
Questions we get on this job
Will it handle Florida palmetto and thick roots?
The brushcat handles palmetto, brush, and saplings up to roughly three to four inches. For mature stumps and big root balls you will want to grapple and pry them out rather than mow them, which the machine has the hydraulic power to do on most residential-size roots.
How thick a tree can it take down?
The mini skid steer is a clearing and undergrowth machine, not a timber harvester. Think brush, scrub, and trees up to about four inches. For larger trees, drop them separately and use the grapple to clear the debris.
Will it tear up the ground I want to keep?
Rubber tracks spread the machine's weight far better than tires, so it leaves far less rutting. On soft or wet ground, work when it is drier and avoid spinning in place.
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Ready to tackle land clearing?
Rent the Bobcat MT-120 online in about 60 seconds, or call. Free yard pickup 24/7, or delivery from $150.