How the KIOTI TL750 Flow+ Got Us Into Forestry Mulching in the Upstate

For a long time we could grind stumps, bush hog, and clear with a bucket, but we couldn't offer forestry mulching. The reason wasn't skill. It was hydraulic flow. A KIOTI TL750 Flow+ compact track loader and a Baumalight MS1160 mulching head, both from STEC Equipment, are what changed that.

WHY FORESTRY MULCHING NEEDS HIGH FLOW

A forestry mulcher is a spinning drum lined with carbide teeth that chews standing brush and small trees into mulch right where they stand. That drum runs on the loader's hydraulic oil. If the machine can't push enough oil, the drum slows down every time it hits a thick stem, and the job crawls. Most mulching heads need more oil than a standard-flow skid steer puts out.

The standard TL750 moves 21.9 gallons per minute. The Flow+ version we run moves 34 gallons per minute at 2,900 psi. That extra oil is the difference between a mulching head that keeps its speed and one that bogs down all day.

WHY THE TL750 FLOW+ FITS UPSTATE JOBS

• 74 hp diesel. Enough power to run the mulcher and still climb the hills and red clay we see across Greenville, Anderson, and Pickens Counties.
• Tracks, not tires. Tracks spread the weight, so we can work soft ground and slopes without rutting up the property.
• One machine, many jobs. With a 6,569 lb tipping load, the same loader that mulches in the morning can grade a pad or spread gravel for a driveway in the afternoon. That keeps our costs down, and yours.

THE MULCHING HEAD: BAUMALIGHT MS1160

On the front of the TL750 is a Baumalight MS1160, a heavy-duty fixed-tooth brush mulcher with a 60-inch rotor and a 75-inch mulching path. It's built for bigger skid steers and track loaders, so it has the size to take on thick Upstate underbrush, and the Flow+ hydraulics give it the oil it needs to keep the rotor at speed.

WHY WE BOUGHT IT FROM STEC EQUIPMENT

Every machine we own came from STEC Equipment, including the TL750 Flow+ and the Baumalight mulching head. When we were ready to add forestry mulching, STEC is who we went to.

WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOUR PROPERTY

Forestry mulching clears underbrush, vines, and small trees in one pass and leaves a layer of mulch on the ground. There are no burn piles and nothing to haul off, the mulch holds the soil in place, and the trees you want to keep stay standing. It's the fastest way to open up overgrown woods, fence lines, trails, and home sites.

In Upstate SC, forestry mulching runs $1,500 to $2,500 per acre for brush and stems under 4 inches, $2,500 to $3,500 per acre for mixed stems 4 to 8 inches, and $3,500 to $5,000 per acre for dense growth. See the full breakdown in our forestry mulching cost guide.