For landowners with a dead ash on a field boundary, a windblown tree across a ride, or a line of overgrown conifers that has taken over a paddock. A contractor fells the trees, deals with the timber and chips the brash, so you are not left with a heap of branches to burn.
Each tree is looked at for lean, decay and what it could hit, then felled in one piece where there is room or taken down in sections where there isn’t. Trees near buildings, power lines, roads or fences are the slow, careful part of any job.
Once a tree is down, the branches go through a chipper and the trunk is cut into rings or cordwood lengths. Agree up front what happens to both: chip blown into a trailer and taken away, left in a pile for paths and mulch, or spread on site; timber stacked for your own logs or removed.
Stumps are normally cut low and left. If you need the ground clear for mowing or building, ask for stump grinding or removal with a digger as a separate item, because it is a different machine and a different price.
Late autumn and winter are the usual felling season. The leaves are off, so it is easier to see the crown and the brash is lighter, and you avoid the bird nesting season, which runs roughly from March to August. It is an offence to damage or destroy an active nest, so spring and summer work needs a proper check first.
Dangerous trees are the exception and should be dealt with when they are found. For everything else, wet winter ground is the main limit: a chipper and tractor on soft pasture will leave ruts, so frosty or dry spells are worth waiting for.