Based in Aughnamullen in Co Monaghan, Shane Mulligan is an electronic engineer by trade, but also – as he calls himself – a self-taught tree surgeon. Shortly after completing his studies, Shane went to work in Dublin for multinational firm that designed and manufactured microchips.
There, he worked on the design of what was a future-generation microchip at the time. However, following the 9/11 downturn, Shane was let go and offered a different position, one which he decided not to take.
Instead, he opted to take some time to do some jobs at home, including straightening out his garden which he said, at the time, looked like a small forest. Upon finishing his own garden, the next-door neighbour asked him to tackle their garden, followed by the next neighbour.
Shane quickly discovered he had a grá for working in landscaping and, in particular, forestry work. He set up his own tree surgery business and soon had several staff employed to keep up with the busy workload. Over the years, tree surgery remained the core of the business, but Shane did dip into forestry harvesting.
“I had an issue with my knee, which I thought could have been arthritis and I was afraid I might have had to give up the tree surgery work,” he said.
“I bought a timber harvester and a forwarder, and worked away at that for a few years, while I continued to run a small team at tree surgery work.
“In the end, I got my knee right, and I soon discovered that being a forestry contractor was not a money-making exercise, so I decided to pack that in. I don’t know how them lads make a living out of it.”
Site clearance
Now over 20 years in business, Shane and his skilled team offer a complete forestry, tree surgery, site and land clearance, biomass chipping and ash dieback surgery.
Shane explained that in recent years, site clearance and reinstating forestry land back into agricultural land has become a massive part of his business.
To develop this side of his business further, Shane has assembled a significant portfolio of machinery to assist him. This includes three excavators – a 14t Doosan 140 LCR and two Yanmar mini excavators: a SV26 and a Vio56. The excavators are used with grapples, Axer shears and Seppi mulchers.
He also runs two large Valtra tractors, an S394 and a Q305. He runs these high-horsepower tractors to power his Mus-Max 12XL biomass chipper, Kelsa 645C with Container biomass chipper and the Seppi Starsoil.
One tool that has been central to Shane’s growth is the Dipperfox SC600. Once the tree stumps are exposed at site-clearance jobs, Shane uses the 14t excavator with a Dipperfox stump crusher to tackle the stumps, before the Seppi Starsoil multifunctional tiller-mulcher is brought into tackle the job.
The Dipperfox SC600 Pro stump crusher is designed for 6-14t excavators, and is the second-largest offering, after the SC850, which is designed for 13-30t excavators.
This vertical stump grinder is built in Estonia and is designed to be much quicker than traditional stump removal methods. The manufacturer says a key part of its performance is a patented gear-changing mechanism which converts revolving speed into torque.
It features cutting blades and central screw. The attachment requires an oil flow of 65-150 l/min and a pressure of 150-250 bar.
The SC600 features a 600mm cutting diameter and a 700mm drilling depth, in a single pass, to cover the stump sizes most contractors meet on typical development and land preparation jobs. Weighing in at 320kg, the manufacturer explains that the SC600 is built to keep removal steady without constant “nursing” from the operator.
“We actually purchased the first cone splitter head attachment in the country to fit onto the Dipper Fox just last year.
"We find it a very good addition for splitting big lumps of timber ahead of the chipper. You would swap from the stump crushing head to the cone head in around 20 minutes. Before I moved to the Dipper Fox, I ran several other stump grinders over the years such as Vermeer and Predator, but I’ve yet to see anything built as good as the Dipper Fox,” said Shane.
Multifunctional tiller-mulcher
Shane mentioned that another key tool in his arsenal is the Seppi Starsoil multifunctional tiller-mulcher.
Seppi s an Italian manufacturer that builds flail mowers, rotary mowers, maintenance kit for orchards and vineyards, heavy-duty forest and road mulchers for tractors and excavators. The Starsoil is a soil tiller and forestry tiller.
Shane purchased the machine two years ago to finish site-clearance jobs, and actually bought a new machine again this year.
He bought a new L250, which has a 250cm working width. It is capable of tilling soil to a depth of 40cm and deeper, depending on working conditions, crushes stones with a diameter of 30cm and mulches wood with a diameter of 60cm.
At the heart of the machine is a rotor equipped with tungsten carbide hammer flails. The rotor bashes the rock, clay or timber against the shearbar, before the material receives a second bashing against the back door, before it exits the hood at the rear.
“On typical site-clearance or land-reinstatement jobs, once the trees are sheared out and removed and the stumps are ground down, we will then bring in the Starsoil to chop and integrate the remaining material and vegetation that is left behind,” Shane explained.
“In reality, the Starsoil is actually able to take out tree stumps, but you would get through work quicker by grinding them down first. However, we would typically use the Starsoil to clear ash dieback plantations, as that material is much easier for the machine to deal with,” said Shane.
V-Lock rotor
The Seppi Starsoil weighs in at 4,050kg and is rated for tractors up to 310hp. Its V-Lock rotor is kitted out with fixed hammers with tungsten carbide inserts. The machine is fitted as standard with a transmission cooling system integrated with an automatic remote temperature control device that eliminates the risk of overheating of the transmission.
Power is transmitted through double carbon chain gear belts. The frame is fully protected with interchangeable Hardox wear-proof plates, while the chassis is made of high tensile and wear-resistant steel with replaceable wear plates.
An adjustable crushing shear bar and rear grill are used to set the desired degree of crushing. The Starsoil features a two-speed transmission, with the rotor speed controlled directly on the Isobus terminal in the cab.
The operator can change the setting during operation, with the fast gear designed for mulching wood and the slow gear for crushing stone and tilling soil.
The unit is optionally equipped with a hydraulic controlled roller which acts as a compacting roller and depth control, while in its upward position acts as a guard frame.
