A feller buncher will out-fell an excavator with a tree shear on almost any plantation block. That is not in dispute, and it is not the question. The question is how many hours a year of felling you can sell, because a buncher is a dedicated carrier that earns nothing when it is not felling, while a tree shear bolts to an excavator that already earns its keep digging. If felling hours are high, consistent and contracted, buy the buncher. If they are project-based, seasonal or mixed with civil work, the shear on the machine you own is usually the better business.
How each one works
A feller buncher is a purpose-built forestry machine, tracked or wheeled, with a felling head on a boom or a front-mounted frame. The head grips the stem, severs it with a disc saw or a shear, and accumulates several stems before laying them in bunches oriented for a skidder or forwarder. The whole machine, cab, undercarriage, hydraulics and cooling, is designed for continuous felling in a harvesting system.
An excavator tree shear is an attachment. A Trevi Benne WL Series shear covers 2.5 to 21 tonne excavators with trunk capacities from 50 to 450 mm, and the WR Series covers 11 to 35 tonne machines at around 400 to 550 mm. The head grips, a hydraulic cylinder drives Hardox blades through the trunk, and rotation and an optional accumulator let the operator orient and bunch stems. The carrier is a standard excavator, and at the end of the clearing stage the shear comes off and the bucket goes back on.
Where the difference shows up on site
Asset utilisation
This is the decisive factor. A buncher’s finance, insurance, operator, transport and maintenance all have to be recovered from felling revenue alone. An excavator’s are already recovered from earthworks, trenching and site work, so the shear only has to justify its own cost against the felling hours it adds. A civil contractor who clears 300 hours a year cannot justify a dedicated forestry carrier; a harvesting contractor who fells 2,000 hours a year cannot afford not to have one.
Annual hours and contract security
Bunchers suit secure plantation volume with predictable geometry, consistent stem sizes and a downstream extraction system that keeps up. Shears suit work that changes from project to project: a subdivision this month, a transmission easement next, a shelterbelt removal in winter. If your felling is spread across many small contracts with gaps between them, the shear’s idle cost is close to zero because the excavator goes back to digging.
Production per hour
On a uniform pine or blue gum block, a buncher’s sawhead, accumulation and purpose-built stability deliver a rate a shear-equipped excavator cannot match. In mixed native regrowth, on batters, around infrastructure and in selective felling, the gap closes because the excavator’s boom geometry, ability to work from a track or a bench, and the accumulator on a WL shear suit irregular stands. Do not price a buncher rate into a corridor job or a shear rate into a plantation coupe.
Mobilisation and access
A buncher is a specialised float load that arrives to fell and leaves when felling is done. A 14 or 20 tonne excavator with a shear floats like any other excavator, can dig the stump line, grade the pad and load the trucks, and is commonly already on site. For projects in remote Australia the saving on a second float and a second operator is often larger than the production difference. The transport and mobilisation guide covers permits and float practicality.
Stem control and placement
Both hold the stem after the cut. A buncher lays bunches for extraction; a shear with rotation places stems into a windrow, a chipper feed zone or a truck, which is what civil and corridor clients usually want. Neither capacity figure is a safe suspended-load rating; the excavator’s lift chart at the working radius, less shear, rotator and hitch mass, sets the real limit, and the lift chart guide walks through it.
Hydraulics and cooling
A buncher’s hydraulic and cooling package is built for the duty. An excavator running a shear all day in summer heat needs its auxiliary circuit, oil cooling and pressure confirmed for the head, and a slow-closing shear on a marginal circuit destroys the cycle time that justifies the purchase. See the hydraulic matching guide.
Choose an excavator tree shear when
- The excavator already exists and earns money outside felling
- Felling is project-based, seasonal or spread across many contracts
- Sites are corridors, batters, subdivisions or mixed native vegetation
- The same machine must also dig, grade, load or treat stumps
- Frequent mobilisation between projects favours one float, one operator
Choose a feller buncher when
- Annual felling hours are high and contracted
- Plantation geometry and consistent stem sizes suit continuous production
- Tonnes per hour drive the contract margin
- Extraction and processing systems are in place to keep up
- A dedicated forestry carrier and operator can be kept busy year round
The numbers that matter
No feller buncher specifications are published on this site, so the comparison is qualitative. Shear figures come from the Trevi Benne model pages.
| Factor | Excavator tree shear | Feller buncher |
|---|---|---|
| Carrier | Standard excavator, 2.5–35 t depending on shear family | Dedicated forestry machine |
| Attachment weight | WL 240–1,270 kg; WR 1,250–2,225 kg | Integrated head |
| Published trunk capacity | WL 50–450 mm; WR around 400–550 mm | Head dependent |
| Idle cost when not felling | Carrier returns to earthworks | Carrier stands or travels |
| Best stand type | Mixed, selective, corridor, irregular | Uniform plantation |
| Second-use value of carrier | High | Low outside forestry |
Running both: hybrid fleets
Large plantation and re-establishment contractors sometimes run a buncher for the coupe and a shear-equipped excavator for edges, drains, powerline setbacks and the stump and ground preparation stages that follow. The excavator also treats stumps with a stump grinder or root cutter once the buncher has moved on. See the plantation thinning application.
Cost logic
Illustrative only, with round hypothetical numbers. Assume a dedicated carrier costs $120,000 a year to own and staff before fuel and it fells 1,800 hours: roughly $67 an hour of fixed cost per felling hour. Give the same carrier 400 hours of felling and the fixed cost is $300 an hour before a single stem is cut. Now assume a shear costs $15,000 a year to own and maintain on an excavator already paid for by 1,400 hours of earthworks. Over the same 400 felling hours the shear adds about $38 an hour. Even if the buncher fells twice as fast, the shear is the cheaper felling hour at low utilisation. Reverse the hours and the buncher wins comfortably. The break-even is your annual felling hours, and only your own figures can find it. The hire versus buy guide and total cost of ownership guide set out the full method.
Decide with these facts in hand
- Contracted felling hours for the next two years, and how secure they are
- Share of felling in uniform plantation versus mixed or corridor vegetation
- Whether the excavator has other paid work for the rest of the year
- Real fixed cost of a dedicated carrier and operator against shear ownership
- Float and permit cost of a second machine on your typical project distances
- Excavator lift chart at working radius less shear, rotator and hitch
- Downstream system: skidder, forwarder, chipper or mulcher, and which layout it needs
Frequently asked questions
Can a tree shear on an excavator replace a feller buncher in a plantation?
For small blocks, edges and thinning, often yes. For sustained coupe production, no. The buncher's rate on uniform stems is the reason it exists.
What annual felling hours justify a dedicated carrier?
There is no universal number. Work it out from your own fixed costs and production rates; the illustrative arithmetic above shows how quickly low hours inflate the buncher's cost per felling hour.
Is a shear slower than a buncher in native regrowth?
The gap is much smaller than in plantation timber. Irregular stands, batters and infrastructure setbacks favour the excavator's boom geometry and the accumulator on a WL shear.
Does a shear need a forestry-guarded excavator?
Guarding, cab protection and cooling should be assessed for the duty. Many contractors fit guarding packages before running a shear full time in scrub.
Can I hire a buncher for the plantation stage and use my shear for the rest?
That hybrid is common. Hire the specialised carrier for the hours that justify it and keep the shear for the mixed work around it.
Get a recommendation, not just a price
Send us your excavator model, hydraulic figures, tree species and typical diameters. We will come back with a carrier-matched configuration and a written specification you can compare against any other quote.