For clearing brush and 2 to 3 inch saplings, run a 25 to 45 PTO-HP compact tractor with a heavy-duty 5- or 6-foot rotary cutter rated for 2 inch material. Add a root grapple on the loader for pile cleanup, plus a third-function valve to run the grapple.
Brush is hard on equipment. Standard light-duty rotary cutters are rated for 1.5 inch material; a true brush hog is rated for 2 inch or thicker. The grapple matters as much as the cutter.
Heads up: this list is filtered on PTO horsepower only. Drive type, loader hydraulics, and roll-over protection aren't filter criteria here, so check each one on the model's spec sheet before you buy. A grapple needs a third-function valve to run.
Attachment classes covered on this page: rotary-cutter, grapple, post-hole-digger, Listed PTO HP, 22 HP and up, Rotary cutter, 5 to 6 ft, 2 in capacity, Tires, R4 industrial recommended. Recommended models are filtered live from the tractor and implement records, so a newly verified model appears here automatically. The list is filtered only on the criteria this job requires: horsepower, loader capacity, hitch category, three-point lift or sub-compact class. Other figures in the spec grid describe the job and do not filter the list, so check each against the model's own spec sheet. Each figure comes from manufacturer documentation with its source and verification date on the record.