Ag Drone Spraying in Grimes County, TX for Hay, Pasture and Brush

Ag drone spraying prices in Grimes County

Ag drone spraying in Grimes County, TX is quoted per acre, application only. Texas A&M AgriLife's 2026 custom rates survey for East Texas puts aerial herbicide at $11.67 per acre, aerial insecticide or fungicide at $11.78 and aerial brush work at $23.20. Drone operators serving the county start at $12. Our rates:

Service	Typical rate	Notes
Hay insecticide	from $12/acre	Fall armyworm, stem maggot
Pasture broadleaf herbicide	from $12/acre	Ragweed, croton, dogfennel
Smutgrass program	from $15/acre	Hexazinone timing
Macartney rose and brush	from $20/acre	Spot or broadcast
Pasture fertilizer	from $14/acre	Liquid or dry

Fields under 20 acres are billed as 20 acres. Product is billed separately. Quotes reflect tree lines, brush density, ponds and homes and the spray volume on the label.

Cattle country northwest of Houston

Livestock made up 81% of Grimes County's $83.2 million in farm sales in the 2022 Census of Agriculture, and pasture covers 76% of the county's 502,510 farm acres.

Land use or livestock	2022
Pasture	380,372 acres
Cropland	55,748 acres
Woodland	53,015 acres
Hay and forage	41,386 acres
Cattle	104,709 head

Ag drone spraying in Grimes County is mostly grass work: keeping bermuda and bahia hay clean and pastures open for cattle. Corn, cotton and grain sorghum grow on the Brazos bottoms too, and those fields get fungicide and insect passes in summer.

Armyworms and stem maggot in hay

Fall armyworm: treat at 3 or more larvae per square foot. Outbreaks often follow rain after a dry spell, and larvae can strip a field overnight; East Texas hay took the brunt of recent outbreaks.

Bermudagrass stem maggot: sample 50 stems at 5–10 spots. AgriLife's example threshold is about 16% damaged stems at a $12 treatment cost and $140-per-ton hay. Spray a pyrethroid about 7 days after cutting, and repeat 5–7 days later if pressure is heavy. The pest runs several generations a season, each 3–4 weeks long, so each cutting needs its own check.

Smutgrass in bermuda and bahia

AgriLife's hexazinone program for smutgrass:

1. Rate: 2.75 pints per acre on sandy soils, up to 4.5 pints on clay.
2. Timing: late spring to early summer, while the grass grows actively and rain is likely.
3. Trees: keep a 100-foot buffer from trees you want to keep.
4. Follow-up: plan a second pass the next year.

Grazing isn't restricted at labeled rates up to 4.5 pints, and hay can be cut 38 days after application.

Macartney rose and brush

AgriLife Brush Busters calls Macartney rose a severe management problem on more than 500,000 acres from Southeast Texas to the Middle Coastal Prairie. Thickets spread from fence rows into pasture. Drones spot-treat individual plants from mapped coordinates and broadcast dense stands, along with yaupon, greenbriar and sapling regrowth on the post oak uplands.

River bottoms and post oak sands

Field condition	Tractor sprayer	Spray drone
Brazos and Navasota bottoms after rain	Bogs down	No soil contact
Sandy post oak pastures	Stumps and trees	Flies over them
Thick brush along fences	Can't get through	Flies over the canopy
Hay close to cutting	Crushes the stand	No crop contact

The Navasota and Brazos rivers form the county's western line, and Gibbons Creek Reservoir sits in the north. Operators map rivers, ponds, homes and gardens as no-spray zones and check FieldWatch's DriftWatch and BeeCheck before every job.

Herbicide rules next door

Grimes County isn't on TDA's regulated-herbicide list, but neighboring Brazos, Burleson and Waller counties are. In Burleson County, aerial 2,4-D is allowed from October 1 to February 28, with amine-only rules from March 1 to September 30 in a defined area. Pastures that touch those county lines are checked against the rules before booking.

Small places and new neighbors

Of Grimes County's 1,668 farms, 46% are 10–49 acres, and new homes keep spreading north from Houston along SH 249 and around Plantersville and Todd Mission. For these places, operators confirm gates by phone or map pin, group nearby tracts into one trip and keep extra buffers from houses and gardens.

A Grimes County spray year

Window	Typical drone work
March to April	Winter weeds, early broadleaves
May to June	Smutgrass, pasture broadleaves, Macartney rose
June to September	Stem maggot after each cutting
July to frost	Fall armyworm in hay
September to November	Fall brush and Macartney rose

Airspace near Navasota

Navasota Municipal Airport sits just southwest of Navasota, and Easterwood Airport in College Station is about 18 nautical miles northwest. Operators check airspace for every field and get FAA authorization where it's needed.

Texas licensing for drone application

The Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) requires a Commercial Applicator license with the Aerial Application category plus a use category such as Pasture and Rangeland. The FAA requires Part 107, Part 137 and, for drones of 55 pounds or more, a Section 44807 exemption.