Crop Spraying in Hood County, TX by Drone for Hay, Pasture and Pecans

Crop spraying prices in Hood County

Crop spraying in Hood County, TX by drone is quoted per acre, application only. Operators serving the county start at $12 per acre, one lists a 20-acre minimum, and Texas A&M AgriLife's 2026 custom rates for North Texas put aerial herbicide at $9.27 per acre and aerial brush work at $26.50. Our rates:

Service	Typical rate	Notes
Hay insecticide	from $11/acre	Fall armyworm
Pasture and hay herbicide	from $12/acre	Broadleaf and grassy weeds
Overseeding and fertilizer	from $14/acre	Material billed separately
Pecan orchards	from $18/acre	Casebearer, foliar sprays
Brush and prickly pear	from $25/acre	Spot or broadcast

Each visit has a $200 minimum, and neighbors can share a trip. Product is billed separately. Quotes reflect acreage, brush density, homes and barns nearby and the spray volume on the label.

Small places, horses and hay

Hood County had 1,109 farms on 124,769 acres in the 2022 Census of Agriculture, and the average farm shrank to 113 acres as land went to housing. More than half of farms, 587 of them, are 10–49 acres, and another 171 are under 10.

Crop or livestock	2022
Forage and hay	20,203 acres
Sod	1,350 acres
Cattle	15,773 head
Goats	2,466 head
Horses	1,642 head

Crop spraying in Hood County is mostly pasture, hay and horse-property work, plus pecans and sod. A drone fits small, fenced places where a tractor sprayer can't turn.

Pasture weeds

Annual broadleaves like broomweed and croton are cheapest to control while they're small in spring. Perennial weeds and grassy invaders such as KR bluestem take repeated, well-timed passes. Always check grazing and hay intervals on the label, especially for horses, which some products restrict longer than cattle.

Mesquite and prickly pear

Hood County AgriLife has run prickly pear control demonstrations, and mesquite timing trials in nearby counties guide leaf sprays: treat when trees are in full, dark-green leaf, usually May and June, with soil warm enough for active growth. Scattered plants are spot-sprayed from mapped coordinates; dense stands get a broadcast pass. Brush work costs more because it needs more spray volume.

Fall armyworm in bermuda hay

AgriLife's threshold is two to three larvae half an inch or longer per square foot. Spray before larvae reach three-quarters of an inch, because the last two to three days of feeding cause about 80% of the damage, and spray early morning or evening. Pyrethroids give only two to three days of residual control, so check hay and grazing intervals before choosing a product.

Pecan nut casebearer

In North-central Texas, casebearer traps go out by May 1, eggs show up in late May to early June, and larvae enter nuts at about 1,831 heat units. AgriLife's threshold is two or more infested clusters out of 310 sampled. Pyrethroids and Sevin can flare aphids and mites, so product choice matters. Drones handle young and mid-size pecan trees; very large trees may suit ground air-blast equipment better.

Horse pastures and neighbors

Hood County's population passed 70,000 in 2025, and Granbury, Pecan Plantation, DeCordova, Oak Trail Shores and Cresson keep growing into former ranch land. Operators map homes, barns, arenas, gardens, wells and livestock water as no-spray zones, check FieldWatch's DriftWatch and BeeCheck, and fly only in light wind blowing away from neighbors.

Lake Granbury and the Brazos

Lake Granbury covers 8,310 acres with 103 miles of shoreline behind DeCordova Bend Dam, operated by the Brazos River Authority. Pastures that run to the Brazos, creeks or stock tanks are mapped with buffers, and only products labeled for use near water go on bank vegetation.

Sod farms, goats and mixed grazing

Hood County grew 1,350 acres of sod in 2022, mostly for the fast-growing Fort Worth and Granbury housing market. Sod needs clean, weed-free turf before harvest, and a drone can treat sod blocks right after irrigation without leaving ruts. The county also runs about 2,500 goats, often on mixed pastures with cattle or horses. Goat and sheep grazing intervals differ from cattle on many labels, and some herbicides that are fine for cattle restrict lactating goats, so the operator reviews the label for every animal on the pasture before the flight.

How acreage and access affect the job

Most Hood County jobs are 10–40 acres, so setup time matters as much as flight time. Gate codes, a clear landing spot near the field, and water access for mixing keep a small job short. Grouping two or three neighboring places into one visit spreads the minimum and gets everyone sprayed in the same calm-weather window.

A Hood County spray year

Window	Typical drone work
March to April	Spring broadleaf weeds while small
May to June	Mesquite and prickly pear, pecan casebearer
June to July	Hay weeds after cutting, grassy weeds
Late summer to fall	Fall armyworm in bermuda
Fall	Overseeding, fall brush and weed passes

Texas licensing and airspace

The Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) requires a Commercial Applicator license, $200 a year, with the Aerial category plus a use category such as Pasture and Rangeland. Hood County and its neighbors aren't on TDA's regulated-herbicide list. Granbury Regional Airport, west of town, is untowered, and Pecan Plantation has a private airstrip. The FAA requires Part 107, Part 137 and a Section 44807 exemption for drones of 55 pounds or more.