Crop Spraying in Goliad County, TX by Drone for Brush and Pasture

Crop spraying prices in Goliad County

Crop spraying in Goliad County, TX by drone is quoted per acre, application only. The typical Texas drone rate is about $12 per acre, and Texas A&M AgriLife's 2026 custom rates put aerial brush spraying at $13.43 per acre in the South region and aerial insecticide at $10.65. Our rates:

Service	Typical rate	Notes
Hay and pasture insecticide	from $11/acre	Fall armyworm
Pasture broadleaf herbicide	from $11/acre	Ragweed, broomweed, croton
Huisache and Macartney rose	from $14/acre	Fall and spring windows
Mesquite broadcast	from $15/acre	When soil temperature is right
Pasture fertilizer	from $12/acre	Liquid or dry

Each visit has a $275 minimum, and neighbors on the same road can share a trip. Product is billed separately. Quotes reflect brush density, tree cover, ponds and the spray volume on the label.

A cattle county on the Coastal Bend

Livestock brought in 82% of Goliad County's $22 million in farm sales in the 2022 Census of Agriculture, and pasture covers about 77% of the county's 416,291 farm acres.

Land use or livestock	2022
Pasture	320,285 acres
Cropland	48,073 acres
Woodland	37,865 acres
Hay and forage	12,384 acres
Cattle	44,083 head

Of the county's 1,092 farms, 28% are 10–49 acres and 32% are 50–179. Crop spraying in Goliad County is almost all brush and pasture work, with hayfield insect passes in late summer.

Huisache: a fall job

Huisache covers more than 2.7 million acres of Texas, most of it on the Gulf Coast Prairies and South Texas Plains. AgriLife's leaf-spray program for plants under 6–8 feet uses Grazon P+D at 1% with surfactant from September through November, or until soil at 12 inches cools below 75°F, with 76–100% kill. Seedlings come back every year, so huisache control is a program, not a single pass. Drones spot-treat plants from mapped coordinates and broadcast thick stands.

Mesquite: five things to check

Texas ranch guidance for broadcast mesquite treatment:

1. Soil temperature: at least 75°F at 12–18 inches, ideally above 80°F, with spraying within 60 days of reaching it.
2. Leaf stage: 42–63 or 72–84 days after bud break.
3. Foliage: dark green, with less than 25% damaged leaves.
4. Weather: wind 2–10 mph, air under 95°F, humidity above 20%.
5. Volume: at least 4 gallons per acre total spray.

If one factor is off, waiting usually beats spraying. Operators check soil temperature with a probe at 12 and 18 inches before booking broadcast mesquite work in Goliad County, while huisache waits for the fall window.

Macartney rose on clay pastures

Macartney rose is a problem from Southeast Texas to the Middle Coastal Prairie, and the clay soils here make soil-applied products ineffective. AgriLife's leaf-spray timing starts in spring once soil reaches 75°F at 12–18 inches, pauses during flowering and hip set, and picks up again in late summer and fall. Treat plants 3–5 feet tall, and wait 9–12 months after mowing before spraying regrowth.

Fall armyworm in coastal hay

Fall armyworm activity on the Coastal Bend peaks from July to September after heavy rains and continues until frost. Scout hayfields in the morning, when larvae are feeding near the top of the canopy. A drone can treat a bermuda meadow the day armyworms are found, without driving over a stand that's close to cutting.

The Refugio County line

Goliad County is not on TDA's regulated-herbicide list, but Refugio County, just to the southeast, is. There, ester 2,4-D is banned from March 1 to September 15, and amine 2,4-D needs a permit from March 10 to September 15. Pastures that cross or touch the Refugio line are checked against those rules before booking, and operators keep extra buffers from cotton and other sensitive crops.

Coleto Creek, the San Antonio River and ponds

Field condition	Tractor sprayer	Spray drone
Dense huisache and brush	Can't get through	Flies over the canopy
Clay pasture after rain	Bogs down	No soil contact
River and creek bottoms	Limited access	Flies from the field edge
Scattered single plants	Slow hand work	Spot-treats from coordinates

Coleto Creek Reservoir sits on the Goliad–Victoria line, and the San Antonio River crosses the county past Goliad State Park. Operators map rivers, stock ponds, homes and the park as no-spray zones and check FieldWatch's DriftWatch and BeeCheck before every job.

Small tracts and weekend ranches

About 42% of Goliad County farms sell less than $2,500 a year, and many are weekend ranches near Goliad, Berclair and Fannin. For these places, operators confirm gates and boundaries by phone or map pin, group nearby tracts into one trip and spot-treat brush instead of broadcasting whole pastures.

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, along with yearly continuing education. The FAA requires Part 107, Part 137 and, for drones of 55 pounds or more, a Section 44807 exemption.