Drone Spraying in Robertson County, TX for Hay, Cotton and Corn

Robertson County drone spraying prices

Drone spraying in Robertson County, TX is priced per acre for one pass, application only. This is a cattle and broiler county: livestock and poultry bring in 91% of farm sales, and hay covers more than 45,000 acres. Along the Brazos River, a strip of irrigated bottomland grows cotton, corn and sorghum. The rates below are built for both landscapes.

Service	Typical rate	Notes
Pasture and hay herbicide	from $11/acre	Broadleaf and grass weeds
Fall armyworm and hay insects	from $12/acre	Same-day after scouting
Cotton, corn and sorghum insecticide	from $12/acre	Fleahopper, sugarcane aphid
Corn and cotton fungicide or growth passes	from $13/acre	Label-permitting aerial use
Brush spot spraying	from $20/acre	Post oak edges, higher volume

Product is billed separately, or the rancher or grower supplies it. Texas drone rates are about $12 per acre typical, and operators serving the area list from $12–15, with 20–30-acre minimums. AgriLife's 2026 custom rate survey puts manned aerial herbicide in East Texas at $11.67 per acre. Pricing depends on water volume, field size, timber edges, power lines and travel distance. Most listed operators are 50 miles or more away, so neighbors booking together helps. The minimum charge is $250 per visit.

Robertson County farm numbers

Measure	Robertson County, TX (2022 Census)
Farms / land in farms	1,351 farms / 459,840 acres
Average farm size	340 acres
Market value of sales	$217.7M, 29th in Texas, up 38%
Livestock and poultry share	91%
Cattle / broilers	96,180 head / about 3.88 million
Hay and forage	45,205 acres
Corn / cotton / sorghum	8,712 / 8,009 / 2,823 acres
Pecans	1,404 acres

Directory pages lead with corn and cotton, but hay and pasture cover far more ground. Spray work splits two ways. Upland hay meadows and pastures need weed and insect control, and the Brazos bottom row crops need timely insect and herbicide passes.

Regulated-herbicide rules west of SH 6

Robertson County is a TDA regulated-herbicide county under 4 TAC §7.53, but only in part. The area east of State Highway 6 is exempt. West of SH 6, a TDA permit is required to apply regulated herbicides, such as 2,4-D, from April 1 through September 15 each year. SH 6 runs through Calvert and Hearne, so the permit zone covers the Brazos bottomland between the highway and the river, where most of the county's cotton grows. Neighboring counties are stricter:

• Milam and Falls: esters banned April 1–August 31, with a permit required for other formulations in the same window.
• Burleson: aerial application of regulated herbicides only October 1–February 28, and only with no susceptible crops within 2 miles.
• Brazos: a defined portion east of the river is regulated.

Before any 2,4-D or similar product goes on near a county line, the operator confirms which county and zone the field sits in.

Brazos bottom cotton, corn and sorghum

The Brazos bottom between the Brazos and the Little Brazos is about 5 miles wide near the south county line and narrows to the north. Its deep alluvial soils made Calvert a cotton-gin town that handled about 32,000 bales in 1882. Today's main pests and thresholds:

• Cotton fleahopper: the key pest of squaring cotton. AgriLife's threshold is about 10 per 100 plants, and fields are generally safe once bloom starts.
• Sugarcane aphid in sorghum: treat at a field average of 50 or more aphids per leaf, within 1–3 days. By plants carrying 50+ aphids, the threshold is 20% at preboot and boot, and 30% from flowering through dough.
• Corn: much of the county's corn feeds local cattle, and a July 2026 report noted light insect pressure on Robertson County cotton.

Irrigated bottom fields can stay soft after watering or rain. A drone treats from the turnrow without rutting them or knocking down tall cotton.

Fall armyworm and stem maggot in hay meadows

Fall armyworm larvae eat about 83% of what they'll ever eat in their last two to three days, so a large population can strip a hayfield overnight. The treatment threshold is three or more per square foot. Bermudagrass stem maggot attacks bermudagrass and stargrass in East and Central Texas. Insecticides have given mixed results, and cutting early once damage shows is often the better move. A drone can treat a meadow the morning it's scouted, without tracking regrowth near cutting.

Why drone spraying fits post oak pastures and bottom fields

Upland Robertson County is sandy post oak, blackjack and hickory country, with pastures broken up by timber, ponds and draws. Ground rigs bog down in the Navasota bottom, which floods often, and on wet Brazos bottom fields. Airplanes need wide open blocks and calm air near homes and poultry barns. A drone flies 8–15 feet above the crop, follows rolling ground, and can switch between broadcast and spot treatment in the same field.

Poultry houses, rivers and Twin Oak Reservoir

With about 3.9 million broilers, Robertson County has poultry houses next to much of its pastureland. Operators map each barn as a no-spray zone and keep wind direction away from tunnel-fan intakes. The Brazos River forms the western border, the Navasota the eastern, and the Little Brazos runs within about 3 miles of the Brazos. Twin Oak Reservoir, formed in 1982 on Duck Creek, cools the Oak Grove lignite power plant north of Franklin. Fields near water get label setbacks and products checked for aquatic restrictions. Texas is a FieldWatch state, so operators check DriftWatch and BeeCheck before every flight.

TDA licensing and local airspace

The Texas Department of Agriculture requires a license for drone application of restricted-use, state-limited-use or regulated herbicides. Commercial applicators add Category 9 Aerial to a use category such as 1A or 1C, and Category 9 can't stand alone. Operators also need FAA Part 107, a Part 137 certificate, and a Section 44807 exemption for drones over 55 pounds.

Hearne Municipal Airport, 1 nautical mile southwest of Hearne, has a 4,001-foot runway and no tower. Easterwood Field in College Station, about 22 nautical miles southeast, has a control tower. Fields in the southern county toward Bryan get an FAA airspace check first.