Brush Hogging Cost Per Acre in Alabama (2026 Guide)

The bahia pasture nobody has cut in two summers is knee high, blackberry canes have taken the low corner, and sweetgum sprouts are coming up along the fence. Brush hogging an Alabama field runs $75 to $400 an acre with Cut Brush, depending on how long it has gone uncut, with a $250 to $500 minimum per visit. Our Alabama crews work out of Dothan, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Gadsden and Huntsville.

At a glance:

• A field cut within the past year costs us $75 to $150 an acre to knock back down. Three or more years of growth costs $200 to $400.
• Small fields pay the minimum. A trailer trip is a trailer trip, so one small pasture often comes to the $250 to $500 minimum.
• Saplings past 2 to 3 inches are no longer a mowing job. We price that ground from our $1,500 to $2,500 an acre understory row.
• Cogongrass changes the plan. Alabama Extension says not to mow or bush hog it while it is flowering or carrying seed heads, and to clean under the deck before the tractor leaves.
• Burning the cuttings needs a free Alabama Forestry Commission permit for any fire over a quarter acre or within 25 feet of woods or grass.

Before we quote, we walk the field and say straight out if a rotary cutter is the wrong machine for it. Then the price goes in writing.

How Much Does Brush Hogging Cost Per Acre in Alabama?

Brush hogging is a tractor pulling a heavy rotary cutter through growth a lawn mower cannot take: seeded-out bahia, broomsedge, briars and saplings up to about two inches thick. The cut stalks stay on the field. Our price follows how many seasons of growth the cutter has to chew through, because that decides how fast the tractor can travel.

How long since the last cut	Cut Brush price per acre	What you see from the gate
Under a year	$75 – $150	Seeded bahia or fescue, a scatter of weeds, no woody stems yet
One to two seasons	$125 – $250	Broomsedge to the waist, blackberry and dewberry canes, pine and sweetgum seedlings
Three seasons or longer	$200 – $400	Dense brush, with saplings as thick as 2 inches
Stems over 2 to 3 inches	Not a brush hog job	Red cedar, privet or young pine taller than you; quoted from our $1,500 – $2,500 understory row

Where these numbers come from. The mowing bands are Cut Brush’s standard brush hogging rates, and they are what we charge on an Alabama field. For a field a mower can no longer handle, every one of our six Alabama pricing pages carries the $1,500 to $2,500 an acre row, named for what grows locally: field edge and understory work on the Dothan pricing page, and kudzu and privet clearing on the Gadsden pricing page.

What Makes an Alabama Field Cost More to Mow

Cogongrass in the field. This is the first thing we look for on an Alabama walk-through. Auburn’s guide to cogongrass hitchhikers says to stay out of a patch while it flowers (spring, early summer, or right after a disturbance) and never to work it on muddy ground, because broken rhizomes ride out on the tires. We mow around a patch or leave it for last, then clean the blades and the underside of the deck with a broom, a shovel or a pressure washer before moving on. That cleaning time is in the quote.

Knolls in Black Belt clay. The Houston soil of the prairie counties runs 60 to 80 percent clay and heaves into small knolls and basins every 6 to 12 feet. A cutter bounces across that ground, so the tractor slows down. Next door, Vaiden soil stays saturated within a foot or two of the surface through long stretches of winter and spring, and we would rather wait for it to dry than rut your pasture.

Chert and sandstone up north. Fullerton soil, first described in Cherokee County, carries chert gravel and cobbles at 10 to 45 percent and is mostly kept in pasture. On Sand Mountain the Hartsells soil sits on sandstone 20 to 40 inches down. Blades throw loose stone, so the deck goes up and the tractor slows, and a rocky hillside in Etowah or DeKalb County mows at a fraction of the pace of a stone-free valley field.

Fire ant mounds. Imported fire ants are in all 67 Alabama counties, and Auburn entomologist Kathy Flanders notes their mounds can damage mowing equipment. A field dotted with hard mounds gets cut higher and slower, or the mounds get knocked down before we come.

Briars that come straight back. Alabama Extension’s blackberry and dewberry guide says mowing or hay cutting alone will not control them. Its best results came from mowing one summer and spraying the regrowth the next. A briar field is a two-season plan, and we price the second cut on its own line.

Pro tip: Walk the field in late April with your phone and photograph anything carrying fluffy white seed heads. If it turns out to be cogongrass, we know before we unload, the patch gets skipped, and the deck is cleaned at your gate instead of in your neighbor’s pasture.

Brush Hogging Costs Across Alabama

The Wiregrass, around Dothan. The Dothan soil series was established in Houston County, and its type location is the Wiregrass research station in Henry County. Most of it is cleared for peanuts, cotton, hay and pasture, flat to gently rolling and free of stone: about the easiest mowing ground in the state. The catch is cogongrass, covered in our Dothan cogongrass clearing guide.

The Black Belt and River Region, around Montgomery. Sumter, Houston and Vaiden clays carry the hay and pasture ground from Dallas and Lowndes counties west to Hale and Greene. Expect the knolls to slow the tractor and the wet months to stop it. Some Sumter ground, with chalk 20 to 40 inches down, has gone to red cedar, and head-high cedar is understory work rather than mowing. Our Black Belt clay guide covers when that soil can carry a machine.

The Tennessee Valley, around Huntsville. Decatur soil, first described in Limestone County, has limestone more than six feet down and is mostly in crops, hay and pasture. Valley fields mow quickly. Madison and Morgan counties sit on ADEM’s summer burn ban list, so fence row cuttings there are left to rot or hauled from May through October.

The northeast ridges and Sand Mountain, around Gadsden and Birmingham. Chert on the ridges, sandstone on the plateau and slope almost everywhere. A tractor covers the least ground per hour here, and privet along the fence rows usually needs the understory row instead of a mower.

Cogongrass, Burning and Nesting Season in Alabama

Nesting season. Alabama Extension’s bobwhite quail guide says nesting usually runs from early May through September. If quail or turkeys matter to you, have the field cut before May or wait for fall.

Burning what we cut. The Alabama Forestry Commission requires a free burn permit for a fire over a quarter acre or within 25 feet of woods or grass; the number is (800) 392-5679. ADEM’s vegetation burning rules add three more: burn only clean vegetation on the land it grew on, keep the fire at least 500 feet from the nearest occupied house, and light it between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. From May 1 to October 31, land-clearing burns are banned in Baldwin, Mobile, DeKalb, Montgomery, Etowah, Morgan, Jefferson, Shelby, Lawrence, Russell, Madison and Talladega counties. Farm and forestry burning is handled separately in those counties, except in Jefferson, where it stops for the season too. Most mowing jobs never need a fire at all.

Free cogongrass spraying. The Forestry Commission’s Cogongrass Mitigation Program, funded by USDA APHIS, sprays infestations at no cost to landowners in all 67 counties. It opens and closes to new sites as demand allows, so check whether it is taking applications before you budget for herbicide.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to bush hog an acre in Alabama?

With us, $75 to $150 an acre for a field cut in the past year, $125 to $250 after one or two seasons, and $200 to $400 after three or more. A single small field usually comes to the $250 to $500 minimum, because the trailer trip costs the same either way.

Does bush hogging get rid of cogongrass?

No. Alabama Extension says disking generally will not control it and fire at any time favors it. Imazapyr once a year, or glyphosate twice a year, for two or three years can clear out the rhizomes, and late summer into early fall is the best window for both.

When is the best time to bush hog in Alabama?

Before cogongrass flowers in spring, outside the May to September quail nesting season if wildlife matters, and when Black Belt clay is dry enough to carry a tractor. For a briar field you plan to spray, mow the first summer and spray the second.

Why does hiring a brush hog cost more than mowing it myself?

Auburn’s 2025 bahiagrass budget puts the machine cost of one pass with a 12-foot rotary mower at $9.20 an acre, for a farmer who already owns the tractor. A hired pass adds the trailer trip, the operator and whatever the tall grass is hiding, which is why we carry a minimum.

Can a brush hog cut small trees?

Up to about 2 inches across, cleanly. Between 2 and 3 inches it tears more than it cuts, and past that the field needs a mulcher. If cedar or pine has grown over your head, we will quote it from the $1,500 to $2,500 understory row instead of the mowing table.

Get a Brush Hogging Quote in Alabama

Choose the closest of our areas below and request a free quote. Our crew will contact you to talk through the field and the gate or lane a tractor would use: what is growing (bahia or fescue, briars, saplings, anything with white seed heads), whether cattle or hay come off it, and whether this is a one-time cut or a yearly one.

If the field has gone past a mower, our Alabama underbrush removal cost guide prices woody edges, the Alabama forestry mulching cost guide prices thickets, and the Alabama land clearing cost per acre guide prices whole tracts. Mowing across the state line? See our Mississippi and Tennessee brush hogging guides.

Sources

• Alabama Extension: forage enterprise budgets (2025 bahiagrass)
• Alabama Forestry Commission: get a burn permit