Brush Hogging Cost Per Acre in Michigan (2026 Guide)

The back field has not seen a mower in two or three summers. Grass and weeds stand waist high, and the first autumn olive bushes are poking up along the fence. We brush hog Michigan fields for $75 to $400 an acre, and every visit carries a $250 to $500 minimum. Cut Brush mows out of Grand Rapids for landowners in Kent, Ottawa, Allegan, Barry, Ionia and Montcalm counties. Each extra summer a field sits idle moves the price up a step.

At a glance:

• Cut last year: $75 to $150 an acre.
• Left one or two summers: $125 to $250. Idle three years or longer: $200 to $400.
• Smallest bill: $250 to $500 per visit, which on a one or two acre lot is usually the whole price.
• Too woody to mow: when shrubs and saplings get past 2 to 3 inches thick, we price the field at our understory rate of $1,500 to $2,500 an acre.
• Burning the cuttings: the DNR requires a permit to burn while clearing land that was not cropped the year before, even on a farm.

Our tractors work the farm country around Lowell, Sparta, Zeeland and Middleville. When our crew contacts you about the field, we will say whether a rotary cutter will finish it before you book.

How Much Does Brush Hogging Cost in Michigan?

The price climbs with the number of seasons since the last cut, because taller, thicker growth slows the tractor.

How long since it was cut	Our price per acre	What you see standing
Mowed within the past year	$75 – $150	Hay grass and weeds, nothing woody
One or two seasons of growth	$125 – $250	Tall grass, briars, wild parsnip by midsummer, a few shrub seedlings
Three or more years overgrown	$200 – $400	Shrubs at chest height, saplings to about 2 inches
Going back to woods	Not a brush hog job	Autumn olive and buckthorn thicker than 2 to 3 inches

Where these numbers come from. The four rows are Cut Brush’s brush hogging rates by field condition, published and quoted the same wherever we mow, and the $250 to $500 visit minimum sits on top. Our Grand Rapids pricing page carries the heavier work. When a field has gone too woody for a cutter, we quote it from that page’s regrowth and understory row, $1,500 to $2,500 an acre, which the page describes as autumn olive and glossy buckthorn off a field edge or a fence line reopened.

What Is Brush Hogging?

Brush hogging, or bush hogging, means mowing rough ground with a rotary cutter hung behind a tractor. The blades take grass, weeds, briars and stems up to about 2 inches thick, and the cut growth drops back onto the field as litter. For a Michigan field that is still mostly open, nothing costs less per acre.

Thicker stems tear and bend rather than cut, and they punish the machine. At that point the field needs a mulcher, priced in the Michigan forestry mulching cost guide. Shrubs growing under trees you want to keep are a separate job, covered in the Michigan underbrush removal cost guide.

What Changes the Price of a Michigan Field

Autumn olive and buckthorn already in the grass. Michigan Natural Features Inventory’s control guides say mowing mature autumn olive or buckthorn makes it resprout unless the cut is treated. The same guides say regular mowing keeps an open field open by stopping new seedlings from taking hold. So a yearly pass on a clean field is cheap upkeep, while one pass through head-high shrubs only resets the clock. If the stems are thicker than your thumb, ask us whether the field should be priced as mowing at all.

Japanese barberry on the edges. MNFI says repeated mowing limits barberry’s spread but will not control it, because it comes back from the root crown. Their plan treats mowing as step one, with the resprouts treated later the same season. We price the mowing; a licensed applicator does the rest.

Wild parsnip in summer. The state’s invasive species program lists wild parsnip in pastures, fields and roadsides. It blooms in June and July, its sap causes a severe rash or blisters in sunlight, and it cuts weight gain in livestock. Its seed rides on equipment. Tell us where it grows: we cut those patches first and clean the deck before the next field, which adds a little time.

Tile, trash and the trip in. Michigan State’s custom work report names field size and shape, road and bridge widths, trash in the field, “trees or brush hindering work” and the depth of drainage tile among the reasons field rates vary here. It also puts small custom jobs 20 to 30 percent above large ones. On a one acre lot, the trailer trip outweighs the mowing, which is why the minimum often sets the price.

Pro tip: Walk the field in early June and flag every patch of flat, yellow, umbrella-shaped flowers before anyone mows. If it is wild parsnip, we will cut those patches first and wash the deck, and you should wear long sleeves if you pull any yourself.

Brush Hogging Costs Across Michigan

West Michigan, around Grand Rapids. Our own tractors run here. Old pasture in these six counties often sits halfway between a mowing job and a mulching job, with autumn olive along the fence lines. We split the quote: open grass by field condition, shrubby strips from the understory row. The reverted field guide shows how quickly those strips refill once cut.

The southern farm belt. Kalamazoo soils cover farmland across southern Michigan, mostly in corn, wheat, soybeans and hay, with idle cropland near the larger cities. Those idle parcels are good brush hog ground: well drained, mostly gentle, and still mowable if caught before shrubs close in.

The southeast lake plain. Blount soils, almost all cultivated, sit on slopes of 6 percent or less over a perched water table 6 to 24 inches down. Flat ground mows fast, but a wet spring keeps a tractor off it, so plan the pass for after the field dries.

Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. Kalkaska sand, the state soil, carries some idle cropland and pasture across the north, with a frost-free season of only 90 to 160 days. Equipment started 7 percent of the 231 wildfires DNR crews fought in 2022, so on dry northern grass in spring, mow after green-up or after a rain.

Burning Rules for Michigan Field Cuttings

A rotary cutter leaves the cuttings on the ground, but fence line brush often ends up in a pile. North of the farm belt, permission comes online from the DNR: its burn permit page lists each Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula county. Around Grand Rapids and the rest of the south, you ask your township or fire department.

Burning that is part of the cropping system is exempt, but the DNR requires a permit to burn a road shoulder, to clear land that was not cropped the previous year, or to burn debris outside the active cropping operation. Where local law allows burning, no DNR permit is needed over continuous snow cover. Anywhere in the state, a brush pile must sit more than 1,400 feet from the edge of an incorporated city or village. Permits that apply once work goes past mowing are covered in the Michigan land clearing cost per acre guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

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

We charge $75 to $400 an acre, set by how many seasons the growth has had. One acre on its own normally bills at the $250 to $500 visit minimum, since hauling the tractor there is the same work whatever the size.

Will mowing get rid of autumn olive or buckthorn?

No. MNFI’s guidance is that mowing mature plants makes them resprout. Mowing keeps open ground open and works as the first step before treatment, not as removal.

When should I bush hog in Michigan?

Before wild parsnip sets seed in summer, after green-up on dry northern ground, and once a wet spring has dried on lake plain fields. A pass every year keeps the next crop of shrubs from rooting.

What if the field has saplings in it?

Up to about 2 inches, a brush hog takes them, priced in the top row. Past 2 to 3 inches, we quote the field from the $1,500 to $2,500 understory row on our Grand Rapids page instead.

Do you mow fields outside the Grand Rapids area?

We mow in the six West Michigan counties named above. For a field elsewhere in the state, budget from the same table and request a free quote; we will say whether a tractor can reach it.

Get a Brush Hogging Quote in Michigan

Choose the closest area below and request a free quote. Our crew will contact you to talk through the roughest corner of the field and the gate or lane the tractor comes through, what is growing (grass, briars, autumn olive, wild parsnip), whether hay or cattle come off it, and what you want: one cut, a field kept open each year, or ground cleared past mowing. Then we will come and look.

Mowing just south of the Michigan line? Our Ohio and Indiana brush hogging pages cover those fields.

Sources

• MSU Extension: 2026 MSU Custom Work Rates Report
• Michigan DNR: burn permits