Brush Hogging Cost Per Acre in Ohio (2026 Guide)

Nobody has cut the old hayfield in three summers, and now there are briars at your waist and autumn olive bushes starting to stand up through them. Brush hogging runs $75 to $400 an acre with Cut Brush, with a $250 to $500 minimum per visit. Our Ohio crews mow in Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga, Medina and Lorain counties, from Strongsville and Hinckley to Grafton and Madison. Where your field lands in that range comes down mostly to one thing: how many years it has gone without a cutter.

At a glance:

• Cut within the last year: $75 to $150 an acre.
• One or two seasons of growth: $125 to $250 an acre. Three or more: $200 to $400.
• Minimum: $250 to $500 a visit, where a one or two acre lot usually starts.
• Past a mower: once saplings pass 2 to 3 inches it stops being a brush hog job and moves to our understory band, $1,500 to $2,500 an acre.
• Weed notices: under Ohio Revised Code 5579.05, a township notice about noxious weeds such as wild parsnip gives the person in charge of the land five days to cut or destroy them.

Our crew works from Cleveland. Tell us where your field is, and we will contact you about the acreage, the access and the cut you need.

How Much Does Brush Hogging Cost in Ohio?

Brush hogging is a heavy rotary cutter, pulled behind a tractor or run off a skid steer, that knocks down grass, briars and small woody stems a lawn mower could never handle. The cut material stays on the field. What we charge depends on how far the field has gone:

How the field looks now	Our price per acre	What a rotary cutter is facing
Cut within the last twelve months	$75 – $150	Grass and weeds, nothing woody
One or two seasons left alone	$125 – $250	Waist-high briars, multiflora rose canes, first seedlings
Three years or more without a cut	$200 – $400	Thick brush with autumn olive and honeysuckle stems up to about 2 inches
Turning back into woods	Not a brush hog job	Saplings past 2 to 3 inches thick

Where these numbers come from. These are the brush hogging rates we publish and quote wherever we mow, along with the $250 to $500 minimum per visit. Our Cleveland pricing page lists clearing and mulching rather than mowing; when a field has outgrown a cutter, it moves to that page’s regrowth and understory row at $1,500 to $2,500 an acre.

What Changes the Price of an Ohio Field

How long it has sat idle. OSU Extension’s fact sheet on autumn olive names abandoned farm fields among the places it moves in, and its nitrogen-fixing roots let it thrive on worn-out soil. It reaches 20 feet and, cut at the base, sprouts back hard. In a field idle three years a cutter still handles it; leave it six or seven and the stems are usually past a mower, which turns a $300 acre into an understory job. Our Ohio forestry mulching cost guide covers that heavier step.

When in the year we cut. OSU’s bush honeysuckle sheet says cutting and mowing work best when started in early summer, when the plant’s food reserves are at their lowest, and notes that honeysuckle leafs out earlier and drops its leaves later than most natives. Mowing a brushy fence line in early summer sets the shrubs back further than the same pass in autumn, for the same money.

Water sitting in the till. The Ellsworth soil of Northeast Ohio carries a perched water table 11 to 24 inches down from November to May, and the Mahoning soil holds water 6 to 12 inches down from October to June. A tractor on that in April cuts ruts the owner then pays to smooth. Most of our Ohio mowing is booked from June through October, and our guide to clearing wet ground in Northeast Ohio explains why.

Slope and cedar in the hill country. The Upshur soil of southeastern Ohio is red silty clay with high shrink-swell and runoff from medium to very rapid, on slopes as steep as 70 percent. Its official description even notes eastern red cedar volunteering in abandoned fields and pasture. A hillside pasture there needs a smaller tractor, slower passes and a look at whether the cedars are already past a cutter.

Pro tip: Stand in the worst corner of the field and count the woody stems thicker than a broom handle within arm’s reach. A handful means a rotary cutter will finish the job at our mowing rates; a dozen or more means it is understory work, and telling us that up front saves you a second visit.

Brush Hogging Costs Across Ohio

Northeast Ohio, where our crews mow. Ellsworth and Mahoning till covers much of Medina, Geauga and Lorain counties. The Ellsworth description notes eroded slopes of 12 to 18 percent that were once cropped and are now reverting to pasture, which is exactly the kind of field we get called to. Honeysuckle and multiflora rose fill the edges. Our Cleveland services page shows what each method leaves behind.

The northwest lake plain. Around Paulding, Napoleon and Bowling Green the old Black Swamp floor is flat, and the Hoytville clay carries almost no stone in its surface layer, so a dry field there mows about as fast as any in the state. The catch is water: from January to April it can stand a foot above the surface, so the date matters more than the rate.

The central and western till plain. Around Lima and Marion, the Blount soil is almost all cropland, with water perched half a foot to two feet down. The brush here is along waterways, ditch banks and fencerows, which mow slower than open field and often end up at our per-visit minimum.

The southeast hills. Upshur ground around Athens, Marietta and Gallipolis holds the steepest pasture in Ohio. Slope and cedar decide whether the job is mowing at all.

Weed Notices and Burning Rules in Ohio

Township weed notices. ORC 5579.05 lets township trustees, once told that noxious weeds, wild parsnip, wild carrot, oxeye daisy or wild mustard are growing on land, notify the person in charge, who then has five days to cut or destroy them or show why there is no need. The state’s prohibited noxious weed list also carries Canada thistle, poison hemlock and Johnsongrass.

Road frontage. Under ORC 5579.08 townships cut brush, briers and weeds along public roads from June 1 to 20 and August 1 to 20, and again in September if needed, so the strip along your road may already be handled.

Burning what we cut. A cutter leaves its material on the ground, but fencerow trimmings tend to get piled. Outside city and village limits, ORC 1503.18 bans burning brush, weeds or grass from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. in March, April, May, October and November, except in a plowed field, garden or highway at least 200 feet from woodland, brushland or dry grass.

Farm tax valuation. Ohio’s current agricultural use value program under ORC 5713.30 covers ten acres or more used only for agriculture for the past three years, or smaller tracts averaging at least $2,500 a year in gross farm income. The law does not say whether a field kept open by mowing alone counts, so ask your county auditor before changing how the land is used.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to bush hog one acre in Ohio?

On a single acre our $250 to $500 minimum usually sets the price, because getting the tractor there costs the same for one acre as for ten. The mowing itself is worth $75 to $400 depending on how long the field has gone.

Why is my quote higher than the OSU custom rate?

Ohio State’s 2026 farm custom rate survey averaged $25.33 an acre for bush hogging, from just 12 answers, and OSU says some of those rates are discounted for family or neighbour ties. Those are farmers mowing open ground near home. A field idle for years, wet spring ground or a tractor hauled across a county all cost more than that.

When is the best time to brush hog a field in Ohio?

For honeysuckle and other woody regrowth, early summer, when OSU says the plants’ reserves are lowest. On wet clay, wait until the ground carries a tractor without rutting, usually June through October. If a township weed notice arrives, its five days come first.

Does brush hogging get rid of autumn olive?

No. OSU’s fact sheets say cutting autumn olive or bush honeysuckle at the base makes it sprout heavily. Mowing keeps them short; getting rid of them takes a follow-up plan, which our Ohio underbrush removal cost guide covers for wooded ground.

Will you mow a field that has Callery pear in it?

If the pears are still under 2 inches, yes. Once they are thicker we will tell you so and quote the understory band instead; our Callery pear guide explains why those thickets need more than a mower.

Get a Brush Hogging Quote in Ohio

Pick the nearest area below and request a free quote. When our crew contacts you, we will talk through the thickest patch and the gate or lane a tractor would come through, what is growing (grass, briars, wild parsnip, saplings), how many summers the field has gone uncut, and what you want: one cut, a field kept open every year, or ground taken back past mowing.

Field across the state line? See our Michigan and West Virginia brush hogging guides.

Sources

• OSU Extension: Ohio Farm Custom Rates
• Ohio Revised Code 5579.05: township noxious weed notices