Brush Hogging Cost Per Acre in Tennessee (2026)

The pasture you meant to keep cut has gone a couple of summers without a mower, and now blackberry canes and fescue seedheads stand waist high with saplings coming up through them. Brush hogging runs $75 to $400 an acre with Cut Brush, with a $250 to $500 minimum per visit, and our Tennessee crews work out of Brownsville, Nashville, Chattanooga, Maryville and LaFollette. The longer the field has gone, the higher in that range it lands.

At a glance:

• Mowed within the past year: $75 to $150 an acre.
• One or two seasons of growth: $125 to $250. Three or more years overgrown: $200 to $400.
• Minimum: $250 to $500 a visit, so on one small field the minimum is often the price.
• Past a mower: saplings thicker than 2 to 3 inches make it a clearing job, priced at $1,500 to $2,500 an acre on every one of our Tennessee pricing pages.
• Timing rule of thumb: TWRA asks landowners to hold off mowing old fields until after mid-August, when nesting and fawning are mostly done.

Pick the nearest of our five Tennessee areas at the foot of this page and request a free quote, and our crew will tell you straight whether the field needs a mower or something heavier.

How Much Does Brush Hogging Cost in Tennessee?

What we charge tracks one thing above everything else: how long it has been since the field was last cut.

Field condition	Our price per acre	What it looks like
Mowed within the past year	$75 – $150	Fescue and weeds, no woody stems
One or two seasons of growth	$125 – $250	Blackberry canes, fescue gone to seed, a few sapling sprouts
Three or more years overgrown	$200 – $400	Briars head high, saplings up to about 2 inches
Going back to woods	Not a brush hog job	Saplings past 2 to 3 inches, privet or cedar taking over

Where these numbers come from. These are Cut Brush’s published brush hogging rates by field condition, the ones we quote wherever we mow, plus the $250 to $500 minimum per visit. Our Tennessee pricing pages list clearing and mulching, not mowing. Once woody growth outgrows a mower, the job moves to the understory row every Tennessee page prices at $1,500 to $2,500 an acre, named for what fills it locally: brush clearing in Chattanooga and Maryville, privet and bottomland clearing in Brownsville.

What Is Brush Hogging?

A tractor or skid steer pulls a heavy rotary cutter through growth that would wreck a lawn mower: tall grass, weeds, briars and saplings up to about 2 inches across. The cut material lies where it falls. It is the cheapest way to take an open field back, and the right tool as long as the field is still a field.

Past 2 to 3 inches, stems bend and splinter instead of cutting, and the machine takes a beating. That is where forestry mulching takes over; our Tennessee forestry mulching cost guide prices it.

What Changes the Price of a Tennessee Field

Chert on the Highland Rim. The Bodine soil, first described in Humphreys County near Hurricane Mills, holds about 20 percent chert at the surface and 60 to 75 percent a foot down, on slopes from 5 to 70 percent. Its small cleared patches are mostly pasture, which is exactly where people call us. Blades throw loose chert and dull fast, so we raise the deck and slow down. A Rim pasture costs more per acre than a stone-free bottom field the same size.

Blackberry that comes straight back. UT Extension weed specialist Neil Rhodes calls brambles troublesome perennial weeds in Tennessee pastures and fence rows. Canes run 4 to 6 feet, and mowing knocks down the tops while the roots push new growth quickly. For a field that is solid briar, his advice is to mow one summer, spray the regrowth the next, then leave it unmowed for at least six weeks after spraying. That makes a briar field a two-season plan, and we price it that way.

Fescue seedhead timing. Most tall fescue, the main pasture grass here, carries an endophyte whose toxins concentrate in the seeds and stems. UT trials on infected pastures at Alcoa and Crossville found clipping at early boot cut seedhead density by a third or more. If that is your goal, book the mowing before the heads come out, not after.

Fence rows full of tree of heaven and privet. The Division of Forestry notes that a cut tree of heaven sends up large numbers of shoots and root sprouts, and that larger privet has to be cut repeatedly or treated with a systemic herbicide. Mowing a fence row of either buys a season, not a fix, and fence rows go slower than open field.

Pro tip: If briars are the problem, have us mow around the thickest patches this year instead of through them. That is the order UT’s bramble work favors, and it leaves the regrowth ready to spray in August or September.

Brush Hogging Costs Across Tennessee

West Tennessee, around Brownsville. Haywood County uplands sit on Memphis loess more than four feet deep, so flat, stone-free fields mow fast and cheap. The catch is water: bottom ground near the Hatchie can stay soft for weeks after rain, as our Hatchie bottomland guide explains. Brownsville is served from outside the area, so trip distance counts.

Middle Tennessee, the Basin and the Rim. Basin pastures around Nashville tend to fill with young cedar along the fence lines, and a cedar row past mower size becomes a clearing job. The Highland Rim that rings the Basin is the cherty Bodine ground above, where blade wear sets the pace.

The plateau and the northern mountains. On the Cumberland Plateau the Hartsells soil reaches sandstone 20 to 40 inches down, so rock can sit close under the grass. Around LaFollette, Caryville and Jellico many parcels sit on real grade with rock ledges, and reclaimed mine ground is its own job; see our strip mine land guide.

The East Tennessee valley, Chattanooga and Maryville. Bodine chert runs through the ridges here too, and the UT fescue clipping trial ran at Alcoa, next door to Maryville. Where privet lines the fence rows, our Chinese privet removal guide explains why cutting alone does not hold it.

When to Mow, Burn Permits and Greenbelt in Tennessee

Nesting season. In a joint UT and TWRA release, TWRA warns that bushhogging can be devastating to fawns, bobwhite quail, cottontails, wild turkey and meadowlarks nesting in fields, and that waiting until after mid-August greatly reduces the risk. Mowing paths and spot-treating woody patches is their alternative to cutting the whole field.

Burning the cuttings. A brush hog leaves material on the ground, but fence row cuttings often get piled. From October 15 through May 15 the Division of Forestry requires a burn permit for debris pile fires, online or at 877-350-2876.

Greenbelt. Under the Agricultural, Forest and Open Space Land Act, agricultural land must be at least 15 acres, and the assessor may presume farm use when gross farm income averages $1,500 a year over any three years (Tennessee Comptroller). The application asks about acres in crop, pasture or other active farm use and does not mention mowing. A field kept open only by a mower is a question for your assessor, since losing greenbelt brings rollback taxes for the last three years.

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

Why does a farmer down the road charge less?

UT’s 2023 forage custom rate survey averaged $47.50 an acre for bush hogging, from ten hay producers mowing open pasture for neighbors with a tractor already in the yard. A field that has gone three years, carries briars or sits on chert takes far longer per acre than routine clipping.

When is the best time to bush hog a pasture in Tennessee?

It depends on the goal. To knock down fescue seedheads, clip at early boot in spring. For old fields and wildlife, TWRA says after mid-August. For briars you plan to spray, leave the canes unmowed in the treatment year.

Does bush hogging get rid of blackberries?

No. Mowing takes the canes down, but the roots push new growth quickly. The UT approach is to mow one summer, spray the regrowth the next, then hold off mowing for six weeks or more.

When does a field need clearing instead of mowing?

When saplings pass 2 to 3 inches, or privet, cedar or autumn olive have taken over. We will say so at the walk-through and quote it from the $1,500 to $2,500 an acre row on your nearest pricing page instead.

Get a Brush Hogging Quote in Tennessee

Pick your nearest area below and request a free quote. Our crew will contact you to go over the thickest patch and the gate or lane the tractor would use, what is growing (grass, briars, saplings), whether cattle or hay come off the field, and what you want: one cut, a field kept open every year, or ground cleared past mowing.

Field across the line? See our Mississippi and Kentucky brush hogging guides.

Sources

• UT Extension D239, 2023 Forage Custom Rate Survey Results
• Tennessee Division of Forestry: burn permits