Forestry Mulching Cost in Hodgenville, KY (2026)

Forestry mulching around Hodgenville, Kentucky costs $1,500 to $4,000 an acre, and clearing rose and brush from a fence row costs $1,500 to $2,500 an acre. A clearing price can be written three ways: by the day, by the hour or by the acre. Only the last says what the ground ends up looking like. Below is how to convert the first two, how much a mulcher clears in a day, and what rose, wire and sinkhole ground do to the number.

Every band here buys one finish: brush, small trees and stumps ground into mulch on site, stumps left flush, nothing hauled off. Stump removal below grade, and cutting and hauling very large trees, are discussed and priced in the quote. Grading is not in our price; we clear to the ground and your builder grades. A small job starts at a minimum charge of about $1,500, which replaces an acre rate rather than adding to one.

How Many Acres Can a Forestry Mulcher Clear in a Day?

On open ground with light brush and saplings, a tracked mulcher covers about one to two acres in a day. In dense stems, thorny canes or a hillside thicket the same day shrinks to something closer to half an acre. Two days on two properties can differ by a factor of four, which is why a day rate tells you little until you know how many acres the day is meant to finish.

Turning an Hourly or Daily Rate Into Dollars Per Acre

Work out the job total first: the hourly rate times the hours (or the day rate times the days), plus the trailer or mobilization charge. Then divide that total by the acres the work is meant to clear. Only the result can sit beside a per-acre price.

Example (not a quote)	Job total	Acres	Per acre
14 hours at $190 an hour, plus a $300 trailer charge	$2,960	2	$1,480
The same 14 hours on a rose-choked pasture edge that fills them with 1 acre	$2,960	1	$2,960

The rate and the hours did not change; the acreage did, and the cost per acre doubled. A per-acre quote puts that risk on the company doing the cutting.

What a Multiflora Rose Fence Row Does to the Price

Rose climbs through an old fence and arches over it, so the density of the canes and the wire hidden inside them set the hours more than the length of the row. A row is also narrow. One 500 feet long and 12 feet wide covers about 0.14 of an acre, which at the fence row band comes to a few hundred dollars, so it is billed the minimum charge of about $1,500 instead.

Rose adds a second cost after the first cut. Grinding leaves the crown alive, and new canes come up the following season, so a return cut is listed on its own line in the quote and any herbicide is a licensed applicator’s separate price. Our Kentucky multiflora rose removal guide lays out the visits.

Sinkholes, Slope and Soft Ground

Larue County lies in a limestone region with some of the highest sinkhole potential in Kentucky. On a parcel with depressions, the machine stays off their edges and brush is never pushed into one, and a strip beside a sinkhole may be left alone and named in the quote.

Slope and soil work differently. A hillside pasture slows the tracks, which pushes the price toward the top of the band. Soft ground after rain does not change the rate at all: a low pasture or the floor of a hollow waits until it carries the machine, and the start date moves.

Small Jobs and the Minimum

Many Hodgenville-area jobs are small: a house spot, a short fence row, the corner of a hayfield. A quarter acre at the mulching band works out to $375 to $1,000, which is under the minimum, so it is billed the minimum charge of about $1,500 and nothing more.

The minimum exists because the tracked machine arrives on a trailer whatever the size of the work. The practical move is to add a second row or a back corner to the same trip, since that ground costs far less than a separate visit.

Burning and Permits Change the Schedule, Not the Rate

A mulched job leaves no pile. Kentucky’s two fire hazard seasons, 15 February to 30 April and 1 October to 15 December, make it illegal to burn within 150 feet of woodland or brushland between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., and a county or local burn ban can add its own limits.

Construction that disturbs one acre or more falls under Kentucky’s construction stormwater general permit, with a notice of intent filed at least seven days before work starts. A house on cleared ground goes through the Land of Lincoln Planning and Zoning Commission in the Larue County courthouse. Requirements vary by parcel, scope and jurisdiction, and the governing authority makes the determination.

All four bands, with what moves a job inside each, are on the Hodgenville pricing page. The Kentucky forestry mulching cost guide covers prices across the state.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the going rate for forestry mulching around Hodgenville?

Our bands are $1,500 to $4,000 an acre for forestry mulching and $1,500 to $2,500 an acre for rose and fence row clearing. Where a job lands in its band depends on the growth, the slope and the access.

How much does a forestry mulcher charge per hour?

We quote by the acre, because an hour in light brush and an hour in a wall of rose cover very different ground. If you hold an hourly figure, multiply it by the hours, add the trailer charge and divide by the acres, as in the table above.

Does a small job still cost $1,500?

Yes. A house spot or a short fence row starts at the minimum charge of about $1,500, billed in place of an acre rate. Above that, the acre bands apply.

Get a Price for Your Hodgenville Land

Request a free quote and we’ll contact you to discuss your property, access and the clearing you need. You see the scope, the finish and the price in writing before any work starts.

Read more: towns and local conditions on our Hodgenville land clearing page.