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Skid steer with a grapple clearing brush along a pasture edge, brush clearing in Texas
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Texas Land Clearing and Brush Removal Services: Brush Clearing of Cedar, Mesquite, Huisache and Yaupon by Forestry Mulching

Brush clearing is the job I know best, because I wrote the NRCS plans for it before I ever ran a machine. I use forestry mulching to clear land of cedar, huisache and yaupon, $900 to $2,600 an acre at light to medium canopy, and the oaks stay. Our crews work out of Johnson City, Lindale and Weatherford, and Texas land clearing and brush removal from all three yards runs on the same price sheet. Call (832) 987-3495 or fill out the form, and Teo at the Johnson City office calls back before the business day ends.

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Dispatcher Teo takes every form and call at the Johnson City office. Callback before the end of the business day.

Free on-site estimate within 60 miles of a yard.

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Underbrush Removal Service Without Taking the Trees

Underbrush clearing takes everything under about 8 inches and leaves every tree you want. The skid steer head works between trunks on a 6 ft path, so a post oak stand opens up without losing a tree. Yaupon, greenbrier, privet and cedar seedlings become ground cover two inches deep. Brush and underbrush at that size run $900 to $1,400 an acre. Mark the keepers with paint before the crew arrives.

Clearing, Hauling and Land Management: What Is the Difference on Rural Properties

Three terms, three invoices. Clearing means the brush is cut or ground where it stands. Hauling means it leaves your land, by haul truck at $650 to $1,200 a load or as brush piles you burn under TCEQ rules when the county judge has not declared a burn ban. Land management is the follow-up: a mow, a spot spray, a grazing plan. Most of our clearing work needs no removal services, because the mulch stays. Ask for the full clear, with tree removal and site preparation to dirt, only when a pad needs it. Lot clearing for a house is the usual case, and it has its own page.

Brush Cutting and Mulching Services: Bush Hog, Mulcher, Grubbing, Hand Crew

Four tools, and stem size picks one. A bush hog handles stems under 2 inches at $60 to $90 an acre, $400 minimum. Forestry mulchers take 2 to 8 inches on the skid steer and anything on the tract with the 300-hp head. Grubbing with the dozer at $160 an hour pulls root crowns when you need the ground clean. A hand crew with saws goes where a machine cannot, inside a live oak mott. Our mulching equipment does about 90 percent of the acres, and mulching services alone leave most land cleared without a truck.

Cedar, Huisache and Yaupon Brush Control by Region Across Texas

Hill Country cedar is ashe juniper on limestone, priced by canopy percent, and rock adds a day. Mesquite and cedar removal are the two jobs that fill our calendar. North Texas is pasture country, and mesquite removal on blackland and Cross Timbers sand keeps the Weatherford crew busy, with wet ground adding a day from November to April. South of San Antonio, huisache takes over the grazing land and resprouts from the root crown unless the crown is ground. East Texas yaupon under loblolly pine runs $1,200 to $2,000 an acre out of Lindale. Gulf Coast tallow on gumbo clay goes to the Houston sister site. A cow will tell you where the water is before a hydrologist will.

Selective Clearing: Keep the Mature Oaks, Lose the Undergrowth

Selective clearing is the Hill Country standard: cedar to under 10 percent canopy, every live oak and post oak kept. AgriLife research shows a mature canopy intercepts the first inch of rain, so the oaks and the grass get water back when it goes. We mulch around oaks without wounding limbs from February to June, the oak wilt window named by Texas A&M Forest Service. On the 3-acre Dripping Springs hillside we cleared for the oaks and the view, 2 days on the skid steer came to $5,600. Flag anything you are unsure about.

Pasture Reclamation and Fence Line Clearing for Ranch Acreage

An 8-acre Parker County pasture under post oak and brush came back to grazing in 2 days for $8,400, and the owner runs a bush hog over it each June. That is the pattern on our jobs in North Texas: a mulching pass, one growing season of rest, then stock at the animal units the grass carries, about one cow-calf pair per 8 to 12 acres. Fence lines get cleared 10 ft wide on both sides so a truck and a stretcher fit. Any ranch with an ag exemption keeps it through the rest year.

Fence Line, Trail, Sendero and Firebreak Clearing Work

Linear clearing prices by the hour, because the machine spends half its time turning. A mile of fence line clearing at 10 ft wide runs about a day on the skid steer, $2,800. Senderos for a deer lease run 12 to 16 ft wide. A firebreak around a homesite runs 30 ft wide to bare mineral soil, the width Texas A&M Forest Service recommends in juniper country. Trails and senderos leave the mulch down; firebreaks do not. Tell Teo which one you need and the quote comes in hours and feet.

Clearing Brush with EQIP Cost-Share Under Practice 314 to Clear Land for Cattle

EQIP practice code 314, Brush Management, pays 50 to 75 percent of the NRCS payment-schedule rate once your plan is approved. When I wrote those plans, canopy percent, grazing capacity and spring recovery were the three numbers every plan carried. I read your plan, match the treatment acres to our per acre price, and tell you what the schedule leaves you to pay. Rural properties with an approved plan usually see mulching cover itself in two to four years of added grazing. Professional land clearing under a plan is still the cheapest way to make your land carry more cattle.

Clearing Cost per Acre in TX, Including Forestry Mulching Day Rates and Large Acreage Clearing

Light brush under 30 percent canopy runs $900 to $1,400 an acre, medium cover $1,800 to $2,600, and dense brush or old-growth cedar $3,000 to $4,000. Rock adds a day in the Hill Country and wet blackland adds a day up north, and I say so before the price, not after.

  • Skid steer day rate $2,800, transport in the price inside 60 miles of any of the three yards.
  • 300-hp head, $4,200 a day plus transport, for large acreage clearing.
  • Bush hog, $60 to $90 an acre, $400 minimum. Minimum trip for any crew, $1,100.
  • Full clear to dirt, $2,000 to $4,500 an acre, clearing debris hauled or piled. Vegetation removal by truck is the line most people drop.

A written quote follows a free estimate within 60 miles of a yard. Call (832) 987-3495 or send the form and Teo will call back before the end of the business day.

Where We Clear Brush: Every Type of Land Cleared in Hill Country, Central, North and East Texas

Johnson City covers the Hill Country and across Central Texas to Waco and Bryan. Weatherford covers the DFW ring. Lindale covers Tyler, Longview and Lufkin. A property owner, land developer or anyone starting a new construction project on commercial land gets the same per acre sheet, and land development or commercial development on 20 to 50 acres gets the 300-hp head. Pruitt Range & Brush provides land clearing and brush control services, not land services like wells, septic or concrete. We get your property cleared with insured crews, turn overgrown land into usable land, and leave a mulch layer for ground cover. Call (832) 987-3495 or send the form, and Teo's callback lands before the end of the business day.

Luanne Pruitt

Owner, Pruitt Range & Brush

Luanne Pruitt, 51, owns Pruitt Range & Brush and runs it from Johnson City in Blanco County, with crews in Lindale and Weatherford. She grew up on a cow-calf ranch near Llano. She spent 12 years as an NRCS field technician writing EQIP Brush Management plans for Texas ranchers, bought her first mulcher in 2014 when too many of those plans sat unexecuted, and has cleared cedar, mesquite, pine understory and homesite lots full time since 2015. Her dispatcher Teo takes every call and form.

FAQ

Brush Clearing Questions from Texas Landowners, Free Estimate Included

Fill out the form or call (832) 987-3495. Teo will call you back before the end of the business day.

What is brush work, and how is it different from land clearing?

Brush work removes the unwanted vegetation under about 8 inches and leaves the trees, while land clearing services take everything, brush and trees, to dirt. Brush runs $900 to $2,600 an acre by mulching. A full land clearing project to dirt runs $2,000 to $4,500 an acre with grubbing and haul-off.

How much does it cost to clear brush per acre in Texas?

Brush runs $900 to $1,400 an acre under 30 percent canopy, $1,800 to $2,600 at medium cover, and up to $4,000 for dense old-growth. Those are mulching prices with the ground cover left down. The skid steer day rate is $2,800 inside 60 miles of a yard, TX transport included.

Does the brush come back after clearing?

Cedar does not, because ashe juniper reseeds from berries and not from the stump. Huisache, yaupon and overgrown brush with a live root crown do resprout, and a tract you let overgrow for ten years takes two passes. A bush hog pass or a spot spray in year two holds them, and long-term land usability depends on that one follow-up more than on the first pass.

Is clearing brush the same as bush hogging?

No. Bush hogging mows stems under 2 inches at $60 to $90 an acre and leaves the roots, while a mulcher grinds stems to 8 inches and the root crown at the soil line. Bush hogging is maintenance after a clearing, and it has its own page with the $400 minimum.

Will clearing cause erosion on sandy or sloped ground?

Not with mulching, because the chip layer stays and the roots of the grass, trees and brush are never pulled. Dozing to bare dirt on a slope is where the washing starts. On East Texas sand and Hill Country slopes we leave the mulch down and clear only the pad to dirt, so improving land does not wash it away.

How do I get a free estimate?

Call (832) 987-3495 or send the form with your county, acreage and the types of land involved, pasture, lot or timber. Teo calls back before the end of the business day with preparation services and mulching priced apart. A free estimate on site follows within 60 miles of a yard, and the written quote lists mulching, grubbing and haul-off as separate lines.

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Skid steer with a grapple clearing brush along a pasture edge, free land clearing estimate in Texas
Free on-site estimate within 60 miles of a yard

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Fill out the form or call (832) 987-3495. Teo will call you back before the end of the business day.

(832) 987-3495

Get a free estimate

Dispatcher Teo takes every form and call at the Johnson City office. Callback before the end of the business day.

Free on-site estimate within 60 miles of a yard.

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