Drone Spraying in Rutherford County, TN for Hay, Pasture and Grain

Rutherford County drone spraying prices

Drone spraying in Rutherford County, TN is priced per acre for one pass, application only. Hay covers more than 30,000 acres here, three times the county's soybeans, and 59% of farms are under 50 acres. Rutherford ranks second in Tennessee for "other crops and hay." The rates below are built for hay meadows, horse and goat pastures, and smaller grain fields squeezed between new subdivisions.

Service	Typical rate	Notes
Pasture and hay herbicide	from $12/acre	Broadleaf weeds, buttercup, thistle
Johnsongrass in hay	from $13/acre	Labeled grass products, after cutting
Soybean fungicide or insecticide	from $13/acre	R3 timing, no wheel tracks
Corn fungicide	from $13/acre	Tassel timing
Cover crop seeding	from $14/acre	After grain or into standing crops

Product is billed separately, or the farmer supplies it. Tennessee drone rates run about $9–17 per acre, with $12 typical, and the one locally published price is about $15 per acre with a $500 minimum. Our rates sit below that. The quote depends on water volume, field size, obstacles such as fences, barns, power lines and houses, and travel distance. The minimum charge is $300 per visit.

Rutherford County farms by the numbers

Measure	Rutherford County, TN (2022 Census)
Farms / average size	1,270 farms / 107 acres
Farms under 50 acres	59%
Market value of sales	$35.4M, 43rd in Tennessee, up 30%
Other crops and hay rank	2nd in Tennessee
Hay and forage	30,760 acres
Soybeans / corn / wheat	10,181 / 6,782 / 2,121 acres
Cattle / horses / goats	19,867 / 2,056 / 2,250 head
Horse sales / sheep and goat sales	10th / 8th in Tennessee

Rutherford County added more residents in 2023 than any other Tennessee county and lost about 22,000 farm acres from 2014 to 2023. Many remaining fields sit right next to houses, schools and businesses, so drift control isn't optional here. The county's PlanRutherford effort is aimed at keeping farmland in production.

Why drone spraying fits small Rutherford County fields

• Small, odd-shaped fields: a 15-acre hay meadow behind a subdivision is a quick drone job, but awkward for a big boom.
• No ruts: limestone soils in the Central Basin can stay soft after spring rain, and the drone never touches them.
• Spot spraying: thistle, horsenettle or Johnsongrass patches can be treated without blanket-spraying the pasture.
• Low height: 8–15 feet above the grass, which matters with homes, gardens and horse barns close by.

Johnsongrass in fescue and bermudagrass hay

UT's forage guide W1336 describes Johnsongrass reaching 6–8 feet and spreading by rhizomes, a common problem in Basin hayfields. Treatment depends on the grass it's growing in:

Hay stand	UT option	Timing
Tall fescue	Outrider at 0.75 oz/acre	Summer, before seedhead
Bermudagrass	Outrider at 1.25 oz/acre, or Pastora at 1–1.5 oz/acre	Regrowth under 2 inches, or within 7 days of cutting
Spot patches	Glyphosate at 1 qt/acre	Spot spray only

UT recommends adding a nonionic surfactant at 0.25% v/v. The "within 7 days of cutting" window for bermudagrass is short, and a drone can hit it without driving over fresh regrowth.

Buttercup and winter pasture weeds

UT's cool-season weed guidance puts the best window from November through March, ideally after three straight days above 60°F, when weeds are actively growing. Buttercup thrives in overgrazed horse and cattle pastures in Rutherford County and is best treated before it blooms in spring. Many effective products injure clover, so the choice depends on what the pasture carries.

Cedar glades and Pyne's ground-plum

Rutherford County's limestone cedar glades hold some of Tennessee's rarest plants:

• Flat Rock Cedar Glades and Barrens State Natural Area, 846 acres about 8 miles east of Murfreesboro, is the type locality of Pyne's ground-plum. That federally listed plant grows nowhere in the world except Rutherford County, in eight populations within a few kilometers of each other.
• Leafy prairie-clover, federally endangered, and Tennessee milk-vetch also grow in the glades.
• Manus Road and Stones River cedar glades are further state natural areas.
• Tennessee coneflower, found in Rutherford, Wilson and Davidson counties, recovered enough to be delisted in 2011.

Fields bordering glades and natural areas are flown with wide setbacks, coarse droplets and wind blowing away from protected land. Drift from a broadleaf herbicide could harm these plants.

Stones River, Percy Priest and karst

The West, Middle and East forks of the Stones River drain Rutherford County. They join near Smyrna and flow into J. Percy Priest Lake. Stones River National Battlefield covers about 709 acres northwest of Murfreesboro. The Basin's karst brings caves, sinkholes and springs, and sinkholes and spring heads are mapped as no-spray zones. Tennessee is a FieldWatch state, so operators check DriftWatch and BeeCheck before every job.

Smyrna, Murfreesboro and Nashville airspace

• Smyrna Airport is towered, with Class D airspace during tower hours. It is home to Tennessee Army National Guard helicopters, and C-17s train there.
• Murfreesboro Municipal, 2 miles north of the city, has no tower.
• Nashville International is about 10 nautical miles northwest of Smyrna, so fields in La Vergne and Smyrna sit close to its controlled airspace.

Operators get FAA authorization before flying any field near these airports.

TDA licensing for drone applicators

For-hire drone applicators in Tennessee need a Tennessee Department of Agriculture commercial license with Category 1 and the AER aerial category, filed on form AG-0137. They also need $100,000 in liability insurance and a TDA decal on each aircraft. FAA requirements are Part 107, a Part 137 certificate, and a Section 44807 exemption for drones over 55 pounds. The 2026 over-the-top dicamba labels don't allow aerial application.