How much does forestry mulching cost per acre in Texas?

National cost guides put forestry mulching at about $400 to $2,500 an acre. One guide sets the national average near $500 an acre. Dense growth sits near the top, like a thick stand of Ashe juniper, the tree Texans call cedar.

These are market numbers, not our price list. The ranges below are a starting point for forestry mulching in Hillsboro and across Hill County. The brush on your ground decides the rest.

What do national cost guides say forestry mulching costs per acre?

We pulled numbers from three national cost guides, two of them updated in 2026. Their numbers differ because each guide bundles different jobs. The low end is light brush on open ground. The high end is dense growth with bigger trees.

The state’s AgriLife Extension Service also publishes Texas prices for farm and ranch work. Its 2026 custom rates survey asked buyers and sellers what they paid or charged, from August through October 2025. That survey has no forestry mulching line, so the per-acre mulching numbers above are national. Its dozer rates come up in the comparison below.

What moves the price of an acre?

The guides name the same handful of cost drivers. A real job usually mixes several.

• How thick the brush is. Sparse growth clears fast. A solid stand of cedar takes far more machine time per acre.
• How big the trees are. One guide prices underbrush and small trees at $125 to $200 an hour. Heavy brush with large mature trees runs $300 to $400 an hour.
• The ground. Slopes and rock slow the work, and the guides price that in. Shallow limestone ground near Lake Whitney takes more care than flat pasture. Around Hillsboro, NRCS soil descriptions call the common black clay very sticky when wet. A wet spell there can push back the start.
• Getting in. Gates and tight entries add time. One guide lists an extra fee when a fence has to come down so the machine can get in.
• How many acres. Small jobs cost more per acre. One guide lists minimum charges of $400 to $600 and setup fees of $150 to $300. On a bigger tract, that setup cost spreads across more acres.
• What stays. Keeping some trees means mulching around them, and that takes longer. One 2026 guide puts selective mulching at $1,200 to $2,000 an acre. A finer mulch also takes extra passes over the same ground.

Pasture grown up in cedar and mesquite regrowth is its own kind of job. Our page on brush clearing for overgrown pasture covers how that work runs.

How does forestry mulching compare with dozer clearing in Texas?

Per hour, the rates overlap. The extension service’s 2026 Texas survey found dozer land clearing averaged about $144 an hour for smaller dozers. Bigger dozers averaged about $176, and both figures include an operator and fuel. National guides put forestry mulching at $125 to $400 an hour.

The bigger gap shows up after the machine leaves. A dozer job ends with brush piles, and those piles still have to go somewhere. When the piles leave the property, one national guide lists debris hauling at $300 to $1,000 a load. Mulching skips that step, since the brush is ground into mulch where it stands.

National guides also note the soil side. Dozer clearing pulls roots and disturbs the soil. Mulching leaves the roots in place under a layer of ground cover that helps hold the soil.

What do Texas rules say about burning the piles?

Outdoor burning rules from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) allow on-site burning of land-clearing brush, with conditions. The fire has to start at least an hour after sunrise and end by an hour before sunset. Someone has to watch it the whole time. The forecast wind has to sit between 6 and 23 miles an hour.

Ellis and Johnson counties sit inside the Dallas Fort Worth ozone nonattainment area. There, the rule allows a land-clearing burn only when no practical alternative to burning exists. Inside Waxahachie and Ennis, the city also requires a burn permit for brush.

In a drought, state law also lets the county commissioners court ban outdoor burning outside city limits. Bans like that are common in dry spells, and mulching leaves nothing to burn.

For dozer and hand clearing prices side by side, see land clearing costs by method.

What do you get for the money?

With forestry mulching, the brush and small trees become a mulch layer that stays on the land. The roots stay in the soil, and the cover helps hold the ground in a hard rain. The land opens up so you can see it, walk it, mow it or fence it.

Stumps from bigger trees are often a separate line item. The mulching guides above price that add-on at about $100 to $600 a stump.

Brush grows back, so plan on upkeep. One 2026 guide lists re-mulching every 1 to 3 years at $500 to $1,500 an acre. Another notes that follow-up passes usually cost less than the first clearing, since there is less new growth to cut.

How do you get a firm number for your land?

Published ranges get you close, and your own acre settles the rest. We look at the job and put the quote in writing.

We clear brush and small trees with a skid steer carrying a forestry mulching head. Read how our forestry mulching works, or see land clearing around Hillsboro for the rest of our work. Hillsboro sits at the center of our service area on the I-35 corridor. Call or text (817) 937-1506.