Mesquite and Juniper are destroying your grazing land. One pass reclaims it.
Ranch & Pasture Restoration
Invasive Mesquite and Ashe Juniper don't just crowd your pasture — they steal the water table, choke native grasses, and cut carrying capacity in half. We remove them in a single machine pass, returning nutrients to the soil and your land to productive use. Drone-verified acreage before and after. No burning. No hauling. No disputes about what you paid for.
Pasture restoration isn't one-size-fits-all. A 200-acre working cattle ranch with mature Mesquite is a different project than a 40-acre hunting property that's been neglected for a decade. We price by what your terrain actually requires — and the site scan reveals that before we quote a dollar.
Invasive Species — Mesquite
Mesquite Grubbing & Removal
Mature Mesquite roots can drop 150 feet for water — and one tree can claim the moisture your grass needs across a 30-foot radius. We mulch everything above grade and grind the root crown to prevent resprouting. Your pasture gets its water back.
Duration: 1–5 days · Equipment: CAT 299D3 XE + FAE Head
Mature Mesquite with trunk diameters above 8" requires significantly more mulching head time per tree than young growth. Properties that haven't been maintained in 10+ years have denser root crown structure. Rough terrain slows machine speed and adds wear. The root crown grinding step — critical to preventing resprouting — adds time relative to surface-only clearing.
Invasive Species — Juniper
Juniper & Cedar Pasture Clearing
Ashe Juniper is the top land management problem across the Texas Hill Country. A single mature cedar can intercept up to 100 gallons of water per rainfall event before it reaches the ground — eliminating springs, lowering water tables, and starving native grasses. We clear it fast, in place, with nothing to haul.
Duration: 1–5 days · Equipment: CAT 299D3 XE + FAE Head
$2,800 – $3,900
/ acre
Priced per acre based on cedar density and terrain.
What drives the price up
Dense cedar monocultures — where you can't see daylight through the canopy — run slower than open mixed stands. Properties with heavy cedar mixed with live oak require selective preservation passes. Rocky Hill Country terrain limits machine speed. Properties at elevation with steep grade changes add mobilization complexity.
Infrastructure Access
Fence Line & Road Clearing
Overgrown fence lines aren't just a maintenance headache — they're a structural liability. Brush pressure cracks posts, hides damage, and gives predators cover right at your perimeter. We clear 15–30 foot corridors along fence lines and ranch roads in a single pass.
Duration: 0.5–2 days · Equipment: CAT 299D3 XE + FAE Head
$2,200 – $4,800
/ mile
Linear pricing per cleared mile. Min. 0.5 mile.
What drives the price up
Fence lines with mature Mesquite or established cedar stands take longer per mile than young brush. Existing fence hardware left in place requires careful maneuvering around posts and wire. Drainage crossings and gully sections require machine repositioning. Steep side slopes add complexity to corridor width maintenance.
Large-Scale Reclamation
Full Pasture Reclamation
For properties that have transitioned from working ranch to cedar thicket — 20, 50, 100+ acres of mixed invasives that have completely taken over. We map the whole property, clear it systematically by zone, and deliver a before/after 3D model showing every reclaimed acre with verified drone data.
Duration: 3–14+ days · Equipment: CAT 299D3 XE + FAE Head
$2,800 – $3,900
/ acre
50+ acre properties. Phased clearing available.
What drives the price up
Mixed species stands with varying densities take longer per acre than uniform growth. Properties with significant limestone outcroppings may require integrated rock milling. Selective preservation of desirable native trees and specimen oaks requires careful operator judgment and slower pass speeds. Phased projects across multiple mobilizations carry a per-mobilization cost.
Wildlife Habitat
Hunting Property & Wildlife Habitat Management
The right kind of clearing dramatically improves deer, turkey, and quail habitat by creating browse edges, native grass openings, and travel corridors while leaving strategic cover intact. We work from your wildlife biologist's plan — or help you build one with aerial data first.
Duration: 1–10 days · Equipment: CAT 299D3 XE + FAE Head
$2,800 – $4,000
/ acre
Selective clearing plans from aerial data available.
What drives the price up
Selective habitat clearing — where you're creating edges and openings rather than clearing everything — requires more planning and slower execution than uniform clearing. Properties with existing food plots or native grass plantings need careful boundary management. Working from a wildlife biologist's corridor map adds coordination time but produces significantly better long-term habitat outcomes.
Access & ROW
Right-of-Way & Easement Clearing
Pipeline easements, utility ROWs, and ranch access easements require precise boundary clearing — documented to the inch. Our RTK drone maps the corridor before we clear, and post-clearing verification confirms we stayed inside the easement boundary. The documentation holds up if anyone ever questions it.
Duration: 1–5 days · Equipment: CAT 299D3 XE + FAE Head
$2,500 – $6,000
/ mile
Includes RTK boundary documentation. Min. 0.25 mile.
What drives the price up
Narrow ROW widths with precise boundary requirements take longer per linear foot than wide open corridors. Mature invasive growth on an unmaintained easement takes more machine time than young brush. Terrain that requires multiple machine access angles adds repositioning time. Legal-grade documentation requirements add drone flight and processing time.
Included in Every Price
Pre-Clearing RTK Drone Scan
Post-Clearing Verification Scan
Before / After Digital Twin
Veteran Operator + All Fuel
Zero Burn Permits Required
Zero Hauling or Tipping Fees
Species We Remove
Honey MesquiteAshe Juniper (Cedar)Prickly PearAgaritaHuisacheTasajilloGreenbriarShin Oak (selective)Native Grasses — PreservedLive Oak — Preserved by DefaultPecan — Preserved by DefaultWildlife Corridor Cover — Selective
What Happens After the Machine Leaves
Soil Health & Grass Recovery
Most ranchers know Mesquite and cedar are a problem. Fewer understand why the solution matters as much as the removal. Mulching in place — rather than hauling or burning — is the difference between a restored pasture and a degraded one.
Why Mulch-In-Place Beats Haul-and-Burn
Your Soil Profile Stays Intact
When you burn cleared material, you lose the organic matter. When you haul it, you lose it and pay for the privilege. When you mulch in place, that same organic material breaks down into the soil layer — increasing moisture retention, reducing erosion, and feeding the native grass root systems that are already there, waiting for light and water.
The mulch layer also acts as a thermal buffer, protecting soil microbiome during summer heat and reducing the evaporation that kills new grass establishment. Properties that mulch-in-place consistently show faster native grass recovery than those that burn or haul.
Typical Grass Recovery Timeline
Native Grass Returns Faster Than You Think
Recovery depends on rainfall and existing seed bank, but established native species like Little Bluestem, Sideoats Grama, and Buffalograss respond quickly when light and water competition is removed.
0–30 Days
Mulch layer settles. Existing native grass rhizomes begin sending new growth into cleared areas.
1–3 Mo.
Visible native grass expansion. Forb growth begins where seed bank was viable. First rain event accelerates recovery.
3–6 Mo.
Substantial native grass coverage in cleared zones. Carrying capacity begins to improve. Mesquite regrowth monitoring begins.
6–18 Mo.
Full pasture recovery in well-cleared areas. Annual maintenance window opens for regrowth management.
Annual
Maintenance clearing of regrowth keeps the land productive without the cost of a full re-clearing.
Video coming soon — Job Site Video — Pasture Restoration
Most Clearing Crews Guess at Acreage. We Don't.
At Any Phase of Your Pasture Restoration — See Exactly What Changed
Phase 01
Pre-Restoration Survey
We Map the Invasion Before We Fight It.
Every ranch restoration starts with a Mavic 3 Enterprise RTK drone survey of your entire property — mapping Mesquite and cedar density by zone, identifying areas where native grass still has a foothold, locating water features and natural drainage that affect the clearing plan, and marking specimen trees and preserve zones you want untouched.
You see your own property in 3D — often for the first time — before we quote a price or roll the machine. The clearing plan comes from the data. You approve it. No surprises.
±0.5cm RTK AccuracyFull-Property Aerial OrthophotoMesquite / Cedar Density MapWater Feature IdentificationSpecimen Tree Marking
Phase 02
Systematic Clearing
Zone by Zone. No Guessing, No Gaps.
Our CAT 299D3 XE with FAE mulching head works the property systematically by zone — following the clearing map approved in Phase 01. High-priority areas come first: dense Mesquite stands nearest to water sources, cedar blocking pasture access, and overgrown fence lines. Specimen trees and designated preserve areas stay exactly where we marked them.
Mesquite and cedar are ground in place at chip level — returned to the soil as a protective mulch layer. Nothing leaves the ranch. Zero hauling trucks. Zero burn permits. Zero tipping fees. The pasture floor stays intact.
CAT 299D3 XEFAE Mulching HeadZone-Based Clearing SequenceChip-Level Material ProcessingZero Hauling
Phase 03
Progress Documentation
Every Acre Tracked. Every Zone Verified.
On multi-day projects, we fly the drone between clearing sessions to document exactly what's been cleared, what remains, and whether any preserve zones were approached. You don't have to drive out to check on the crew or wonder if a fence line took a hit. The progress data is updated and shared as we work.
If an unexpected terrain feature changes the clearing sequence — a dry creek bed, hidden limestone outcropping, or a cluster of native trees that weren't visible in the initial survey — we document the deviation and flag it before proceeding.
Mid-Job RTK ScansCleared Zone Progress DeltaPreserve Zone VerificationDeviation Documentation
Phase 04
Completion Verification
Before & After ±0.5cm. Every Acre Counted.
Final RTK drone survey maps the completed restoration. We overlay it against the pre-clearing scan so you see exactly what changed — zone by zone, acre by acre. Cleared boundaries, mulch coverage, and preserved areas are all verified and documented. The acreage on your invoice matches the acreage in the verification data.
If anything wasn't completed per the approved plan, we know about it before you do — and we address it before we leave the property.
Before / After OverlayVerified Acreage CountPreservation Zone ConfirmationInvoice-to-Data Match±0.5cm RTK Accuracy
Phase 05
Deliverable
Your Ranch. On Record. Forever.
You receive a complete 3D Digital Twin of your property — before and after restoration — hosted on Pix4D Cloud with a shareable link. Share it with your ranch manager, lease hunters, a wildlife biologist planning your habitat program, or a lender doing a property valuation. Use it to plan what's next: water features, additional fence lines, food plots, or a second-phase clearing of areas you held back.
Your annual maintenance visits use this baseline as the comparison point — so you can see exactly how much regrowth occurred and where the maintenance clearing needs to go. This is your property's permanent verified record. No other clearing company in Texas delivers one.
3D Digital TwinBefore / After ArchiveShareable Pix4D Cloud LinkAnnual Maintenance BaselinePrintable Orthophoto Map
We Let the Data Speak First.
We're Building Our Portfolio. Your First Scan Is On Us.
We're selectively offering complimentary RTK site scans to qualifying ranch and pasture projects in Austin and the Texas Hill Country. No obligation. You get a geo-referenced orthophoto and elevation map of your site with Mesquite and cedar density visible from the air. If you want to work together after that, we'll talk.
Every photo is from a real ClearGround job site. No stock. No renders. What you see is what we do.
Before / After — Mesquite & Cedar Removal
Single-Pass Mulching
Pre-Clearing RTK Survey
Native Grass Recovery
CAT 299D3 XE
Predictable, Not Estimated
Ranch & Pasture Pricing for Central Texas
Ranch restoration projects are variable — but your quote shouldn't be a mystery. We price by species density and terrain, not by how long the crew feels like staying. Every estimate is backed by a pre-clearing RTK site scan. What you see below is what real ranch projects in this market cost.
Service
Duration
Acreage / Basis
2026 Range
Mesquite Grubbing — Moderate Density
1–3 days
1–10 acres
$2,800 – $3,500 / acre
Mesquite Grubbing — Heavy / Mature Stands
2–5 days
1–20 acres
$3,500 – $4,500 / acre
Cedar / Juniper Clearing — Moderate
1–3 days
1–15 acres
$2,800 – $3,500 / acre
Cedar / Juniper Clearing — Dense
2–5 days
1–20 acres
$3,500 – $3,900 / acre
Full Pasture Reclamation (50+ acres)
5–14 days
50–200+ acres
$2,400 – $3,400 / acre
Wildlife Habitat / Selective Clearing
1–10 days
1–50 acres
$2,800 – $4,000 / acre
Brush / Mixed Invasive Clearing
0.5–3 days
1–10 acres
$2,000 – $2,800 / acre
Pricing includes veteran operators (12–20 years experience) and all fuel/maintenance costs. Highlighted rows indicate core ranch restoration services. Properties with significant limestone outcroppings may require integrated rock milling at a premium rate. Multi-phase projects receive volume pricing — ask during your site scan consultation.
Pre-Clearing RTK Drone Scan
Post-Clearing Verification Scan
Before / After Digital Twin
Veteran Operator + All Fuel
Zero Burn Permits
Zero Hauling Fees
Recurring Maintenance
Pasture Management Maintenance Plans
Mesquite and cedar don't surrender after one clearing. Mesquite in particular will resprout from root crowns that weren't fully ground — and cedar seedlings can reestablish quickly in open soil. An annual maintenance agreement keeps your pasture productive, your fence lines clear, and your clearing investment from reverting in three years.
Tier 01
Fence Line
Annual fence line and road clearing
$2,400 / year
Billed Annually
CoverageUp to 1 mile perimeter
Frequency1× Annual
ScopeFence lines + roads
ScanAnnual before/after
Most Popular
Tier 02
Pasture
Regrowth management + fence lines
$4,800 / year
Billed Annually
CoverageUp to 5 acres selective
Frequency2× Annual (Spring + Fall)
ScopeRegrowth + fence lines
ScanSeasonal regrowth comparison
Tier 03
Ranch
Whole-property ongoing management
Contact us
Custom Annual Agreement
Coverage10+ acres whole-ranch
FrequencyQuarterly or custom schedule
ScopeFull pasture + infrastructure
ScanAnnual 3D model update
Maintenance agreements are available to clients who complete an initial restoration project with ClearGround. All plans include a post-visit comparison scan against your project baseline — so you see exactly how much regrowth occurred and confirm it's been addressed. No guessing on what the crew actually cleared.
Who This Is For
Ranch & Pasture Restoration Clients
We work best with landowners who understand that clearing is an investment, not a one-time expense — and who want data showing exactly what they got for their money.
Primary Client
Working Ranch & Livestock Operations
You're running cattle, goats, or sheep on land that should carry twice the head count if the Mesquite wasn't stealing the water table and the pasture productivity. You need results you can measure — not promises.
Recognizing signals
Carrying capacity has dropped year over year
Mesquite density is increasing despite spot treatment
Water sources are drying up or running later in the season
Native grass coverage is less than 40% of total pasture
You own 20–200 acres in the Texas Hill Country and the cedar thicket that came with the property is blocking views, eliminating water features, and turning a beautiful piece of land into a management problem. You want it done right, documented, and done without a crew tearing up your roads with dump trucks.
Recognizing signals
Cedar has grown in significantly since purchase
Springs or wet weather creeks have stopped flowing
Views that attracted you to the property are gone
Previous clearing attempts regrew faster than expected
You manage a lease for deer, turkey, or quail — and habitat quality drives renewal rates. Strategic clearing that creates browse edges and native grass openings while preserving cover dramatically improves wildlife density. You need data showing the work was done, not just a bill and a handshake.
Recognizing signals
Dense brush is eliminating sight lines and food plot access
Game camera density doesn't match property potential
Every clearing company will show up with a machine and a price. We're the only one that shows up with a drone first, shows you the data before we quote, and leaves you a 3D verified record of exactly what was done.
01
RTK Drone Survey Before Every Project
We map your entire property to ±0.5cm accuracy before the machine rolls. You see Mesquite and cedar density by zone, water feature locations, and a 3D model of your land — often for the first time. The clearing plan comes from the data, not from what the crew thinks they saw driving in.
Survey-Grade Precision
02
Verified Acreage — Invoice Matches Data
Every acre on your invoice is a verified acre in the post-clearing scan. Other contractors estimate acreage and dare you to argue. We overlay before and after scans and show you the exact cleared area. No disputes. No guessing. The record is irrefutable.
Verifiable Precision
03
Single-Pass. Nothing to Haul.
Traditional clear-and-haul leaves you with dump trucks tearing up your roads and a bill for tipping fees. Traditional clear-and-burn leaves you with burn permits, fire risk, and lost organic material. Mulching in place does it in one pass with nothing to remove — and returns the material to your soil.
Zero-Waste
04
Root Crown Grinding for Mesquite
Surface-only Mesquite clearing is a temporary fix — the root crown will resprout aggressively within one growing season. We grind the root crown at grade, dramatically reducing the resprouting rate and extending the life of your clearing investment before the first maintenance visit.
Mesquite-Specific
05
Specimen Tree Preservation
Every live oak, pecan, and native tree you want preserved is marked in the pre-clearing plan and confirmed in the post-clearing scan. You tell us what stays. The machine doesn't touch it. The documentation confirms it. No "I thought that one was marked" surprises.
Preservation Verified
06
3D Digital Twin — Your Property on Record
Your before-and-after Digital Twin lives on Pix4D Cloud with a shareable link. Share it with your ranch manager, wildlife biologist, insurance adjuster, or lender. Use it to plan what's next. Your land's condition is now documented at a specific point in time — permanently and verifiably.
Permanent Record
07
Veteran Operators. 12–20 Years of Experience.
The person operating the machine has cleared Hill Country terrain before. They understand how to work around a property line, how to read a cedar stand, and why a mature live oak in the middle of a clearing zone gets navigated around — not clipped. Craft experience isn't something you can document, but it shows in every job.
Operator Quality
08
Annual Maintenance That Uses Your Baseline
Every maintenance visit is compared against your original post-clearing scan. You see exactly how much regrowth occurred, where it concentrated, and that it was addressed. The maintenance plan is data-driven — not a flat day-rate for a crew that may or may not cover the right areas.
Recurring Protection
09
Transparent Pricing Before the Machine Arrives
No hourly rate surprises. No "it took longer than we expected" upcharges. The site scan gives us the data to quote a fixed price per acre before we start. You know the number before you sign. The verified acreage at completion confirms that number was right.
Radical Transparency
FAQ
Ranch & Pasture Questions Answered
The most common questions from Texas ranchers and Hill Country landowners about our pasture restoration work.
Will Mesquite resprout after you clear it?
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Yes — Mesquite is aggressive at resprouting from the root crown if the crown isn't fully processed. Surface-only clearing with a brush hog or skid steer that just cuts at grade will resprout aggressively within one growing season. Our FAE mulching head grinds the root crown significantly below grade, which dramatically slows the resprouting rate. You'll still see some regrowth over time — which is exactly why annual maintenance agreements exist — but it comes back as young, manageable growth rather than the mature stand you started with. Properties that get annual maintenance clearing after a restoration project maintain their productivity indefinitely.
How many acres per day can you clear?
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Clearing rate depends heavily on species density, trunk diameter, and terrain. Light brush and young cedar in flat terrain: 2–4 acres per day. Moderate cedar or Mesquite in typical Hill Country terrain: 1–2 acres per day. Dense, mature Mesquite stands with trunk diameters over 8": 0.5–1 acre per day. These aren't estimates we make from a phone call — they come from the pre-clearing drone survey that maps density by zone. Your timeline is a function of your actual site data, not a general rule of thumb.
How long until I see native grass recovery?
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Native grass recovery depends on your existing seed bank and rainfall. Properties with intact native grass root systems — where the grass has been suppressed by cedar and Mesquite competition rather than eliminated — can show visible recovery within 30–60 days of a good rain event after clearing. Properties that have been in heavy cedar monoculture for 20+ years may have a depleted native seed bank and need overseeding to accelerate recovery. The mulch layer we leave in place acts as a moisture-retaining protective layer that benefits new grass establishment. Your site scan will give us a picture of existing native grass coverage before we clear.
Do you work on properties with significant limestone?
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Yes. Hill Country limestone is our normal operating environment. The CAT 299D3 XE handles rocky terrain well, and our operators are experienced with the terrain features common to the Edwards Plateau. Properties with significant exposed limestone outcroppings — where the machine is working in very rocky ground rather than soil — may require integrated rock milling at a premium rate if sub-surface clearing or grubbing is involved. The pre-clearing site scan identifies limestone exposure before we quote, so you know what you're dealing with before we start.
Can you work around existing fencing without damaging it?
+
Yes, and we do it routinely. Fence line clearing is one of our most common ranch service types. The operator works the machine right up to the fence line without contacting it — clearing brush, posts, and saplings that have grown into the fence while leaving the fence hardware intact. For particularly overgrown fence lines where brush has grown through the wire, we work from the inside out and use hand tools where necessary. If a fence section is already damaged and needs repair, we document it in the pre-clearing survey so there's no question about what we found versus what we caused.
What's the difference between a site scan consultation and a standard quote?
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A standard quote is a contractor driving out, walking the property, and giving you a number based on their experience and gut feel. A site scan consultation is a Mavic 3 Enterprise RTK drone flying your entire property and producing a geo-referenced orthophoto, elevation model, and density map of your invasive species — before we ever discuss a price. The quote we give you after that scan is based on actual data about your actual terrain. That's how we can price per acre with confidence rather than giving you a range wide enough to cover any surprise. The scan is complimentary for qualifying projects.
Do I need to be present during the clearing?
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You don't need to be there every day, but we strongly recommend being present for the pre-clearing walkthrough where we confirm the clearing plan on the ground — specifically which trees get preserved and where any boundary-sensitive areas are. After that, the clearing follows the approved plan and we document progress via drone. You'll have access to the progress data without having to drive out to check on the crew. Many of our ranch clients are in Austin and aren't on the property every day — the data is how they stay informed without making the trip.
Every quote starts with a scan.
Book a Free RTK Site Scan
Complimentary RTK drone survey of your ranch or pasture. See your Mesquite and cedar density from the air, get a geo-referenced orthophoto and 3D model, and receive a fixed-price bid — not a guess from the truck. No obligation to proceed.
