Crop Spraying in Sauk County, Wisconsin for Corn, Soybeans and Hay

Crop spraying prices in Sauk County

Crop spraying in Sauk County, WI is priced per acre for one pass, application only. Corn, hay and soybeans cover more than 163,000 acres here, from flat Sauk Prairie outwash to the ridges and valleys around Reedsburg and Plain. About 65% of farms are under 180 acres, and many fields are small, sloped or cut by woods and streams. The rates below are built for that landscape.

Service	Typical rate	Notes
Corn and soybean herbicide	from $13/acre	Post-emerge, 2–3 gallons per acre
Alfalfa weevil and leafhopper	from $13/acre	Between cuttings
Corn and soybean fungicide	from $14/acre	Tar spot, white mold timing
Cover crop and frost seeding	from $14/acre	Rye after silage, clover in March
Hillside, waterway and spot work	from $16/acre	Small or steep areas

Product is billed separately, or the farmer supplies it. Wisconsin drone rates run about $11–22 per acre, with $16 typical for 2026, and one published price list runs $16–18 per acre with a $400 minimum. Our rates sit below that. The quote depends on water volume, crop height, slope, field shape, tree lines and power lines, and travel distance. The minimum charge is $325 per visit.

Sauk County farms by the numbers

Measure	Sauk County, WI (2022 Census)
Farms / land in farms	1,408 farms / 298,103 acres
Average farm size	212 acres
Market value of sales	$269.0M, 29th in Wisconsin, up 43%
Livestock / crops share	53% / 47%
Grains, oilseeds rank / cattle rank	12th / 20th in Wisconsin
Corn for grain / forage / soybeans	76,306 / 44,468 / 42,696 acres
Corn silage / wheat	9,401 / 5,089 acres
Cattle / hogs	60,840 / 32,301 head

Dairy and beef shape the rotation: corn for grain and silage, alfalfa and grass hay, then soybeans. Over 75% of Sauk County is farmland, and 95% of farms are family-owned.

Alfalfa weevil and potato leafhopper

Alfalfa covers a large share of Sauk County's 44,000 acres of forage. UW–Madison puts alfalfa weevil scouting at about 300 growing degree days, usually in May, with treatment when tip feeding passes the threshold before first cutting. Potato leafhopper arrives on storm fronts in June and July and stunts regrowth after cutting. Both call for fast passes between cuttings, and on many Sauk County dairy farms the same hay field is cut three or four times a season. A drone treats fresh regrowth without wheel traffic and can be in the field the day the threshold is reached.

Tar spot, white mold and waterhemp

• Tar spot: now found across much of southern Wisconsin. Scout ear leaves from late July, and plan a fungicide between VT and R3 if lesions build in susceptible hybrids.
• White mold: Sauk County's cool river valleys and narrow-row soybeans favor it. The fungicide window is beginning bloom to beginning pod, often after rows close.
• Waterhemp: herbicide-resistant populations keep spreading in Wisconsin. Post passes work best on weeds under 4 inches.
• Dicamba: the 2026 over-the-top dicamba labels don't allow aerial application, so drone herbicide programs use other labeled products.

Crop spraying on Sauk County ridges and valleys

Sauk County sits on the eastern edge of the Driftless Area, which glaciers never flattened. The Baraboo Range, a National Natural Landmark of about 53,000 acres in Sauk and Columbia counties, rises across the middle of the county. Contour strips, steep side-hills and narrow valley fields are common west of Baraboo. A drone flies those slopes at a set height, doesn't compact wet bottoms, and handles odd-shaped fields that are slow work for a big boom.

Cover crops after silage and frost-seeded clover

Corn silage leaves bare ground in September on many dairy farms. Flying cereal rye right after chopping, or into standing corn before harvest, gets cover established before frost and holds soil on slopes. In late winter, drones can frost-seed red clover into wheat or thin hay stands. Freeze-thaw cycles work the seed into the soil without a tractor on frozen or muddy ground.

Baraboo River, the Riverway and groundwater

The Baraboo River is now free-flowing through the county. Its last dam, the Linen Mill Dam, came out in October 2001, and the river is called the longest stretch of restored mainstem river in the country. The Wisconsin River forms the county's southern and eastern edges, including the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway. Part of the Lower Baraboo watershed lies in an atrazine prohibition area because of groundwater concerns. Operators check DATCP's atrazine maps, map trout streams and wells, and keep coarse droplets and setbacks near water.

The Badger lands, Ho-Chunk Nation and local airports

The former 7,354-acre Badger Army Ammunition Plant near Sauk City closed in 1997. Its land now belongs to the Wisconsin DNR, the USDA Dairy Forage Research Center and the Ho-Chunk Nation, which received 1,550 acres. Fields next to research plots and restored prairie are flown with extra buffers. Baraboo–Wisconsin Dells, Reedsburg and Sauk-Prairie airports have no control towers. Operators still check for traffic and temporary restrictions, including summer events around the Wisconsin Dells.

Wisconsin licensing for drone applicators

For-hire drone applicators in Wisconsin need a commercial applicator license from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, with the aerial category and the field crop category. The business needs a pesticide application business license. FAA requirements are Part 107, a Part 137 certificate, and a Section 44807 exemption for drones over 55 pounds.