Drone Spraying in Shawano County, Wisconsin for Forage and Corn

Shawano County drone spraying rates

Drone spraying in Shawano County, WI is priced per acre for one pass, application only. This is dairy country. Milk brought in $232.9 million in 2022, ninth in Wisconsin, and forage, corn silage, corn and soybeans fill almost 169,000 acres. The rates below fit that dairy rotation from Bonduel and Cecil to Wittenberg and Tigerton.

Service	Typical rate	Notes
Corn and soybean herbicide	from $13/acre	Post-emerge, 2–3 gallons per acre
Alfalfa insect passes	from $13/acre	Weevil, leafhopper, between cuttings
Corn fungicide	from $14/acre	Silage and grain corn, VT–R2
Soybean fungicide	from $14/acre	White mold, R1–R3
Cover crop seeding	from $14/acre	Rye after silage, into standing corn

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 operator near the county lists $16–25. Our rates sit below the typical figure. The quote depends on water volume, crop height, field shape, wood lots, stone piles and power lines, and travel distance. The minimum charge is $300 per visit.

Shawano County farm numbers

Measure	Shawano County, WI (2022 Census)
Farms / land in farms	1,029 farms / 253,092 acres
Average farm size	246 acres
Market value of sales	$432.6M, 12th in Wisconsin, up 73%
Livestock share	79%
Milk sales	$232.9M, 9th in Wisconsin
Forage / corn for grain	56,221 / 47,021 acres
Soybeans / corn silage	33,056 / 32,484 acres
Cattle and calves	99,191 head (12th in Wisconsin)

The number of farms fell 10% from 2017 to 2022, but average size grew 13%. Bigger dairies now farm more scattered fields, so getting a pass done on time across many small parcels is harder than it used to be. Rented ground may sit 10 or 15 miles from the home farm, past wood lots and wetlands. A drone crew can treat several of those parcels in a day, moving between them by pickup instead of driving a self-propelled sprayer down county roads. That matters most at cutting time, when every tractor on the farm is already busy chopping, raking or hauling.

Drone spraying Shawano County alfalfa and grass hay

Forage is the county's largest crop at about 56,000 acres. Dairies cut alfalfa three or four times a year, and every cutting matters for milk. Alfalfa weevil damages the first crop in spring. Potato leafhopper comes in on summer storms and stunts regrowth after cutting, especially on new seedings. Treatment thresholds come from UW–Madison scouting guides. The pass has to go on fast, often just days after a cutting. A drone gets on the field without wheel traffic on fresh regrowth. It also helps on fields with heavy stone piles, wet swales or steep spots, which are common in the rolling ground of western Shawano County. Spot treatment of weed patches in older stands, such as dandelion or quackgrass, can stretch the life of a stand by another season.

Corn silage, grain corn and soybeans

• Corn silage: more than 32,000 acres. Leaf disease that cuts plant health also cuts silage quality, so many dairies treat at tassel when disease shows up.
• Tar spot: has spread across much of Wisconsin. Scout ear leaves from late July, especially in susceptible hybrids.
• White mold: cool, humid summers in northeast Wisconsin favor it in soybeans. The fungicide window is beginning bloom to beginning pod, often after rows close.
• Herbicides: the 2026 over-the-top dicamba labels don't allow aerial application, so drone herbicide passes use other labeled products.

Cover crops after silage harvest

Silage harvest leaves bare ground in September on hundreds of Shawano County fields. Cereal rye or winter triticale flown on right after chopping, or into standing corn before harvest, gets cover up before the ground freezes. That cover also holds manure nutrients and soil on sloped fields over winter. On many dairies, the rye is cut as forage in spring, so it pays twice. A drone covers the seeding with no tractor trips on soft fall ground.

Wolf River, Shawano Lake and the sturgeon run

The Wolf River runs south through Shawano County past the city of Shawano. Each spring, lake sturgeon from Lake Winnebago swim up the Wolf to spawn, as far as the Shawano dam. Shawano Lake sits just east of the city, and the Embarrass and Red rivers drain much of the county's farmland. In Shawano County, operators map rivers, creeks, ditches and wells as no-spray edges, use coarse droplets near water, and avoid flights when runoff is likely. Manure-heavy dairy ground makes careful nutrient and pesticide handling a priority for every operator.

Stockbridge-Munsee lands and local airspace

The Stockbridge-Munsee Community's reservation covers the towns of Bartelme and Red Springs in northern Shawano County, and Menominee County borders the county to the north. Operators confirm with landowners whether any fields fall under tribal land rules. Shawano Municipal Airport, on Shawano Lake, has no control tower. Green Bay's Austin Straubel International Airport has controlled airspace to the east, so fields near Pulaski and the Brown County line may need FAA authorization.

Wisconsin licensing for drone applicators

For-hire drone applicators in Wisconsin need a commercial applicator license from the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, with the aerial and field crop categories. 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.