Doss Drone Services Outlines Drought Recovery Plan for East Texas Hayfields
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A Doss Drone Services operator prepares an agricultural spray drone on a dormant East Texas pasture.
A GPS-mapped flight plan sets the boundary, spray passes and an exclusion zone before a Doss Drone Services application.
A Doss Drone Services spray drone works along a fence line and timber edge, areas that are difficult to reach with ground equipment.
A Doss Drone Services agricultural drone in flight over an East Texas property.
A Doss Drone Services spray drone staged at the edge of an overgrown East Texas pasture before an application.
Hay meadows weakened by the 2026 drought face winter weed pressure; Doss Drone Services details pre-emergent, lime and consulting work.
A dry year doesn’t end when the rain comes back. The fields that struggled this summer are the ones winter grasses move into first.”
LONGVIEW, TX, UNITED STATES, November 12, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Doss Drone Services LLC, an agricultural drone application company serving landowners across East Texas from Longview and Palestine, is urging hay producers to treat the coming months as a recovery window for hay meadows weakened by the 2026 drought. The company is concentrating its fall and winter hayfield work on three practices that shape how bermudagrass and other perennial forage stands come back in the spring: pre-emergent herbicide applications that stop invasive winter grasses before they germinate, lime applications that correct acidic soil pH, and on-site property management consultations that build each treatment plan around soil tests, weed history, and field conditions.— Ben Doss, Owner, Doss Drone Services
The timing reflects a difficult season for East Texas forage producers. A CBS19 report from Henderson found that summer drought had cut hay production in the region, that some ranchers were feeding hay months ahead of their normal schedule, and that a local hay company owner expected some producers to look outside East Texas for supplies. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension district reports released October 30, 2026, described short hay supplies in East Texas and noted that dry conditions and fall armyworm outbreaks had affected pastures and hay meadows while a growing number of producers began feeding hay.
For hay producers, the drought’s effects do not end when rain returns. Fields that were grazed short, cut under stress, or left with thin stands heading into dormancy can give winter weeds open ground to establish. The decisions made between November and spring green-up often determine how much of the following year’s first cutting is usable forage.
Ben Doss, owner of Doss Drone Services, said the company is seeing that concern in conversations with landowners this fall. “A dry year doesn’t end when the rain comes back. The fields that struggled this summer are the ones winter grasses move into first, and the work done between now and green-up decides how much of next year’s first cutting is actually hay,” Doss said.
Doss Drone Services Provides Drone Spraying for Hayfields in East Texas
Doss Drone Services provides GPS-guided agricultural and hayfield spraying for hay meadows, pastures, and crop land in East Texas using DJI Agras T40 and T20P spray drones. The company also performs aquatic pond and lake vegetation treatments, broadcasting of seed and dry fertilizer, residential and property line vegetation control, right-of-way and easement vegetation control, anti-algae roof treatments, and aerial photography and videography.
The company’s pilots hold FAA Part 107 remote pilot certification. Doss Drone Services currently operates three spray crews and serves properties within a two-hour radius of Longview and Palestine, a territory that includes Tyler, Marshall, Carthage, Henderson, Kilgore, Jacksonville, and Nacogdoches. Its Longview crews regularly work in Gregg, Harrison, Upshur, Rusk, and Marion counties.
Pre-Emergent Applications for Invasive Winter Grasses
Winter annual weeds are among the most common problems in East Texas hay meadows. Annual ryegrass, little barley, and rescuegrass, along with broadleaf weeds such as buttercup and henbit, germinate in the fall and winter while bermudagrass is dormant. By spring, an established stand of these weeds competes with the hay crop for moisture, nutrients, and sunlight, and it can lower the quality and appearance of the first cutting.
Vanessa Corriher-Olson, a forage specialist with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, has noted that late-season annual ryegrass can delay or even prevent the growth of warm-season perennial forages such as bermudagrass and bahiagrass. Herbicide resistance within annual ryegrass populations has also made post-emergence control less reliable in some fields, which is one reason producers increasingly look at pre-emergent programs.
A pre-emergent herbicide is applied before weed seeds germinate. Rather than killing established plants, it controls weeds as they emerge from the soil. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension’s weed control suggestions for pastures and forages list several pre-emergent options for dormant, established bermudagrass, including products containing pendimethalin and indaziflam. Each product carries its own label rates, annual limits, target weeds, and grazing or haying restrictions, and those restrictions must be followed exactly.
Drought adds a timing complication. Many pre-emergent herbicides need rainfall to move them into the soil where weed seeds germinate. Mississippi State University Extension, for example, has reported that indaziflam requires roughly a quarter inch to a half inch of rain for activation. In a dry fall, an application timed ahead of forecast rainfall is more likely to perform as intended than one that sits on dry ground for weeks.
Doss Drone Services begins pre-emergent planning by identifying which weeds appeared in a field the previous spring, confirming the forage species and how the field will be used, and reviewing label requirements for grazing and hay harvest intervals before recommending a product and application window.
Lime Applications for Soil pH Control
Soil acidity is a long-standing limitation on East Texas forage production. A Texas A&M AgriLife Extension liming result demonstration conducted by county agents in Smith, Rains, Gregg, and Henderson counties noted that East Texas soils are naturally acidic because of the parent materials from which they formed.
Soil pH affects how much of the fertilizer a producer applies actually becomes available to the plant. AgriLife Extension guidance notes that when soil pH falls below 5.2, manganese concentrations can rise to toxic levels, and that a lime-requirement test, also called a buffer pH test, gives a more accurate estimate of how much limestone a field needs. The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Soil, Water and Forage Testing Laboratory provides a limestone recommendation as part of a routine soil test when one is warranted.
The same East Texas demonstration showed why the type and rate of liming material matter. On a site that started at a soil pH of 5.2, one ton per acre of agricultural limestone raised soil pH to 6.2 after one year, and two tons per acre raised it to 6.4. A 400-pound-per-acre rate of a pelleted lime product raised pH to 5.5 over the same period.
Lime reacts with soil gradually, which makes the fall and winter months a practical time to correct pH ahead of spring growth and fertilization. Doss Drone Services schedules lime applications according to soil test recommendations rather than a fixed rate, so that the product and amount applied match the acidity of each field.
Fertility management carries extra weight after a drought year. Corriher-Olson has written that, next to inadequate rainfall, hybrid bermudagrass stand thinning caused by low potassium is one of the biggest soil fertility issues facing forage growers in the Southeast, particularly on sandy, acidic soils. Correcting pH and following soil test recommendations for potassium are two of the steps that help a stressed stand recover.
Where Drone Application Offers Advantages Over Ground Rigs
Doss Drone Services holds that drone application is a stronger fit than ground spray rigs for many East Texas hay meadows and pastures, particularly during wet winter conditions and on irregular terrain. The company points to several practical differences.
A spray drone never touches the field. There is no wheel traffic to compact soil or rut saturated ground after winter rains, and no tire damage to dormant sod. That allows applications to proceed when a tractor and sprayer would have to wait for fields to dry, which can matter when a pre-emergent product needs to go down ahead of a rain event.
Drones also reach areas that ground equipment handles poorly, including fence lines, ditches, steep banks, pond edges, and timber borders. The company’s DJI Agras T40 and T20P aircraft fly GPS-mapped routes, use terrain-following radar to hold a consistent height over uneven ground, and carry up to roughly 10 gallons per flight. The T40 is suited to larger open acreage, while the T20P is used for tighter or more confined areas.
As with any aerial application, results depend on the product label permitting aerial use, appropriate weather conditions including wind speed, and correct calibration of droplet size, flight height, and application rate. Doss Drone Services calculates those variables for each field as part of its flight plan.
Property Management Consulting Before Every Application
Doss Drone Services treats consultation as the first step of every job rather than an optional add-on. Before an application, the company discusses the landowner’s goals and problem areas, assesses the terrain, vegetation, and environmental conditions on the property, and consults with chemical application specialists to select formulas, rates, and coverage patterns.
The company’s consultations address questions such as whether a field needs a one-time treatment or a seasonal program, which desirable or native species should be preserved, and whether the property’s goals are hay production, grazing, wildlife habitat, or general land maintenance. For hay meadows, that typically means starting with a soil test, mapping problem areas, reviewing the previous season’s weed pressure, and sequencing lime, pre-emergent herbicide, and spring fertility in the right order.
The company has also stated that if drone application is not the right tool for a particular property, it will tell the landowner so.
What East Texas Hay Producers Can Do This Fall and Winter
For hay producers recovering from the 2026 drought, several steps can be taken before spring green-up. Pull soil samples from each hay meadow, including a lime-requirement test, so that pH and nutrient decisions are based on current data. AgriLife Extension recommends testing every field of introduced forages at least once every three years.
Identify which winter weeds appeared in each field last spring, since that history guides the choice and timing of a pre-emergent product. Review label restrictions for grazing and hay harvest intervals before any application, especially on fields that will be grazed this winter. Pay attention to stand density, because thin areas are the most likely to fill with weeds. Producers bringing in hay from other regions may also want to watch feeding areas for weeds not previously seen on the property, since purchased hay can carry weed seed.
Producers who are unsure how to sequence these steps can contact a local AgriLife Extension county office or an experienced applicator to build a plan around their specific fields.
About Doss Drone Services
Doss Drone Services LLC is an owner-operated agricultural drone application company led by Ben Doss, serving East Texas from Longview and Palestine, Texas. Using DJI Agras T40 and T20P spray drones flown by FAA Part 107-certified pilots, the company provides agricultural and hayfield spraying, pre-emergent herbicide and lime applications, aquatic pond and lake vegetation treatment, seed and fertilizer broadcasting, residential and property line vegetation control, right-of-way and easement vegetation control, anti-algae roof treatment, and aerial photography and videography. The company operates three spray crews and serves landowners, ranchers, hay producers, homeowners, and commercial property managers within a two-hour radius of Longview and Palestine.
More information about drone spraying in Longview and across East Texas is available at https://dossdronetx.com/ or by calling (903) 387-2991.
Ben Doss
Doss Drone Services
+1 (903) 387-2991
dossdroneservices@gmail.com
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