Doss Drone Services maps drought recovery plan for East Texas hayfields

Doss Drone Services is urging East Texas hay producers to use fall and winter to recover hay meadows weakened by the 2026 drought. The company says pre-emergent weed control, lime applications and property-specific consulting can help protect first-cutting yield next spring.

Why it matters: - East Texas hay producers are entering winter with weakened stands, thin forage and more open ground for weeds. - The decisions made before spring green-up can shape how much usable hay comes from the first cutting next year. - Drought recovery is not just about rainfall returning. It also depends on weed pressure, soil pH and fertility management.

What happened: - Doss Drone Services LLC outlined a fall and winter plan for hay meadows across East Texas after the 2026 drought. - The Longview-based agricultural drone company is focusing on three services for hayfields: pre-emergent herbicide applications, lime applications and on-site property management consultations. - Ben Doss, owner of Doss Drone Services, said the company is hearing from landowners who are worried about winter grasses moving into stressed fields. - Doss said, “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.”

The details: - Doss Drone Services provides GPS-guided spraying for hay meadows, pastures and cropland in East Texas using DJI Agras T40 and T20P spray drones. - The company also handles aquatic vegetation treatments, seed and dry fertilizer broadcasting, residential and property-line vegetation control, right-of-way and easement work, anti-algae roof treatments, and aerial photography and videography. - Doss Drone Services says its pilots hold FAA Part 107 remote pilot certification. - The company operates three spray crews and serves properties within a two-hour radius of Longview and Palestine, including Tyler, Marshall, Carthage, Henderson, Kilgore, Jacksonville and Nacogdoches. - Its Longview crews regularly work in Gregg, Harrison, Upshur, Rusk and Marion counties. - Winter annual weeds such as annual ryegrass, little barley, rescuegrass, buttercup and henbit germinate in fall and winter while bermudagrass is dormant. - Those weeds can compete with the hay crop for moisture, nutrients and sunlight by spring, reducing the quality and appearance of the first cutting. - Texas A&M AgriLife Extension forage specialist Vanessa Corriher-Olson has noted that late-season annual ryegrass can delay or prevent growth of warm-season perennial forages such as bermudagrass and bahiagrass. - Herbicide resistance in annual ryegrass has made post-emergence control less reliable in some fields, which is increasing interest in pre-emergent programs. - Pre-emergent herbicides are applied before weed seeds germinate and control weeds as they emerge from the soil. - AgriLife Extension’s pasture and forage weed-control guidance lists pre-emergent options for dormant, established bermudagrass, including products containing pendimethalin and indaziflam. - Each product has its own label rates, annual limits, target weeds and grazing or haying restrictions, and those restrictions must be followed exactly. - Some pre-emergent products require rainfall for activation. Mississippi State University Extension has reported that indaziflam needs roughly a quarter inch to a half inch of rain. - Doss Drone Services says it starts pre-emergent planning by identifying the weeds that appeared the previous spring, confirming the forage species and field use, and checking label rules before recommending a product and application window. - East Texas soils are naturally acidic because of the parent materials they formed from, according to an AgriLife Extension liming demonstration in Smith, Rains, Gregg and Henderson counties. - Soil pH affects how much applied fertilizer becomes available to plants. - AgriLife Extension guidance says soil pH below 5.2 can push manganese to toxic levels. - A lime-requirement test, also called a buffer pH test, gives a more accurate estimate of limestone needs. - The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Soil, Water and Forage Testing Laboratory includes a limestone recommendation when one is warranted. - In the East Texas demonstration, soil starting at pH 5.2 rose to 6.2 after one year with one ton per acre of agricultural limestone and to 6.4 with two tons per acre. - A 400-pound-per-acre rate of pelleted lime raised pH to 5.5 over the same period. - Doss Drone Services schedules lime applications based on soil test recommendations rather than a fixed rate. - Corriher-Olson has written that, next to inadequate rainfall, hybrid bermudagrass stand thinning caused by low potassium is one of the biggest fertility problems for forage growers in the Southeast, especially on sandy, acidic soils. - Doss Drone Services says correcting pH and following soil-test potassium recommendations are key steps for stressed stands to recover. - The company says drones fit many East Texas hay meadows and pastures better than ground rigs during wet winter conditions and on irregular terrain. - Drone application avoids wheel traffic, soil compaction and rutting, and it can reach fence lines, ditches, steep banks, pond edges and timber borders that ground equipment handles poorly. - The DJI Agras T40 and T20P use GPS-mapped routes and terrain-following radar, and they can carry up to roughly 10 gallons per flight. - Doss Drone Services says the T40 is better for larger open acreage, while the T20P is used in tighter areas. - Doss Drone Services says aerial application still depends on the product label allowing aerial use, suitable weather and correct calibration of droplet size, flight height and application rate. - The company says it calculates those variables for each field as part of its flight plan. - Doss Drone Services treats consultation as the first step of every job. - Before an application, the company discusses the landowner’s goals and problem areas, assesses terrain, vegetation and environmental conditions, and consults with chemical application specialists on formulas, rates and coverage patterns. - The company says consultations help determine whether a field needs a one-time treatment or a seasonal program, which desirable or native species should be preserved, and whether the goal is hay production, grazing, wildlife habitat or general land maintenance. - For hay meadows, the company says the process typically starts with a soil test, mapping problem areas, reviewing the prior season’s weed pressure and sequencing lime, pre-emergent herbicide and spring fertility in the right order. - Doss Drone Services says it will tell a landowner if drone application is not the right tool for a property.

Between the lines: - The timing points to a broader shift in forage management: producers are being pushed to treat winter as an active recovery season, not a downtime period. - The company is pairing drone delivery with agronomic consulting, which suggests the pitch is about precision and timing as much as spray access. - The emphasis on soil testing, pH correction and pre-emergent weed control shows that drought damage often shows up later, when winter weeds exploit weak stands.

What's next: - Producers recovering from the drought are being urged to pull soil samples from each hay meadow, including a lime-requirement test. - AgriLife Extension recommends testing every field of introduced forages at least once every three years. - Producers are also being told to identify which winter weeds showed up last spring, review grazing and hay-harvest restrictions, and watch thin areas where weeds are most likely to establish. - Producers bringing in hay from other regions should monitor feeding areas for weeds that may arrive in purchased hay. - Landowners can contact a local AgriLife Extension county office or an experienced applicator to build a field-specific plan. - More information about drone spraying in Longview and across East Texas is available at the company's announcement or by calling (903) 387-2991.

The bottom line: - Doss Drone Services is positioning fall and winter as the critical window for helping East Texas hayfields recover from drought and protect next year’s forage yield.