what to charge for shredding?

[WTA]

My neighbors deal with the government requires him to mow at least once and year and control invasive weeds he told me. I've seen him get a big spray rig out there once in the last 4 years to spray for weeds. He doesn't own a tractor anymore. Instead he leases a giant JD new tractor and usually pulls just an 8 foot shredder behind him. It takes more than a week to mow at that rate. The last one I saw him on was well over 200 horse and had to be really guzzling the fuel at the speed he was going. I doubt over 2 mph. That fuel is like gold these days and I sure wouldn't have done that.

I have another neighbor I need to go talk to also. I'm going to cut them whatever deal it takes to mow their property. It's only about 12 acres it looks like. The problem is the last owner died about a couple years ago and he kept it up well. Now his kid has the place and he's let it go to weeds and stickers. It borders one of my really nice hay fields. That nut even has feeders out for the jackrabbits. I have traps out and rifles in every vehicle and by every door for them. Jack rabbits and alfalfa fields just don't mix.

 

[LoneCowboy]

$15 to $20 per acre for 50 to 200/250 or so acres out here. (we get weeds/grass 2 to 3' tall typically for comparison sake). That Ohio custom farming report that is running around shows it at $10 to $20 per acre.

That's 15' territory which is 6 to 7 acres an hour. (esp on big wide open sections where you aren't turning and can be super efficient.

That's still about 2 weeks worth of work. (640/6 = 106 hours of work).
Of course it's also $9600 at 15/acre. yeah, that should pay the gas bill. (100hp, maybe 3 gallons per hour??)

Over that size (200/250) you can get a 20'er in there and do it for even less per acre.

Insurance, road taxes, DBA, workman's comp, repairs, etc, new blades (because you will hit stuff) things to think about.