Tradition takes flight: drones boost Big Country agriculture

BALLINGER, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – Some innovative applications of new technology are changing the farming landscape here in the Big Country, where, instead of the traditional crop duster aircraft, you may be seeing drones spraying pesticides in the skies over Texas.

Austin Williams is the owner and operator of Catahoula Custom Spraying out of Ballinger. This unique company uses specially designed drones to apply pesticides to farm fields. At about the size of your average riding lawnmower, these drones are fast becoming the new face of agricultural innovation. Though the tech has only been utilized for a few short years, Williams says it’s a business that keeps him very busy.

“There’s stuff in Texas to spray year-round. You got your row crops, your range pasture, which we specialize in, prickly pear seasons coming up. One of the biggest things with our clients is they always wish they had us spray more,” Williams shared.

Williams said that one of the biggest advantages of this new system is bringing the same quality treatment for smaller fields as seen in large-scale farming operations. A point that the Taylor County Agriculture Extension Agent, Steve Estes, expanded on.

“It’s really one more tool in the toolbox for a lot of our agricultural producers and landowners. Even the large landowners, if they have just a small area they want to spray or a specific target of some species of brush that they want to take out, the use of a drone makes that a little easier to do,” Estes said.

For his Business, Williams has two drones that weigh roughly 140 pounds when fully loaded with pesticide. Despite this heavy load, Catahoula Custom Spraying can program exact patterns for their drones that offer precision sprays, which reduces the risk of pesticides drifting over to neighboring fields, and they make short work of any major project.

“When we’re out application, we do a lot of 4/GPA, which is four gallons per acre work, and that’s getting us about two and a half acres per full tank load. We can knock a hundred acres out in about two and a half, 3 hours,” Williams explained.

Catahoula Custom Spraying of Ballinger went on to tell us that the popularity of this new technique has grown so rapidly that they’ve traveled all over the state of Texas and are now looking to expand their services beyond state lines.