Homegrown success
Couple develop hardy variety of Eastern gamagrass
By DAVID LOWE Staff Writer
Twenty years ago, Charles Lancaster -- and most state plant experts -- knew almost nothing about the leafy green grass growing in bunches on the edge of his wheat field by Lucy Creek. Now, Lancaster and his wife Sue have made a name for themselves and for their forage by selling Texas Sue, their own variety of Eastern gamagrass.

PHOTO BY DAVID LOWE Charles Lancaster ties seed certification and analysis tags to a bag of his Texas Sue Eastern gamagrass seed.

Lancaster's experiments with Eastern gamagrass started in 1988, when he dug up one clump and planted it in a garden near his house. Within two years the grass grew to about seven feet tall and developed thick seed heads.

Lancaster transplanted three 90- foot-long rows, picked the seed by hand and saved it to plant in a oneacre field by his house. Then he hired high school students for summer work to pick stems, which contain five to seven seed heads that ripen at different times.

After sending the seeds to a professional cleaner, Lancaster planted them in a large field along Lucy Creek. He and his wife now cultivate about 200 acres of Texas Sue, but they had to wait several years for their field to develop fully.

PHOTOS BY DAVID LOWE Sue Lancaster loads a sack of Texas Sue Eastern gamagrass seed into a pickup at her and her husband Charles Lancaster's property along Lucy Creek. The couple send seed out of state, as well as to customers in East Texas and in Bell, Williamson, Llano, Mason and Milam counties.

"We just didn't have enough seed," Lancaster said.

Although it took some time to mature, Texas Sue has proven extraordinarily hardy. With three hard seed coatings, Texas Sue can survive for several years and then grow, even if it didn't germinate the first season. The seed is droughttolerant with a hollow root system that extends as far as 15 feet under- ground -- one of the deepest root systems of any native grass. Texas Sue also can grow in standing water.

"It's got such a deep root system compared to other grasses," said Lancaster.

The couple in 1994 obtained a Plant Variety Protection Act -- essentially an agricultural patent -- for their Texas Sue variety.

The Lancasters store their seed, for which they have secured a Plant Variety Protection Act, in a low-humidity room kept at 50 degrees.

The application process took nearly two years, as the Lancasters had to obtain certification from both the Texas Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of Agriculture.

"We almost gave up several times," Mrs. Lancaster said. "You almost have to have a doctorate in it to understand it."

As one requirement for receiving the Plant Variety Protection Act, the Lancasters had to submit a name for their grass. Lancaster named his gamagrass for his wife, who helps by potting grasses, handling bookkeeping duties and mailing out seed shipments.

The Lancasters' customers come from across the state, especially from the Blackland soil belt that stretches all the way to Lake Texoma. With an East Texas customer base, the couple also have sold to ranchers in Bell, Williamson, Mason, Llano and Milam counties, and recently sent a large order to North Carolina.

Harvesting usually begins the last week of July, when most of the seed heads ripen, and continues through August. The Lancasters went through three old combines before finally finding a dependable model. Lancaster and his brother David both run combines during harvests, giving them a backup in case one stops up with grass.

"It's very hard on these machines because the plant is still green," Charles Lancaster said.

The seed growers spend five or six days drying the seed with squirrel cage fans or old air- conditioner fans. Lancaster then sends the seed back through a combine to separate out grass stems. After that he cleans the seed in a work barn, running it two times through a two-cell Clipper commercial cleaner.

"That's where my purity comes from -- right out of that seed cleaner," Lancaster said. "It does an excellent job."

After two or three weeks of cleaning, the Lancasters send their product to the Decatur, Ga.-based Hulsey Seed Laboratory Inc., an independent lab that specializes in testing Eastern gamagrass. Employees of the Texas Department of Agriculture also inspect the Lancasters' fields.

In analyses at the Georgia lab, Texas Sue has received pure live seed ratings -- which indicate how much of the seed can germinate -- from 60 percent to 91 percent.

The Lancasters double-stitch certified seed tags and analysis tags to every sack they send. Each seed bag also contains planting instructions.

The couple store their seed in a climate-controlled room at their work barn. Low humidity and the 50-degree temperature in the room preserve the seeds' ability to germinate.

Most orders come in December or January as buyers prepare for winter planting. Texas Sue "greens up" in March, Lancaster said, and typically stays green into the winter, allowing cattle producers a dependable supply of forage.

The grass can be ready for the first hay cutting by the end of April. Some Texas Sue customers have cut for hay four or five times in a year with the grass, while Coastal and Kleingrass fields may yield just one or two cuttings.

As fertilizer costs rise, farmers and ranchers are beginning to consider gamagrass a less expensive alternative to Coastal, the couple said.

"This doesn't require near as much fertilizer to really do well," said Mrs. Lancaster.

Mike Mallett, former Extension agent for Lampasas County, assisted the Lancasters with forage production tests, which have showed protein content as high as 17 percent for Texas Sue grown without fertilizer.

"You try that on Coastal, and see what it'll do," Lancaster said. "You'll get about 3 percent."

The Natural Resources Conservation Service recommends gamagrass to producers, he said, and more ranchers are starting to hear about the grass. NRCS employees Charles Clary and Jerry Wenmohs helped the Lampasas County couple as they began growing gamagrass.

Texas Sue production has attracted other members of the Lancaster family, as the couple's son Brad and Mrs. Lancaster's son Robert also assist with work at their ranch.

Charles Lancaster and his wife still run 40 to 50 Brangus cattle on their property but have quit selling the other varieties of seed they used to produce in order to focus on Texas Sue. Revenue from Texas Sue has allowed them to build new fences, construct four dams on Lucy Creek and make other improvements on the property. The Lancasters also have the satisfaction of seeing Eastern gamagrass flourish in its native home.

"This business has been good to us," Lancaster said. "We've been able to do things we never dreamed of."