Hunt County grown alfalfa claims top score at state hay show

By LORI COPE | East Texas Edition

Doug Samples of Wolfe City earned a First Place win at the 2003 Texas State Hay Show with his alfalfa. Samples' hay earned a 100.3 overall score at the contest. -Staff photo by Cope

December 25, 2003 -- With the top-scoring hay in the 2003 Texas State Hay Show, Hunt County grower Douglas Samples earned a first place win in the legumes class with his high-quality alfalfa.

Growing alfalfa in the Blacklands of Northeast Texas is no easy feat, but Samples' crop began as an "experiment" proposed by then-Hunt County Extension Agent Bob Greenway. "We planted 22 acres in 1992, or '93, and it did well," Samples recalled.

That first crop netted 1,200 square bales of alfalfa, and during that time, Samples said he could "just drive by a dairy (in nearby Hopkins County) and sell it."

But now Samples doesn't grow his alfalfa to sell, but rather to feed his own dairy heifers. "Sometimes someone can talk me out of a few bales, but other than that, I use it all myself."

Samples now grows alfalfa on just five acres, but his crop has earned him several awards over the years, including wins at this year, and previous years, county and state hay shows.

This year's crop, determined by the hay sample submitted to the contest, had a 23.4 percent crude protein, and a 23.1 ADF (acid detergent fiber) content. Overall, the hay scored 100.3 and was deemed winner of the "legumes" class, yet in the state hay show's judging procedures, Samples' alfalfa hay was not selected as grand champion, even though it had the highest overall score of any of the other class winners.

Max Murry of Coryell County claimed the grand champion title with his Kleingrass hay which scored 90.6, and won the "other perennial warm-season grasses" class. Rachel Maner of Gillespie County, with a 90-score sorghum-sudan hay, won reserve champion, and the "warm-season annual grasses" class.

Dr. Twain Butler, Extension agronomist and hay show judge, explained the way the champion hays are selected is "all the scores are thrown out and the individual hay (sample) is looked at by the judges." The judges agree which hay is the best for its type, and the grand and reserve champion titles are decided when the judges agree.

"But next year, I proposed, and it's been okayed, that we only have class winners, and not have a grand champion and reserve champion," Butler said. "It's not really fair."

For his class win, Samples received a plaque which designates him a first place winner in the 2003 State Hay Show.

Also, Samples' dairy heifers show "winning signs" of the alfalfa's quality. Currently he has about 80 head in various age groups. He buys the heifers at weaning age, puts a Jersey bull with them at breeding age, then sells the cattle as springing (ready-to-calve) heifers.

Besides the alfalfa, the heifers are also fed Tifton 85 coastal hay, and Hay Grazer, grown by Samples on his farm near Wolfe City.

A square from an alfalfa bale pulled from the barn shows good physical attributes. -Staff photo by Cope

Samples, who works at L-3 in Greenville, does his own harvesting. "I never thought I'd own the cutting and baling equipment, but with alfalfa, you really have to cut it when it's ready. If you have to wait on someone (custom cutter) to get to you, it may be in too much bloom."

After learning as much he could about growing alfalfa, including trips to farms along the Red River, Samples knows to cut the legume when it first begins "putting on bloom. ... If it blooms too much before you cut it, you lose protein."

Samples generally gets the first cutting of alfalfa in late April or early May, and ends with the third cutting in late July or early August. Because the legume generates its own nitrogen, Samples only applies fertilizer (17-17-17, applied at 200 to 300-pounds per acre) when he plants the seed (at 20-pounds per acre). "You can come by here in late February or early March, it will so pretty and dark green. People will say, 'you must pour the fertilizer to it,' but it's just the way the plant is."

One problem Samples faces with the alfalfa is alkali in the soil. The alfalfa shows evidence of the substance in summer when the plants' roots are seeking water in the ground. "When those roots find the alkali, some patches will start showing, and then they (affected alfalfa patches) just grow."

But despite any problems to combat with the crop, Samples said he continues to grow alfalfa, and the other hay crops, "because I enjoy it. Getting out there really takes my mind off things; it's kind of a stress reliever."