TORRINGTON – Steve and Mark Feagler have the nicest lawn around. And, for a price, part of it can be yours.
The father-son duo own and operate the Torrington Sod Farm, growing primarily Kentucky bluegrass on some 160 irrigated acres north of Torrington. Steve bought the going operation from its previous owners, Dave and Jean Kellam, when they were ready to retire almost 20 years ago.
Steve had been working at the Citizen’s Bank in Torrington for about four years when the opportunity came up. At about the same time, he’d moved over to help start the First State Bank branch in Torrington and, somehow, word got around he wanted to get out of the banking business.
That wasn’t accurate, Steve said recently. But the Kellam’s contacted him anyway and started negotiations to sell Steve the turf grass operation. With a background in a tradition crop rotation plan – corn, edible beans and sugar beets – on his own land next door, Steve said he was open to the idea.
Mark was already grown and gone, attending school and playing baseball, first at Laramie College, then at the University of Wyoming while studying agriculture business, when Steve purchased the Kellam’s business. The new operation gave Mark the incentive to come back home to Goshen County and help out raising turfgrass.
The sod farm was “a small operation” prior to him taking it over in 1999, Steve said. He does credit the Kellam family with the foresight to start the operation and to make it what it was, laying the ground-work for what Torrington Sod Farm has become today.
In the intervening two decades, the Feagler’s have grown it to be one of the largest turf-grass producers in the area. That growth is due, in large part, to Mark’s input into the operation since he came home a few years ago.
“It was good timing that Mark was looking for something different,” Steve said. “We’d grown to the point where we needed some new ideas, to expand the sod farm.”
From an economic standpoint, the turf-grass business offers a “much more consistent” revenue stream than more traditional, row-crop production, Steve said. Inherent production risks – weather, market factors – are also greatly reduced, he said.
Particularly in eastern Wyoming, the threat of weather is a constant companion to the agriculture producer. Every time he looks at a field of corn or edible beans, regardless of how healthy the stand is, how vital the individual plants appear as a whole, Steve said he’s always cognizant of the fact it’s just one good hail storm away from being completely obliterated.
Those concerns aren’t there with turf grass, which Steve and Mark both said is pretty much “hail proof.” The only limiting factor really is water, because turf grass definitely isn’t a dryland crop.
The Feagler’s operate completely under pivot irrigation, with mixed water sources from the irrigation district canals and their own deep well. The well is a good “insurance policy,” Steve said, guaranteeing there’ll be water available when it’s needed.
Turf grass is also somewhat labor intensive, they said. Just like a typical lawn at home, the Feagler’s fields have to be mowed at least three times a week. Keeping the grass groomed promotes healthy growth.
“We want it to look good at the end (when it’s delivered to the customer),” Mark said. “But with most of this grass, mowing also keeps it active and growing.”
Seed remains the largest single expense in turf grass production, the Feagler’s said. After that, fertilizer and fuel are the other main cost factors, they said.
The fertilizer used is a pretty standard nitrogen-phosphorous mix. But it’s the seed which is really special.
There are only a handful of companies selling seed specifically designed for turf grass production, Mark said. It’s taken decades of research and development to arrive at current varieties, which both serve the needs of large production growers and satisfy the wants and desires of the end-use customer.
“This is not something you can pull out of a garden center and throw together,” Mark said. “There’s years of research and improvement.”
Once the seed is in the ground, it takes 12 to 15 months until the sod is ready for harvest, Mark said. Their largest market is in the Casper area which, at about 150 miles, is really the limit they’re comfortable shipping semi-truck loads of sod. They have shipped further, however, sending sod as far as Powell for the soccer field at the junior college there, Mark said.
“That was quite a fleet of trucks,” he said. “It comes down to cost. Shipping can get quite expensive.”
With all the hard work, expense and more, Steve and Mark both said there’s just something about looking out over that huge expanse of neatly-trimmed turf grass. It takes them back, they said.
“It takes me back to memories of athletic events, picnics,” Steve said. “There’s something comfortable about it. And the smell of fresh-cut grass – there’s something peaceful about it.”
And, all other considerations aside, turf grass is probably one of the greenest crops – solely from an environmental standpoint – there is, they said. A 10-foot by 10-foot plot of healthy turf grass – 100 square feet – can produce enough oxygen for a family of four, Mark said.
“A lot of people don’t understand the importance to the environment,” Steve said. “We’re in the business to sell beautiful, healthy landscaping. Sometimes we forget how much it returns to the environment.”
