King Ranch Buys Wharton Turfgrass
Just a few months shy of celebrating 50 years in the turfgrass business, Charles Davis of Wharton has sold the sod production assets of Wharton Turf-Grass, Inc. to King Ranch. The official date of King Ranch taking over the operation was October 30, 2006.
According to Michael Rhyne, the general manager for the Texas Sod Operations of King Ranch, they were looking to expand their operations but wanted to insure that quality and service were key ingredients in any established sod farm that they purchased. “We felt that Wharton Turf-Grass certainly met those qualifications,” he stated.
Wharton Turf-Grass consists of 1100 acres, 800 of which are in turfgrass. King Ranch’s other Texas operations include one near Gonzales and another outside of Navasota along the Brazos River. In total, they will now have approximately 1900 acres in production and plan additional plantings at the Gonzales and Navasota farms. King Ranch has been in the turfgrass business in Florida for many years.
When asked why he decided to sell, Davis stated, “When you are 73 years old and don’t have any children or brothers or sisters to take over the business and opportunity knocks, you need to do some serious thinking.” He decided that the best thing for him and his employees was to take the deal. He has a loyal staff that has agreed to stay on with King Ranch. One employee, Jimmy Lee Woods, has been with him for 48 years.
Charles began in the business on July 1, 1957 when he became a partner with his aunt. He had been the bookkeeper for her since his uncle died earlier that year. At the time, the farm consisted of 50 acres of grass. In 1960, he purchased her interest and became the sole owner.
He remembers that they first cut the sod using a sled pulled behind a tractor. Later he bought a sod cutter designed by a Mr. Burkhart in Bay City. He later went to the Ryan sod cutter but said that you needed to have six to keep three running.
“It took a lot of people to harvest sod in those days,” he stated. “We would send a truck to town when school let out in the afternoons and bring 15 or so kids back to pick up the grass we cut that day. We gave them two-part tags. One would go on the pallet and the other part would go to payroll. We paid them by the pallet.”
Innovation has always been a key ingredient in his success. When asked what advice he would give the younger generation, he stated, “There will always be a better way to do it—a better product, a better market, better equipment. Don’t be afraid to look for that way and don’t get stuck in a rut. There will always be someone else out there who is looking. Continued success is based on providing a quality product backed by quality service.”
That service led him to be selected to produce the grass for the Astrodome in 1964. “The first game was a night game and everything went fine. But the next was a day game and the baseball players couldn’t see the ball with the sun shining through the glass panes in the roof. So they painted the panes and the grass died. We provided it again for the 1966 season and it died again, of course. But they sprayed it with dye and kept on playing until they came up with Astroturf,’ he said.
Davis was one of the founding directors of the Texas Sod Producers Association, now the Turfgrass Producers of Texas. He served as its president and also served as the president of the American Sod Producers Association, now Turfgrass Producers International. He has been very active in the Wharton community serving on several boards including the Gulf Coast Medical Foundation and the Wharton County Historical Museum.
He expects that he will miss his involvement in the turfgrass business but has already realized a certain level of peace knowing that he doesn’t have to worry about whether that truckload of grass will get there on time. “The sod farming business is 24/7,” he concluded.