Grass is essential to Gary Price’s business as a farmer, and this year he is being recognized for his efforts to plant more of it.

Price won the Kansas Association of Conservation Districts and Sharp Bros. Seed Co. Grassland Award for his 800 acres of property eight miles from Lawrence in northwest Douglas County. Price has a cow/calf operation and planted native grass on much of his land. He also raises his own hay for his cattle.

Price said he bought a 320-acre piece of land and 40 cows in 1978, and it gradually grew to 800 acres, 120 cows and about 70 calves.

“I also raised row crops and wheat but decided I wanted to plant everything to grass and just have cows,” he said.

Price has planted several types of native grasses on his property, including big bluestem, little bluestem, Indian, switch, western wheat and side-oats grama.

Native grass can be tricky to manage, Price said, because it has to be grazed often. He said if the grass gets too high, it becomes stemmy and the cattle won’t eat it as easily. Price said he prefers native grass to brome for two reasons.

“I really like native grass — it is good for when the cool season grasses go dormant, so I still have pasture in July and August. I also do not have to fertilize it,” he said.

Gary Price earned the Kansas Association of Conservation Districts and Sharp Bros. Seed Co. Grassland Award. Price farms 800 acres in Northwest Douglas County.

Price said even though he wasn’t always a farmer, he has always lived in the country. He grew up on a farm in Illinois and showed pigs in 4-H. He later lived in New York and eventually moved to Lawrence, where he lived on 8 1/2 acres south of the city.

A retired Kansas University professor, Price now lives on his 800-acre farm with his wife, Terrie, and two sons.

He said he decided to start the cow/calf operation and plant the grass because not all of the ground was tillible and ideal for other crops.

“I thought it was a good way to utilize the ground,” he said.