by Willard Jones
It's not often that show stoppers
like Doebler's Precedent and Star
master come along in the alfalfa
business.
Precedent is fast out of the
ground at seeding. And it produces
big, like a whopping 8.20 tons per
acre in Penn State's 1990 trials.
Starmaster, a fine stemmed, dark
green alfalfa, led the 5-year trial at
Virginia's Northern Piedmont Ag
Experiment Station with 25.9 total
tons per acre.
So you can understand my
dismay when a farmer tells me
Doebler's seed is too expensive.
"Price is one of the last things to
look at," I almost shout. Then I
cool it and suggest these buying
tips:
Look at performance. Precedent,
for instance, produced 3.63 more
tons per acre at Penn State last year
than the variety that placed No. 64.
Check longevity. Starmaster
showed its staying power in
Virginia by producing 6.89 tons the
fifth year.
Tie seed cost to tons. I put a pen
cil to Starmaster seed cost in that
Virginia trial using current prices. It
was a surprisingly low $2.27 per ton
of hay produced.
Demand good disease protection.
Both Precedent and Starmaster are
resistant to the big five diseases.
Precedent also is resistant to
Aphanomyes, a new alfalfa menace.
The Apron advantage. Don't buy
seed without it. Apron seed treat
ment protects Doebler alfalfas from
Pythrium and Phytrophthora during
first critical weeks.
DOEBLERS
R.R. 1, Box 424, Jersey Shore, PA 17740
How to pick
your next alfalfa
GOBBLER'S ALFALFAS
I'm Willard Jones, Doebler's sales manager, with a couple of
winners for you Doebler's Precedent and Starmaster.