Eden Shale Update- February

The slowest time of year for myself at Eden Shale Farm is the roughly 30 days between the end of the KCA Convention and the start of calving season in mid February. This year, that time frame was taken up by a severe cold spell. Our Mesonet station recorded ten straight days with a wind chill measuring 6° F or less (January 20th bottomed out at -16.8° F). During this time there was lots of ice to chop and plenty of hay to set out. When it is that cold, just taking care of the basic chores takes all day!

I want to give a big Thank You to our Farm Manager, Greg Cole for the long, cold days that he put in at farm when I couldn’t get there. I also want to thank our current intern, Joel, who came to help Greg every day that school was canceled during the bad weather. These two men carried the load during the harshest weather, and I appreciate them for it.

2023 was another successful forage year at Eden Shale. We were among some of the lucky few to get moisture at critical times throughout the summer and fall months. This allowed us to graze cattle until after the first of the year. This year we started feeding hay to the cow herd on January 3rd. This is on par with our average hay feeding start date which typically ranges anywhere from Christmas to the second week of January.

Dr. Higgins has also had projects going on the past couple of months. There are two separate ponds on the farm that he has developed, in which the water will be filtered, stored in above ground tanks, it will flow through concrete tanks to water the cattle, and then back into the pond. These systems are summer only systems as they are above ground and they will freeze in the winter time. I will elaborate more on these systems as it warms up and we get them up and running.  
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As I write this calving season is approaching quickly. We should start calving some where around Feb 20th plus/minus a few days. And once it starts we typically get approximately 90% on the ground in 45 days. So, if you need us in March we will be in the calving barn…