Eden Shale Farm Update- October 2021

We weaned our calves on September 17th. KBN Field Associates Ron Shrout and Jacob Settles helped us that day, and I appreciate their work and support of Eden Shale Farm.
The 88 calves that we weaned had an average weaning weight of 488 lbs. This is the heaviest the calves have been at weaning since we started the herd in 2013. It is also the most uniform group of calves we have had, with a total calving window of 45 days (excluding the last 4 stragglers to calve).

The cow weights were also up 52 lbs this year at weaning time, due in part to the young herd maturing (average age 4 years old), and the abundance of grass causing all the animals to be in great body condition. Despite the average cow weight increasing to 1225 lbs, as a herd they were still able to wean 40% of their body weight which is consistent with years prior.

The pregnancy conception rates were good this year as well. The cows had a total conception rate of 92% after one round of timed AI and 60 days with a cleanup bull. The 28 replacement heifers had an AI conception rate of 72% after two rounds of timed AI and using sexed semen (heifers). After 40 days with the cleanup bull those heifers had a total conception of 88%. As it stands right now, we have 111 bred females to calve in the spring of 2022.
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At the end of September we had to spray our alfalfa for army worms. We were able to catch them early and was able to save the third cutting. It was really the only crop they showed up in, as we scouted other hay fields and pastures but did not see enough activity to warrant spraying.

In October we drilled 20 acres of rye grass into existing pasture fields. We used two different varieties, Elena Perennial Ryegrass and Marshall Annual Ryegrass. We drilled them in different areas so that we can compare how each variety does. Our goal is to be able to turn the cows out onto the ryegrass pastures early next spring before our fescue based pastures are ready to graze.

I would like to thank everyone who attended the Eden Shale Farm Tours this fall. The August, September, and October field days combined had about 175 people in attendance. I again want to thank Superior Ag Insurance for their sponsorship of the Open House Field Day in October. If you were unable to attend one of the field days, you can follow along on our website at www.edenshalefarm.com.