​There are many ways to measure success depending on what you value. The production data is always important to measure if you want to measure progress. Profitability is a must if you consider your farm a business and not a hobby. Additionally at Eden Shale we measure another metric that most farms do not, visitors.

2023 has been another busy year with lots of interests in the workings of Eden Shale. We have hosted more tours and field days this year than we ever have since KBN took over the farm in 2013.

In the years leading up to COVID we were conducting roughly 30-35 tours a year. Each year we hosted an increasing number of people culminating with over 720 people coming through our gates in 2019.  Since reopening after the pandemic our numbers have rebounded slowly at first, but have picked up speed the last two years. This year has been our greatest number of events putting our total at 40 tours with 525 visitors (and I’m sure I’ll book more after this goes to print).  This is exactly the purpose we had for Eden Shale Farm ten years ago when we started it. We envisioned the farm to be a working classroom where students, producers, and industry professionals could gather and learn about different ways to tackle some of the varying production challenges that Kentucky has to offer.
However, producers are not the only folks who have come to the farm. We have had the opportunity to host regulatory and governmental agencies including KY Energy & Environmental Cabinet’s Division of Conservation, Division of Water Basin Coordinators, NRCS, and folks from the regional EPA office in Atlanta. Other non-producer groups have included a UK Health & Occupational Safety class, Farm Credit employee’s, high school FFA chapters, Auburn Vet Students, and college students from Eastern Kentucky University and University of Kentucky.

During the past year these different groups have had a wide variety of people including beef producers from 42 Kentucky Counties as well as visitors from the states of Indiana, Tennessee, Ohio, Oregon, North Carolina, and Alabama.

This year we have also had an international audience.  Early in the year we had the opportunity to host a group of 15 Chinese nationalists that were touring the United States.  This was the first time that I have ever presented with a real time interpreter standing next to me interpreting as I spoke. In addition to China, we had attendees from Canada, Mexico, Australia, Puerto Rico, and South Africa. We have now had the privilege of hosting foreign visitors from 16 different countries (6 of the 7 continents) since we have been operating the farm.
​
While it does take time out of production to host these tours, we do consider it a measure of success of the work that Eden Shale Farm has been able to accomplish. I want to thank everyone who has made this success possible and especially for the inquisitive folks who have taken time out of their busy schedule to come visit the farm. I do appreciate it.  

We weaned our calves on September 26th, which was about three weeks later than we had been previously weaning. However, this was when the sign was right to do the weaning. Does the sign have any bearing at all on how things go? It depends on who you ask and their most recent experience, but I think there is something to it and we always check the sign before setting the date for weaning or castrating.

A big part of the excitement of weaning this year was getting to use our new chute for a full days work. We had ran the calves through it, and treated some pinkeye in the cows, but this was the first big herd working where everything came through. The chute worked flawlessly all day, and having access into the palp cage from the left side of the chute was a huge time advantage over our old model. And having the scales underneath it lessened our labor needs by one person.

KBN Facilitator, Jacob Settles helped us that day, as did our current intern Joel.  Joel even got the opportunity to give vaccinations, apply pour on dewormer, and Jacob taught him how to pull blood from the tail to check for pregnancy. I want to thank both these gentlemen for their assistance that day, and to Greg for having the cows captured and ready to work.

The calves weaned off the heaviest they have yet at an average of 517 lbs. Our previous high weaning weight was 485 lbs.  But remember we were three weeks later, and if they were gaining 1.5 lbs/day then they weighted about the same as our previous high weaning weight. We weaned 95 calves this year which is also the most we have had at weaning time. Of those calves, 64 head (68%) are steers that I hope to take advantage of another good year of feeder prices next summer.

I also want to thank David McGlothlin with Genetics Plus for his help selecting semen for this calf crop.  This has been our best looking calf crop yet and we liked them enough to breed the cows the same way this spring (we used Angus bull Plus One and Hereford bull Kingdom).

The cows were also heavier at an average of 1260 lbs (about 40 lbs heavier than last year). However all the cows were in one body condition score higher than they usually are at weaning. Everything was easily a BCS of 6+. Despite being heavier, the cows still weaned off 41% of their body weight, which was an all time high as well.
​
We still have a lot of work to do, but the herd is trending in the right direction. While we aren’t breaking any all time records, we are getting better each year. Remember, we are just 10 years out from starting with herd of splitting cows from the stockyards…