Eden Shale Farm Update- September 2021

August was hot this year. The Mesonet weather station at the farm measured 20 days in August that had no measurable rainfall, the humidity was at least 93%, and the average temperature for those days was 86 degrees!  Thankfully we received adequate rainfall to compensate for the extreme heat. However, it has still been a good year for grazing cattle and for that I am thankful.

This past month we worked the replacement heifers that are on the grazing trial with USDA. The pregnancy check showed that after two rounds of AI and exposure to the cleanup bull, we had 28 of 32 heifers bred. We will be sharing much more data about this project after we crunch all the numbers and finalize the results.

The working facility in the paddocks (which USDA purchased several years ago) had a load cell malfunction under the chute. Chris McBurney, with McBurney’s Livestock Equipment, was able to come replace the load bars with a new model and get our chute functioning again so that we can collect accurate weights on the heifers. I want to thank Chris for his quick turnaround time for getting the new load bars installed and keeping us up and running.

Dr. Higgins has been at the farm recently putting some finishing touches on the pond liner water harvesting project. As you recall, the pond liner captures rainfall and diverts it into a 3,000 gallon collection tank. A solar panel and submersible pump then pumps the harvested water up into the pasture and into another 3,000 gallon tank, which gravity feeds into an 8 foot tire water tank. This system is functioning well and has allowed us to put a 14 acre pasture back into the summer grazing rotation. We also found a water leak at another location, so while our contractor, Art Snapp, was there we repaired the line.

Despite not being able to hire a summer intern, we are fortunate enough to have hired Chey Warner as our fall intern at the farm. Chey attended Morehead State for 3 ½ years and is now taking online classes to complete her Animal Science/Vet Tech degree. She lives in Frankfort and will be working with us at Eden Shale Farm throughout the fall semester.

​The annual Open House Field Day will be October 9th at 10:00am and lunch will be provided. The tour is limited to 100 people, so if you have not RSVP’d please do so to reserve your spot today. To RSVP please call 859-278-0899 or email at [email protected]. We look forward to seeing you at the farm.