For the past year we have been running the smallest herd at Eden Shale since we took over the farm 13 years ago. At weaning time in September 2024 we had 103 cows. It was extremely dry that fall and the cull market was strong so we culled hard in the fall of 2024. We then had lower than expected conception rates this year leaving us with a total of 72 head of bred females to calve spring 2026.

These lower numbers have made it easier to manage the grazing rotations around the farm. The lower number of mature cows has freed up forage allowing for more stocker calves to be added during the growing season. Instead of trying to have a full pot load of home raised calves, we now have half load and we will purchase the other half to graze with ours this summer and market together as a full pot load in August.

This strategy allows us to market the steers at the end of the summer and therefore stockpile more fescue during the fall regrowth. With a smaller herd of mature cows to carry through the winter, we are able to graze longer into the winter months, while also needing less stored hay once we start feeding. Less days feeding in the barns means reduced amounts of manure to manage next spring.

As of writing (January 7th) we are still grazing our 72 head of bred cows. The younger first and second calf heifers were turned into their last paddock of grass yesterday and once it is grazed they will be moved to their first hay bales of the season. The mature cows have enough grass to last longer if we don’t get any snow, but I would expect them to be switched to hay somewhere about the middle of January.
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Our Farm Manager, Greg Cole, does a great job of managing our forages and maximizing the number of grazing days. Any time you can still be grazing in January I consider it a success!

On a beautiful day in mid-October we hosted our annual Eden Shale Farm Open House Field Day. There were 65 attendees from all over the state, with a few traveling from other states to join us.

This year the agenda was different from previous years. We started off in the barn with a very nice presentation from Sarah Wilhoite. Sarah works for the Kentucky Department for Public Health as an Environmental Health Inspection Program Evaluator. Sarah has been performing tick population surveys across Kentucky including at Eden Shale Farm. She did a great job of describing the tick populations and distribution across the commonwealth.

The second stop of the day was with Adam Probst with BARENBRUG. Adam talked about renovating pastures using Bar-Optima E34 Novel Endophyte Fescue. This fall we renovated about 80 acres of pasture and hay ground using this product. This topic generated great discussion with several questions from producers.

We finished the tour with two stops with Dr. Steve Higgins. He highlighted the self feeding Large Bale Feeder, and the new Bo Renfro structure as part of the heifer feeding area. Dr. Higgins also featured his water filtration system that purifies the water in one of our 8 ft tire water tanks.
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We finished the day back at the barn with lunch for everyone. There was great conversation as everyone discussed the topics of the day over cheeseburgers. I appreciate all the presenters that created a quality agenda for the day, and Thank You to everyone who came to learn with us at Eden Shale Farm.