What's up with the silos?

[zealot]

Since moving down onto the plains this spring, I have been seeing Harvestore prefab silos on big cattle ranches. It's usually near the "citadel" of the ranch. What puzzles me is, that most of these ranchers do not seem to make silage, and they sure as heck aren't growing grains. What do they put up in the silos? They do make hay and haylage, but I didn't know a silo was used for those. And I know about as much about large-scale cattle ranching as a Bedouin knows about the northern lights. Oh, and by the way, I'm talking about HUGE prefabricated silos. They have about six layers and they are about as wide as 4 pickup trucks back-to-back.

[texican]

Maybe they're buying their winter supplemental feeding in bulk... Sure would beat buying a one ton truck full at a time, in 50' bags, and having a lot of sacks to deal with...

[pasotami]

Corn prices are expected to sky rocket, they most likely are going to contract with other rancher on the futures market for a better price and then have it hauled in on a large yearly scale. This would be my best guess.

[palani]

Most probably haylage. You can green chop directly into the silo or wait a day and then chop. If you chop green the stuff runs pretty juicy for months.

Another possibility is they make big round bales of hay. When the silo runs low they call in a chopper and fill the silo with dry, chopped hay.

The advantage of the silo is mechanized feeding. Annual repair costs on those bottom unloaders runs around $5,000.

The smaller Harvestores are used for corn storage, both wet and dry. You wouldn't use a big one like you are describing to store corn unless it is mixed with the haylage.

[travlnusa]

Here in the midwest, what you are describing (at least as I see it in my mind) would be used for manure storage.

Are these near very large dairy barns or large feedlots?

Just my guess.

[Bercado]

A lot of those silos are just relics of the past. They used to be used for silage, especially with dairy cow operations. Now a lot of those dairies are gone and the silos stand empty.
Also, it takes a lot of work and know how to utilize them. Largely, feed lots now just buy the feed from feed producers and take it straight to the cattle with trucks.
Then again, they could be using it for the green chop. It works just like silage, but without the corn.

[Karin L]

My guess they buy their grain and silage by the truckload -- big B-trains, grain trucks, and unload it into the silos. Those big ranches would have enough money to buy that from other farms that are willing to sell their surplus grain and silage. I know the local feedlot has that system going, we sell our grain by the truckload to the local feedlot, and they also have land out separate from were the feedlot is. That's I'm guessing what that ranch has too, where they can harvest their own silage.

Just thoughts.

[haypoint]

Sounds like manure storage. They are made by Harvestore, tend to be wider than they are tall. Could that be what you are seeing? Most actual silos aren't being used for silage any more. The silage is now piled up on a concrete pad with precast concrete walls. They'll use a big tractor to pack it down real good then cover it with a tarp.

[uncle Will in In.]

If they are blue and say Harvestor, and are not old silos, they are the slurry tanks for manure storage. The tall harvestor glass lined silos that were popular 40 or 50 years ago are a thing of the past. The slurry tanks are wider than they are tall.

[Rockin'B]

When I lived in Nebraska, the local farmers called them Blue Bankruptcy!

Most all were used for silage on a dairy operation.

[Ken Scharabok]

Rockin' B: Thank you. I was trying to think of that term.

I believe it derived from the tendence of farmers to try to work their way out of a marginal income by increasing scale. Doesn't usually turn out that way.

[zealot]

The silos I see are at least twice as TALL as they are WIDE, so probably not manure tanks. And they don't look really old, either.

It's usually on dairy farms that I see them.

[DaleK]

If they're on dairy farms they're probably using them for feed. You can use them for haylage, corn silage, high moisture (grain) corn, high moisture barley, lots of things. Doesn't just have to be the small ones for grain, the big ones are used for high moisture corn too. You can also use them for water towers although I doubt that's what they're using them for, some towns have a Harvestore for a town water tower though.

[Ross]

Either manure storage as described or they are silos for anything high moisture. Corn, brewers shorts, haylege,........... pick a crop going into storage wet. The blue bankruptcy phenomina seemed limited to small beef operations here. You can do as well with bags for marginal costs

[Ken Scharabok]

If I remember correctly these are bottom unloading. From what I have heard when they work, they are great. When they don't, it's usually an expensive service call from the dealer.

[Jena]

Well, I was the proud (that is sarcastic) owner of an operational Harvestor. In fact, my Harvestor feed bunk is what ate the end of my finger, but that is another story.

Mine was on the farm when we bought it. The guy who put it up back in the 70's went bankrupt, but rumor has it that his wife ran off with the Harvestor man, so who knows?

We used ours for corn silage, but it would do haylage just fine too. They can be converted for use for high moisture corn. Mine was 20' wide and 80' tall. Feeding was a breeze. Push a button, flip a couple switches and it's done. The bunk feeder was finicky though, needing little adjustments and care to keep it going. The biggest problem was the brush that ran the feed bunk. It was always acting up, but not enough to call a repair man. I'd just have to tighten this or loosen that or whatever.

I did not spend much of anything in repair costs (once the thing was up and running). I could do my own maintenance, including pulling the unloader and I am just a chick without much mechanical knowledge.

The really wide ones are used for manure management, as has been said. The shorter, though not as wide ones, are usually used for high moisture corn.

If it hadn't been there, I would never have invested in this system, but it sort of came with the ground at no additional cost. It sure was nice in the winter.

Jena

[Jena]

Oh, the worst case scenario for these things is the unloader chain breaking inside along with a cave in of the dome that is created above the unloader. That requires a "dig-out" where someone has to enter the silo (with an oxygen supply) and hand dig out the unloader so it can be aligned, removed and the chains repaired. Those chains are evil looking beasts and the silo guy once told me that he saw an unloader (which had been removed for maintenance) fall off it's supports and into a man's leg. Ouch!

Proper maintenance and operation can prevent this.

Jena

[DaleK]

Jena they're getting a lot worse as they age. Most of the ones here now are running $2-5000 per year in maintenance and even with maintenance are breaking a lot more chains. The repair guy here now usually has to go in with a chainsaw to cut the haylage out so he can repair the chains. Once his employees have done a couple of them they usually refuse to ever go in again. He always ties a rope to his waist so they can find his body easier if it caves in again while he's cutting his way in.