how can we empty silos that empty from the bottom?

That's more or less what I'm envisioning. Even if you have to buy all of the stuff for it, I don't think it would cost more than $20.

Kayleigh

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We built an auger setup out of an ice auger for drilling holes in the ice for ice fishing.
Used an extra bit on the end for length and put the whole setup into pvc that was twice as long as the bits. Built enough pressure to shove grain right out the end 12ft away. Personally I can't help but think that I would have mounted the whole affair on legs to give more space underneath for my own ease. Does he empty it the same way?

I was thinking a heavy cardboard box. Cut it so when sitting on the ground it reached the bottom of the bin. Cut out one side so that you had a three sided box under the bin. You could then open the slip plate to let the grain fall into the cardboard box. It should only spill until the pile reaches from the box to the opening. You now have a box filled with grain, the sides protecting you from blowing winds. You can now kneel by the box, scoop out shovels full into your bags without laying on the ground. Let one person hold the bag, the other shovel, switch off occasionally. If you're lucky in finding a box you could have one large enough to give you windbreaks outside of the bin to cut down on the wind even more. Since it is snowy I'd spray the cardboard with scotchgaurd or silicon to repel water from the cardboard. If you could count on this being a longterm thing rather than using a cardboard box I'd build one from plywood that would stand up to the abuse longer. One other thing that might help is a concrete come-along, kind of like rake with a solid blade rather than teeth. Might let you pull the grain out further to allow a shovel to get to it easier.

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I guess for the small amount of grain you will be handling you could go to a rental agency that has the large grain vacuums and plunk down the bucks for one. You could also hire someone that does grain vacuuming to load and haul it and transfer it but you would be paying a pretty penny for the service.

Can you prop some boards up around it and lay down a blue foam camping mat. The boards to block the wind and the mat to protect your body from the cold ground.

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Using a sheet of plywood (OSB) and build a 3 sided trough only slightly wider than a grain shovel. Build the sides as high as can be slide under the bin. The length of this "trough" should extend from where you can comfortably stand adjacent to the bin to past the bottom hopper. Slide this "trough" under the bottom hopper and when in place open the door and let the corn fines spill out into the trough and start shoveling into the pickup. You do not need to concern about closing the hopper because when you stop shoveling it will simply clog. When you start shovel again the grain fines will flow again. There will be no need to get on the ground under the bin until finished and everyone can take turns doing one simple thing, shoveling. The wind will not blow the fines out of the "trough" and gravity will work on your side to fill the "trough" and the shovel will only have to be slide in the correct direction and the size of the "trough" will cause the shovel to readily fill in one swoop. The pickup truck should hold around 40 bushels

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Agmantoo
If they can do it,
you know you can!

Have you given any thought to a leaf blower. when I bought my leaf blower it came with a vacum kit that was just a tube on the air intake and a bag on the blowing side. It has plenty of pwer to suck or blow some pretty big things around. When I use it to vacum leaves it shreads them into very fine pieces.

Go rent a yard vac with hose attachment .
Now keep in mind that grain vacs are well grounded because all that dust can make a real big explosion

I'd check with him and see about cutting a small (say 4") hole in the side about 3 feet up the cone of the hopper. That should get most of it out, you'll probably have to poke it with a stick or something to keep it moving. Then when you're done you can put a small piece of plexiglass over it and fasten it down with some caulking and screws and he has a port so he can see when the hopper is getting empty.

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What about using positive airflow to "suck" the material out. Some pvc pipe from the outlet, out to horizontal. A "T" installed to which you attach the blower hose from the shop-vac. The outlet pipe then continues on to a collection bin (think a cardboard box covered with a sheet? The grain would fall down, and the air could escape throught a looseley woven blanket or something?

I'm no engineer, but I keep thinking about the drain attachement that you can use to drain a waterbed using a flowing garden hose.

Maybe someone can take that idea and run with it?

That takes a venturi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venturi_effect

See my suggestion above. We've both got our thinking caps on.

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