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A few in-ground silo photos.

Whitewing

Well-known member
I'm hoping for a really good "winter" of rainfall this year and with that in mind I'm working on my in-ground silo in anticipation of filling it with bermuda, sorghum, and corn residue.

Still got a lot of work yet to do before the rains fall in May, but I'm making progress. The majority of the dirt work is done so next will come concreting the floor.

For those interested, the dimensions are roughly 140 yards long, 25 feet wide, and an average depth of about 7 feet. I've got an uphill entrance and a downhill exit on the thing. Should be interesting. :D

Here's a few pics:

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100_2678.jpg


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Northern Rancher

Well-known member
The guys up here that silage have just went to piling it on the ground for whatever reason. As far as pits go that one should work out well-it might be a bit narrow at the deep end to maneouver equipment around but hard to say from the picture.
 

Whitewing

Well-known member
Northern Rancher said:
The guys up here that silage have just went to piling it on the ground for whatever reason. As far as pits go that one should work out well-it might be a bit narrow at the deep end to maneouver equipment around but hard to say from the picture.

It's 25 feet wide the entire length and then at the very end there's a slight curve as it drops off the hill.

This thing sort of morphed over time. It started out as a silo and quickly converted to a means of producing good material to repair the roads at my place and my neighbor's. Because of the drought we never used it but this year I've made up my mind I'm going to store some material for later use.

Having to go off-site to look for animal feed is costly and time consuming.
 

LazyWP

Well-known member
We had a pit silo years ago. We never did concrete an of it, of coarse it was in the sand, but after the first year the side and bottom hardened up to where you wouldn't dig into the dirt. It was 50 feet wide and about 300 feet long. I think we had it for close to 20 years before we finally did away with it, and went to just building a pile. The pit was nice, and you didn't have to worry about tipping a tractor over, trying to pack the edges. Our problem was that while the pit was close to where we fed, it wasn't close to where we were chopping the feed from.
I was usually the one "packing" the silage.and I always wanted to be on a pile, so I could see something other then the ugly walls of the pit.
 

Whitewing

Well-known member
LazyWP said:
We had a pit silo years ago. We never did concrete an of it, of coarse it was in the sand, but after the first year the side and bottom hardened up to where you wouldn't dig into the dirt. It was 50 feet wide and about 300 feet long. I think we had it for close to 20 years before we finally did away with it, and went to just building a pile. The pit was nice, and you didn't have to worry about tipping a tractor over, trying to pack the edges. Our problem was that while the pit was close to where we fed, it wasn't close to where we were chopping the feed from.
I was usually the one "packing" the silage.and I always wanted to be on a pile, so I could see something other then the ugly walls of the pit.

Wow, 50 feet wide and 300 feet long! Did you guys typically fill it? How many cattle were you feeding out of it and how long did the feed last before refilling was necessary?

For what it's worth, this one is smack in middle of my place so I won't have any long drives to reach it.
 

scout

Well-known member
thats pretty impressve white wing. Just a note i build a bunker out of cornstalk bales but instead of covering the top with plastic and tires i through some winter wheat on top it makes a sod and seals up the the silage I get about 4 inches of spoilage but i just throw the wheat in the feed wagon I m sure any grass would work just a idea
 

LazyWP

Well-known member
We would fill it every year. We would back ground up to 2000 head of calves, and fed silage to 300 head of cows. Dad's place never produced much for grass hay. Everything that we put in the bunker was corn silage, and all of it was cut with a 1 row New Holland 717 super.
 
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