In-ground silo photos; suggestions needed!

[whitewing]

I've fooled around with this idea for a couple of years but just haven't been able to complete it. I will this year as I'm reasonably confident we're going to have a "winter" of excellent rainfall.

When we first dug the thing it was intended for a soybean planting gone bad. For various reasons we never used it. The next year we actually enlarged it because we needed material for road construction/repair in the area and intended to fill it with a corn harvest. Because of a severe drought, again, not used.

This past year we could have put a lot of pasture in the silo but because of a thousand excuses and lack of planning, again, not used. As I said before, this year I'm going to use the thing and am working right now to put it in shape for when the rains fall again in May/June.

I need some suggestions and help from you guys who know what you're doing.

I plan on "reinforcing" the walls though even with the rainfall we had this past year there was very little damage done to them. They're quite stable it appears though I'm thinking a thin covering of concrete would really secure them.

Is there any reason to concrete the floor?

Oh, the thing is about 140 yards long, 25 feet wide, and I'd guess has an average depth of a bit over 7 feet.

Here's a few photos.

 

[piedmontese]

i would'nt mess with the thin layer of concrete on the sides.unless u form it up and pour it at least 4'' thick it will not last and be a total waste of money.the concrete floor would be alot more valuable.less waste,no spinning tires n mud,ruts that hold water.my dad had a trench silo he used for many yrs and it had a concrete floor and dirt walls and it always got the job done.

 

[whitewing]

i would'nt mess with the thin layer of concrete on the sides.unless u form it up and pour it at least 4'' thick it will not last and be a total waste of money.the concrete floor would be alot more valuable.less waste,no spinning tires n mud,ruts that hold water.my dad had a trench silo he used for many yrs and it had a concrete floor and dirt walls and it always got the job done.

Thanks for that advice Piedmontese!

How did you dad seal his trench silo?

 

[dun]

I've seen a few deals like this around here. Concrete floor and heavy tarp sides and top with dirt piled on top to exclude air. They seem to work but look like a real PITA to get the stuff out. Most of them have concrete floors and cynderblock walls with the trap tops, some with dirt on top some whitout.

 

[Angus Cowman]

we used trench silo's in our area for yrs
some had concrete floors and some had concrete floors and wall
if you are going to pour walls they need to be 8" thick with lots of re-bar for reinforcement or the weight of the dirt on the outside when the silo is empty can collapse them
if you pour a concrete floor before putting the sileage in lay a platsic tarp down both sides of the pit and let it go onto the floor for a couple of feet so the sileage goes over the bottom
then when the silo is fillled you can fold the tarp over the top we did this in sections as our plastic was only 50ft wide
we always weighted ours down with tires and it worked really well

some had dirt floors but you need to make sure the floor is sloped to the front of the silo so the excess moisture can drain out or else you will have a pond in the silo and a real mess
my dad built most of them in our area when I was young I spent many hrs riding on the dozer with him while he was building sileage pits

 

[whitewing]

Thanks guys! Just based on the suggestions here, I think I'm going to scrap the reinforced wall idea (honestly, the walls are already about as hard as rock) and instead concrete the floor. Any suggestions on thickness?

AC, the the thing does have a general slope downhill....can't see it in the photos, but it's there. Also, I've put a very slight hump down the middle hoping that any water that accumulates will at least drain off towards the sides. I plan to fill it with bermuda, chopped corn plant material and sorghum refuse.

Any special instructions or ideas on filing it, tending it, and emptying it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[whitewing]

Another thing you can't note from the photo, this silo has an entrance uphill and an exit downhill. I plan to use my frontend loader to remove the material.

 

[TexasBred]

i would'nt mess with the thin layer of concrete on the sides.unless u form it up and pour it at least 4'' thick it will not last and be a total waste of money.the concrete floor would be alot more valuable.less waste,no spinning tires n mud,ruts that hold water.my dad had a trench silo he used for many yrs and it had a concrete floor and dirt walls and it always got the job done.

Exactly...the product n the pit will keep the walls up....but you'll definitely need the concrete floor. First rain you get while feeding ouf of the bunker and you'll know why. I would try to get a little slope to the bottom of the pit so it will drain.

 

[dun]

Depending on how heavy the quipment is 4 would probably work but I would go with 6 and plenty of rebar or mat in it

 

[Angus Cowman]

Depending on how heavy the quipment is 4 would probably work but I would go with 6 and plenty of rebar or mat in it

I would go NO LESS than 6" on the floor and put rebar on 18" grid and you shouldn't have any problem
be sure and put a good compacted base of gravel under the concrete of at least 6" in depth
I would go with no less than a 3500psi mix on the concrete

We always packed our sileage in with dozers you just have to make sure you get goood compaction

you can look on you tube there is several videos of putting sileage in bunkers also

 

[novaman]

When you fill it pack it as much as possible. The tighter you can pack it the better. When removing try to keep a nice flat face and try not to let loose piles sit around as it will start to spoil once exposed to the air.

 

[footballjdtractor]

if you could line the sides with the same plastic used to cover the top it probably wouldn't be necessary to concrete the sides.

 

[piedmontese]

i would'nt line them at all.

 

[TexasBred]

i would'nt line them at all.

\
No need to.

 

[pdfangus]

You have gotten a lot of good advice here.

My dad had one once without a concrete floor. It had a concrete floor the second year. got so messy that only a track loader could get in to get the feed out.

I have worked several with dirt walls. they do okay. Our walls had some slop to them though.