We put in the pit silo last summer ,2022...... there used to be a pit silo with the sides all dirt as many were built that way and there was waste and all... built by the previous owner many years ago., For several years we did silage bags in that spot.... but the coons and possums would get into them and tear them and there was waste with them. Still better than nothing. The silage bags got more expensive, had to coordinate getting the bagger to rent, and then had to have trucks with side chute, to haul and then to unload the silage as there was not way to drive around in a circle with wagons to unload right there at the bagger where the silage went in for it to pack it as it crept forward. ... backing a wagon in took more time and some (me included) were not good with backing the wagon into the slot alongside the bag and the tractor on the bagger..... it works okay out in the open as many do... but it was a pita for us. So after son bought the farm from the widow of the friend... and we had been renting it since he got sick and passed away... he determined he was going to concrete it to have a slab... and used the concrete "blocks" they pour to make the sides. One side, and the back, is 4 blocks high... they are about 3x8x3high or something....against the dirt side; the side that is in the open is 3 blocks high... plans were for 3 blocks high..... slab is 30x100 I think...
I know that pre-covid the price was estimated at 12-15,000... post covid increases had it costing about 20,000.... but the slab is there, it is over 6" thick so can be used as a floor to build a shop on if he ever decides to.... and the blocks can be moved for other stuff if wanted. Blocks alone went from $45/50 each to over $80.....hauled 3 at a time from the concrete place on the flat bed trailer as they came available. They pour them at the concrete place with left over concrete in the trucks and other mixes there.... so sometimes they had a dozen, sometimes only 1 or 2... and others would get some too, so we made sure we could get at least 3 to make the trip worthwhile...
We can use any dump truck to fill... back up, dump and then we run tractors over it to pack.... 2 side by side with a little room to spare while packing...
Put all the corn we grew that year ... about 14 acres and about 6 acres of sorghum-sudan on the top from the small field next to it and it is full to the very top.....tapered down in the front...and covered with a plastic sheet and then we used plastic from previous bags on top of that to help discourage the critters from digging into it and tearing up the plastic... with lots of old tires on top to hold it down and keep the air out.
I did a little helping to tie all the rebar to the metal supports, and helped with the pouring a little to spread it as the trucks came in and poured it...went to the rental place to get the "float machine etc... but my son and 3 others did 99% of the work. Had a concrete guy who was a whiz with the "float" machine to get it smooth....
Took weeks and weeks of prep doing it part time.... didn't have to "form it" since we used the blocks as the "outside form" for it...
My son did one he// of a job getting it ready and coordinating everything. He could take the blocks off the free standing side and make it bigger if wanted also as the spot there that was carved out of the bank/hill by the previous owner is about 100x150 overall... with the free standing side open to the trees there...
That silage is like money in the bank.... insurance against a dry year or not enough hay... we fed out of the silage bags to the groups of feeders that we buy and make up more uniform groups to sell.... and we feed it to the fall calving old cows so they can make a little better milk for their calves.... anything that we feel needs a little "extra" when the hay is not enough or of mediocre quality, in the cold and wet weather.
