Choppin' silage

donjr · Sep 8, 2012

Got my silage done last week, and I'm full for the winter. These are some pictures of me chopping and filling my bunk. Turned out close to 20 tons per acre- not too shabby!

Kow Farmer · Sep 8, 2012

WOW! Your corn looks great! Where you located? Thanks for the pics. I miss chopping corn silage in the Fall, it was on of my favorite field work jobs years ago.
Kow Farmer

Rich Iowa · Sep 8, 2012

Have never chopped silage but always love seeing pictures of it. Never seen anyone use a blower on a bunker silo before but seems like a great idea, just seen guys back in with trucks or trailers and dump from the rear.

donjr · Sep 8, 2012

Bout 25 miles south of York, Pennsyltucky. Blower setup saves having to take wagons or trucks into the bunk. Spent too many hours trying to pull wagons out, and it's safer and easier. We can direct the spout to spread the crop out and put more loads in before having to level and pack...

the tractor vet · Sep 8, 2012

Like the way we fill the bunk better , Our wagons are rear unload and it takes about two min. to run off a full load on a 18 footer Getting the bunker started takes awhile but once i get the ramp they just come in and start unloading on the fly till they start to spin then set and run the rest off .

Mike Stockwell · Sep 8, 2012

never been around anyone chopping silage, how do you keep it from getting hot and smoldering? seems like it would be like putting up green hay.

showcrop · Sep 8, 2012

This is just unbelievable. Done filling the silo on Sept.8th. I feel like a slug. I'm still trying to make hay. looks like a good stretch coming next week, but I doubt that it will be enough. I'm depressed. I'm gonna get another dish of ice cream. Sigh. Good for you though.

donjr · Sep 8, 2012

It does get pretty warm, but that is part of the ensiling process. It literally cooks itself, very low temperature, and a long time. It will still be warm through the winter.

donjr · Sep 8, 2012

It is nice to be able to drive through, like my old pit. But this bunk is completely above ground and easy to access on three sides for the blower. We used to fill a trench, but side spalling put dirt in the feed, and that had to be cleaned out of the feed bunks. This silage is 100% cleaned up by the cows, so the no-dirt bunk gets my vote. Wagon unloading takes about three minutes with a good blower- wagon unsticking sometimes took an hour or more, plus aggrivation. The 't' wall can also be expanded easily for more capacity or pulled out and sold should the operation change or cease.

heavyhaulertoo · Sep 8, 2012

What is that green stuff, Hasn't been green all summer, Waterloo ia.

Tech 7 · Sep 8, 2012

Like the pics, they really took me back.....could smell that fresh cut corn for a second. Used to help the in-laws back in the late 70,s..BIL had a bunk silo that would take 75 to 100 acres of corn to fill,then we would move over yo his brothers asnd fill a 24x75 and a 30x100 upright silo. If we had good weather we figured on chopping corn for a month. We used a 4440 deere and an 892 NH harvester...not many self propelled harvesters around here then.

El Toro · Sep 8, 2012

We first had our silage chopped by a pull behind chopper in 1949 or 1950. Our neighbor did custom chopping and used 2 trucks with dump beds. They filled 2 big silos in 3 days took about 3 weeks filling with the silage cutter. They used a Farmall M to pull the chopper. We had a 10-20 McCormick Deering on the blower. Hal

Choppin' silage

donjr

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Kow Farmer

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Rich Iowa

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donjr

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the tractor vet

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Mike Stockwell

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showcrop

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donjr

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donjr

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heavyhaulertoo

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Tech 7

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El Toro

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