My last day off pics.

Took some pics of my friend Jeff's farm last Sat. when I was off. He needed his silo opened since his pit is empty. Since he is still having some health problems and can't climb well I went and helped him. Had to fork off the rotten stuff and level it before we could put the unloader down. The pics from inside didn't turn out too clear because it was too close, but the yard and field pick turned out nice. One of the corn he has left to pick, there is also some in another field too. You can see his new to him White 2-85 tractor he just bought. His 560 loader tractor blew another head gasket and was in rough shape anyway so he got the White so he could put a loader on his 1850 and leave it on.

Looks like I'm going to have to spend some time with a bb gun getting rid of pigeons. lol

Is that near Fergus, too?

hope you had a mask on .not only mold dust etc but there a disease in the bird crap up the mississippi valley. by the way i got farmers lung wish i had worn a mask
nice pics

Da tractor in picture #4 hooked to a manure spreader, is it an Oliver?

Pine City, bout 180 miles east from Fergus Falls.

yes, super 77

jonfmn,
First four are really nice pics.

But seriously, the barn and silo shadow photo... you and your wife should frame that for your friend. It is really too neat for words - and the fence works nicely with the shadow. Really cool!

Gives me a cold chill just looking at that silo. When I was about 14 or 15 we had 2 50 foot silos and one set of pipes,was my job on top moving pipes between silos, was usually cold and windy, had to get up on the roof ladder to open and close the doors. At least both silos had cages on the ladders.
Then the north walls would freeze up and stop the unloaders, have to climb up the chute and chip that off
Glad them days over.

Seeing those pictures inside the silo on a cold winter day reminded me of not so fun days when I was young. Spent a lot of hours in a silo pitching out silage. I decided not to be a farmer while I was in high school and went to college for engineering. I miss the good parts of farming like doing field work on a nice warm spring day but I don't miss the cold dirty jobs.

I hate climbing the silo but love the view when I get there. Why is it that we are always doing that when it is frigid with a 30 mph wind?

Jon,
The pics of the Patz top unloader bring back a not so good memory from 1964. Dad was a Jamesway dealer, and sold a lot of ring drive unloaders. There was no good time to install any of them, other than when the silo crew was building the silo, so they could install the lifting tripod, into the dome, and then chuck the unloader parts, in threw the bottom doors of the chute. Not all of the parts would fit though the doors on large diamiter silos.
Dad sold one to a local farmer, but it was a 24x50'concrete stave tub without a roof, and half full.
Me and one of our mechanics, went over to install the unloader. The farmer was a real AH, and wouldn't offer any assistance at all, so to get the parts boosted up the outside of the silo, I had to be the monkey to tie the augers, gear boxes, etc that wouldn't fit up the chute to a rope, on the ground, and then climb the ladder to the crows nest, where Dave was, to help lift the peices up and then let them down on the inside to the silage. Then had to climb down, go in and climb chute, and untie the peice, and go back to tie another peice, and repeat the senario. Did I say the customer was an AH and said he was paying for a totally installed and working unloader?
Well Dave and I were up in the "Crow's Nest atop the silo, trying to get one of the augers over center to drop it down into the silo, when the U shaped brackets holding the basket to the silo straightened out and let the Crows Nest fall away from the top of the silo.
I don't know how Dave managed to do it, BUT he was able to grab ahold of the silo, and me by my shirt to keep me from falling out, and keep the basket from colapsing.
The auger fell to the ground, and we were able to tie off the basket to the top hoop of the silo.
We both managed to crawl around the dislodged basket and down and said never again.
We climbed in the PU and headed back to the shop, and gave Dad an ultimatum That we would never install another unloader. Dad called the local silo crew, as he was a Harder silo dealer also, and told them about our ordeal, and a couple weeks later the tripod was up, and all the peices were inside the silo. Dave and I did go back and assemble the unloader in the silo.
Dad never sold another one.
Loren
PS sorry about the long post Jon. You posted some really great pics.

Jon, nice pictures. Brings back memories. Every fall we had to haul ours up to the top of the silo and re-install it. Heaviest part was the motor.

JimB

Nice photos. And I have to agree with many post about tower silos. Nice to look at but, I hated having to climb the silo to pitch out silage if there was no unloader , or change doors when they were frozen shut with six inches of frozen silage. And all the other pain in the butt things about towers. I don't have one ,and don't see any need for one, pit silos make a lot more sense . Oh yeah no silo gas risk either.

Pigeons=sky carp!

Hi Jon,
Awesome pics for sure! That is what I call a room with a view! LOL Flying rats make great target practice anytime of year too.
Kow Farmer Kurt

When you mentioned the pigeons I immediately thought of my neighbor. He had an empty silo full of pigeons. One night after dark I climbed up to the top with a .22 loaded with birdshot and was popping away at the pigeons sitting on the top rim. My neighbor looked in a bottom door and a bloody wounded pigeon smacked him right in the face. I can still hear him cussing. Jim