1987 - Volume #11, Issue #5, Page #11

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Plasltic liner for upright silos

Plasltic liner for upright silos CROP STORAGE Silos (50) 11-5-11 "For about the same cost as innoculants and preservatives, your conventional upright silo can work like an oxygen-limiting storage unit," says Grant Durhman, of GeneralStor, St. Paul, Minn. manufacturer of plastic silo liners for upright silos. "Silo liners act as a barrier against outside moisture and air while feed is stored in the silo. Since it's exposed to less oxygen, aerobic bacteria has less time to break down and digest nutrients. Plus, by keeping acids from eating at the silo walls, silo life is extended," Durhman notes. "With the liners you can make old leaky silos, that would otherwise be unusable, productive again, or use rented silos without having the replastering expense." To install the 6 mil. liner you fasten one end of the bag to a ¢-in. fiberglass hoop. You then raise the hoop and plastic to the top of the silo and secure the bag to the top of the staves. You can pull the liner up with the silo unloader, or by hand with one person climbing up the silo chute and another person pulling it up from the outside ladder. Durhman notes that you'd cut the liner along the silo doors as you empty the silo. To reuse the liner the following year, you could then put tar paper against the silo doors. Cost for the plastic liner runs about 80 cents per ton of silage. Liners are available to fit 12, and 20 ft. dia. silos. They come in three standard lengths of 50, 75 and 100 ft. A reusable hoop for a 16 by 75 ft. silo sells for $71.63. Liner sells for $265.60. For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, GeneralStor, 475 Randolph Ave., St. Paul, Minn. 55102 (ph 800 328-6795, ext. 229).