Silo Unloader Mixes Feed
Don Steward, Kennedy, N.Y., installed a wooden elevator under his 24 by 80 ft. silo that allows him to mix haylage and corn silage together and convey it to an 80-ft. bunk feeder inside his 225-ft. long, 45-ft. wide free-stall dairy barn.
"The wooden elevator resists corrosion and has more capacity than the steel eleva..........
Silo Unloader Mixes Feed CROP STORAGE Silos (50) 16-1-6 Don Steward, Kennedy, N.Y., installed a wooden elevator under his 24 by 80 ft. silo that allows him to mix haylage and corn silage together and convey it to an 80-ft. bunk feeder inside his 225-ft. long, 45-ft. wide free-stall dairy barn.
"The wooden elevator resists corrosion and has more capacity than the steel elevator I formerly used," says Steward, noting that his silo is equipped with a Big Jim center-discharge unloader (built by Butler Livestock Systems, Ft. Atkinson, Wis.) that unloads silage down a center discharge hole. Silage would normally fall by gravity onto a steel conveyor at the base of the silo. Steward replaced the steel conveyor with a Kelly 40-ft. long wooden double-chain elevator that extends out both sides of the silo. He parks a side-unloading feed wagon filled with haylage next to the silo. It unloads haylage onto the wooden elevator as it enters the silo. Then corn silage is unloaded onto the elevator where it gets mixed with the haylage. On the other side of the silo, the elevator bends upward at a 15 degree angle, goes into the barn and drops feed into a 20-ft. long wooden elevator inside the barn which drops feed into a bunk feeder.
"The Kelly elevator works great be-cause all surfaces that come in contact with feed are treated with three coats of polyurethane, and exterior surfaces are treated with wood-preserving paint. It takes less power to run because wooden slats on a wooden surface produce less friction than steel slats on a steel surface. Also, because the return chain is on top it levels off the silage if it gets too deep on the elevator. We had been unloading haylage from an 18 by 50-ft. concrete silo into another elevator that dropped it into the wooden elevator. When we decided to expand, we bought an Ag Bagger for our haylage rather than put up another silo. We now use the silo to store corn silage."
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Don Steward, Rt. 1, Box 373, Kennedy, N.Y. 14747 (ph 716 287-3770). To read the rest of this story, download this issue below.
Here's the followup info for this story: Company: ~ Name: Don Stewart Rt 1 Box 373 City: Kennedy State: NY Zip: 14747 Phone: 716-287-3770
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1992 - Volume #16, Issue #1
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