It may be August, but the signs of fall are here. The corn is beginning to get that look at it begins to dry down. As we were mowing the yard we noticed the fall grasses starting to grow. The sunrise may still be showing us how hot the day will be, but there is the slightest change. I really see it in the sunsets though. The sky, the haze, maybe the slightest color change in the trees.
So what will this mean for us. Well its time to fill the silo. We will chop as much corn as we can to prepare for winter. In reality it needs to last until this time next year. We feed it year round. We need to, if not the top will mold and spoil. They will eat more pasture in the summer, but always have the choice of silage. Personally this is the one time of the harvest season I dislike the most. Corn will dry down fast, and there is a small window in which to get it put up. To wet the silo will fall, to dry and the nutrients will be gone from the corn. We will run with very little sleep, and nerves on edge. The equipment is dangerous, and accidents happen. I seem to constantly pray to make it threw with the silo still standing, and all our lives intact.
Ever see the inside of a silo. We this is it. We had just finished filling it in the picture above. It still isn’t ready to feed. We need to level it off. This means we do it manually. climb up the shoot and crawl into the silo. Using pitch forks we literally spread the silage around until it is flat. Its not as easy as it sounds. It’s heavy. Nitrogen dioxide, and carbon dioxide gasses build in the silo. While leveling this we use the blower to constantly to push fresh air threw the silo. Once leveled out, we turn the blower off and store it until the next time we use it. We lower the unloader and test it out.
We need to climb the silo. There are many reasons for it as we raise and lower the silo unloader. The silage is unloaded from the wagon and into the blower, and it is blown up the pipe work and falls back down on to a plie. We have some control of where it blows in the silo. However we still need to level it out.
There are lots of moving parts to this whole process, and in the end this is where my dislike comes from. There are other options for storing silage, but this is our choice.
Stay safe, and please be mindful of the farmers over the next few months as they bring in their harvest.