From the Wagon to the Silo

This blog should pretty well finish off the explanation of the haylage process.  You've seen the pictures of mowing and chopping the hay in two previous posts, now you can see how all that hay is unloaded and blown into the silo.



Before any hay can be blown into the silo, there must be a Daddy present.  We'd finish our small part of morning chores (the chickens...you'll see more below) and was waiting for Josh to meet us by the tractor.




As you can hopefully see, he finally arrived.  The kids are in the cab with Josh, ready for their ride up the hill to the silo...




...while I chose to walk behind the wagons.  I kept thinking"if something freakish happened and that wagon came unhooked, I'd be flat as a pancake."  Not to worry - nothing freaky happened and I'm still round as ever!



When we got to to the top of the hill, we were greeted by the hungry bull.  He was ready for breakfast, but he was gonna have to wait for a few minutes.

 Hang on to your haying hats, Ladies and Gentlemen.... we're about to go on the wild and crazy ride of "Get to Know Your Silo Setup!"



When a silo is being filled, there are two permanent pieces of equipment that are parked by the silo until its the next silo's turn to be filled (make sense?) .  Those two pieces of equipment are the blower (the red thing) and the tractor that operates the blower.  When its time to start work on another silo, the equipment is moved and parked there until time to work on yet another silo.  You know how a potato chip bag or cereal box says that "contents may settle blah blah blah"?  Well, that's exactly what happens in a silo.  When the hay or corn silage is put in, the weight of the "stuff" gradually settles and compacts it, making room for more to be added.  Which is exactly why each silo has to be filled more than once during the summer.  Eventually, it packs itself to the point where it can't settle anymore and the silo is considered full.  When that happens, the guys climb inside the silo to level it and tarp it to protect it from air and moisture, which allows it to cure properly and turn into the deliciousness you and I know as cow feed!





"Well, Amanda," you ask, "How exactly does that blower-ma-jig work?"
Well, I'm SO glad you asked!  It all starts with the PTO (Power Take Off).  The PTO is the shaft that connects to the tractor.  I'm not going to go into too great detail about this because I'm not EXACTLY sure how it works, but it uses the power from the engine to turn a shaft in the tractor that in turn turns the shaft on the equipment that is hooked to it.  It can be adjusted by the throttle of the tractor to go anywhere between hundreds of rpms (rotations per minute) to thousands rpm. 
So, the blower's PTO...







....is cranked up to start a giant fan in this part of the blower.  As the fan gets moving and grooving, it starts...



 



...the small fan.  The rotation of this fan blows the hay into the big fan you just saw which creates a forced jet of air going up.





When the farmer is ready to unload, they pull the wagon right up next to the side of the blower.  Do you see where the haylage comes out?  The spout on the side of the wagon is lined up so that the hay will be centered over the small fan, to be thrown to the big fan and up the silo pipe.





One must remember to turn on the water.  After the hay is chopped, all its juices combined with the actual grass has a tendency to get gummy.  By running a spray of water on the hay as its unloaded, the hay is lubricated and does not gum up into a great big smooshy ball.  If the hay gums up into one great big smooshy ball, it gets stuck and that's a BIG problem.  I'll explain more about this in a later picture.





Once the PTO is started on the silo tractor and the water is started into the blower, the tractor that is hooked to the wagon starts its PTO, thus moving the hay OUT of the wagon and INTO the blower.



Meanwhile, the bull is still hungry and is beginning to wonder why there is no food in the bunk.



Back to the task at hand...
There is a "web" across the floor of the wagon.  You'll see this web in the picture below.  Its akin to a conveyor,being powered by the PTO.  Its a moving floor that moves the hay from the back of the wagon to the front of the wagon to be unloaded by the spout.  Across the front of the wagon are three beaters that rotate and keeps the wall of hay broken up and forced out of the wagon.  You can see one of the beaters in this picture.



The web.  This floor moves as explained in the picture above.



 



This is part of the controls on the inside of the tractor.  The two larger ones are to change gears while driving or doing field work, something we're not too terribly concerned with during unloading.  The one to take note of is the lower, smaller one.  This is the throttle, the lever that speeds up and slows down the engine.   Remember, the engine runs the PTO, the PTO powers the web and so this lever really controls how fast the hay comes out of the wagon and is fed into the blower.  Make sense?  So, if there is a problem (a jam or malfunction in the equipment), its very important to be able to adjust this lever.
  However, if the farmer is outside monitoring everything that needs to have an eye kept on it (not including the hungry bull!), how would he ever get up to the lever to stop everything in an emergency?  Well, thanks to the magnificent work that we've come to know as the "Van Zante Modification" way of doing things, Josh and Loren have devised a steel rod that is attached by a hook around the lever, runs through the cab and goes out a hole in the back of the cab behind the seat.  This allows a handle to be on the outside of the tractor giving access to the power source, adjusting the speed.  Brilliant.  They've also got a complete shut off mechanism on the outside...not sure how they've done this, but I know its there.  I'm sure this wouldn't fly by some group of safety regulators, but 'tis how its done on our yard!





GUESS WHAT!?!?  The bull is....





...no longer hungry!  Fresh haylage and grain! Mmm mmm mmm...what a breakfast!





Just one more view of the equipment setup.

You now know all about the unloading equipment.  The guys do this routine with every wagon that is filled, hundreds of times throughout the summer. 
Let's move on to the silo: 



The Silo.  Eighty feet of concrete block and rod. With the pretty white dome on top.  Do you see the pipe along the side?  That is what the hay is blown up .  The blower shoots the hay all eighty feet up the pipe.  The pipe is approximately ten inches in diameter (just a guess, but pretty close).  There will be several times when the pipe gets clogged up during a season and then comes the fun, fun FUN job of finding out where among the eighty feet its plugged up and then trying to unplug it.  (That "fun" stuff was just sarcasm by the way.) 
The rod rings are meant to literally keep the silo up.  When the silo is full of hundreds of tons of compressed hay or corn silage and all that packed material puts, in turn, hundreds of tons of pressure on the silo walls, the rods are there to keep the bricks from popping apart.





When the hay gets to the top, it is shot a ninety degree angel into the silo and falls until it hits the top of the pile inside.  This picture is the very top (zoomed in) where the box there angels it inside.  The hay usually ends up in a domed pile, which means Josh and Loren get the job of climbing up the silo and then inside to level it off (make it flat) so that it can be tarped and stored for winter use. 
Yes, that is our Christmas star at the very top, which can be seen for miles around when its lighted for the Christmas season.



There are two ways to get up the silo.  The first (the easier way for those with queasy stomachs where heights are concerned) is an indoor ladder in the silo chute (the tunnel the silage dumps down when its being fed).   Its for when maintenance or adjustments need to be made when feeding.  It gets you up without the view of having to look down.  The second (for the more adventurous OR the son whose father makes him be the one to climb it when necessary) is the outdoor ladder.  For the first, oh, thirty feet or so, you climb on the rod rings you see going around.  Then the ladder begins with a cage around you "just in case".   The view from teh top, I hear, is amazing.  I wouldn't know...YET!

 When I have a chance, I will take my camera up to the silo and do a little shooting to show you how the feed gets OUT of the silo when it finally comes time to feed it.  But that job involves climbing and concentration...meaning I will have to be kid-free.

Now on to the kids:



Queen of the Tractors.  Sarah LOVES being in the tractor!  I can just imagine her wedding song being "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy".  By then, it will be an oldie and have been redone by two, maybe three, different artist.







Caleb is skinny and limber.  He made himself right comfortable leaning on me and putting his feet on the fender while waiting for the wagon to finish unloading.







And little brothers will do what little brothers will do.  He managed to find the one thing that annoyed Sarah Rose at the moment, which was kissing, and plagued her with it until I put a stop to it.  He would make kissy noises and faces and Sarah would just throw a fit.  *Sigh*







First thing in the morning, before taking the pictures and unloading the wagons you just saw, we helped with chores.  Caleb took care of the chickens all on his own... of course, it only required him to open the four chicken house doors, but he DID do it all alone!




And out they come into the beautiful sunshine and fresh air.




And the other end of the chicken house.  I think the chickens were confused to find me and the two munchkins opening the doors when Josh is usually the one to do it.  But I think they all managed to overcome their shyness and made it out.



So there you have it folks!