Silo Filling 2018

Yesterday was the day...

Jim tested corn stalks twice in the last week, and yesterday morning corn silage went into the east silo.  Jeff (the guy who chops our corn) bought a different harvester over the winter.  He always had a John Deere, and this time he bought a Claas.  Merle ( our neighbor and the man who used to chop our corn) wanted to take some video of the harvester so he hung out on the barn hill for a while...

It didn't take long at all to fill this silo as full as Jim wanted it.  Some changes are coming...soon...on our farm, and we don't need both silos to be full right now.  More on that later...but don't worry...we're good with it!

It still makes me nervous when I see Jim "run" up the ladder on the outside of the silo!  I only do it on rare occasions, and I'm shaking in my boots the whole way up...and down...

The silage is beautiful and the unloader is all set up, ready to go!  As I sit here typing, our Amish neighbors are running up and down the road with their horses/mules and empty wagons, preparing for their corn harvest.  I don't envy them that job!  What takes us a few hours can take them days, sometimes several weeks to finish.

Wishing farmers everywhere a safe and bountiful harvest!

A "Finishing" Day...

It was a "finishing" day today...

We finished filling silo for the year...Jim finished baling and wrapping fifth cutting hay...and it was the final day of the fair...

Each year we chop corn to fill the silos, and a few weeks later we top them off with "late corn".  Late corn is corn that has intentionally been planted later than the rest...usually after wheat or barley has been harvested...for the purpose of refilling, or topping off the silos.  It's a way to make sure that we have enough corn silage to make it through the winter and until next summer when we chop again.

A forage wagon full of corn silage...

Unloading silage into the blower at the bottom of the silo...

What is he looking at?

He's looking at Jim who is at the top of the ladder, watching to see when the first silo is full.  Jim will wave at him, and he will stop unloading until Jim can swing the gooseneck at the top over into the other silo.  Rather him than me, up there at the top!

It didn't take them long here at home.  Then they unhooked the blower and took it over to the other farm to chop a little more corn over there for the heifers and dry cows...

It's a great feeling to have this job finished for the year.  Tomorrow, Jim will level off the silage in both silos, and we'll get the unloaders set up.  That sure will be a lot nicer to feed silage using an unloader rather than a pitch fork!

I made it over to the fair tonight for the livestock sale and to pick up a few things that I had entered.  Jim finished up wrapping the hay that he baled this afternoon.  Fifth cutting is now history, and as I walked in the door from the fair tonight, it started drizzling.  We could use a little moisture again!

What kind of things are you finishing up?

Filling Silo 2016...

It's been a busy couple of weeks here, and I haven't taken the time to post much, other than about the puppies.

They're sweet...and growing like crazy!  Two weeks old already...here's a quick  peek from a few days ago...

We've been doing more than playing with puppies though...although that's definitely been the most fun "job"!  Last week we had a return of horrible hot, humid weather.  When it comes in September, it's especially draining.  Both kids had cross country meets on Saturday...one high school and one college...and the heat was not helpful!  We're done with heat and ready for flannel shirt and blue jeans weather.

Anyway...

On Saturday evening they started chopping corn and filling silo here at home. Here's the chopper...ready to go, just waiting for the tractors and silage wagons to come up the road...

I'm always anxious to see this particular field chopped, because then I can see out again.  Some people like to be surrounded by corn fields, but I like to be able to see out!

This morning they came back to finish...

The fields look so different now.  Jim said that he thinks it really starts to feel like fall once you see bare fields appearing...

One of the wagons unloading at the silo...

There was some trouble with the goose neck at the top of the silo this morning, so Jim was at the top working on it for a bit.  I'm not a fan of heights, so I'm sure glad it wasn't my job!

Clean up at the bottom of the silo this morning after the silos were both full...

Deciding when the moisture is just right to chop corn is not an easy thing, so to have this job behind us is very satisfying!

Now it's time to concentrate on fifth cutting of hay.  That starts tomorrow.

Refill..Finally...

Wow...it's been a really unusual year here.  Never, ever before, have we refilled our silos so late in the year!

Spring planting was late because of the cool spring.  Initial silo filling was late because spring planting was late...and so refilling silo was pushed back as well!

Jim had some "late corn"...or "short season corn" that was planted into an old hay field this spring after second cutting of hay.  One purpose of planting "late corn" is so that there is still some corn green enough to chop when it's time to refill...or "top off" the silos before winter.

Last week's 4" of rain held things up a bit, but when the weather is cool like it has been here, the corn doesn't dry down too quickly.  Monday morning, bright and early, Jim and Daniel raised the last silo unloader, and the chopper pulled in just after breakfast.

The field they chopped was at our neighbors' farm.  Here comes one of the full loads, heading for home. The guys tried hard to stay out of the yard, because of how soft the ground was, so they cut across a small corner of the bean field...  (isn't their house beautiful?!  I think it was built in 1863)

The chopper is waiting for one of the two wagons to unload at home, and return.  Our farm is behind those trees you see in the distance.  The silos aren't quite tall enough to stick out over the top...

Just a different perspective of the wagons unloading at the silos.  This load is going into the silo at the west...see the gooseneck at the top of the pipe?

And as usual...when the silos get almost full, Jim climbs to the top to signal to the tractor driver when to shut off the hydraulics on his wagon.  He then swings the gooseneck into the other silo and they fill that one up...

Now both silo unloaders have been set up, and it's on to the rest of the fall work.  Today it's raining, so Jim and Daniel are replacing some cow mats in the stable.  When it dries off, Jim will mow and bale the rest of 5th cutting hay, have the beans and corn combined, and bale corn fodder.  Oh...and haul manure.  There's still a lot of fall work to do.  It's the busiest time of the year here!

And the Answer Is...

For those of you who read my last post...
(Or for those of you who didn't)

I posted this picture...

...and asked what was missing.

There were 10 comments, and two of them were correct.  The anonymous comment (which was from my father in law Lloyd) and Robyn both noticed that the header was laying in the foreground, with no chopper attached. Good eyes!  :)

Soon after the east silo was full and they had begun filling the west silo, there was a breakdown.  Something went wrong with the transmission that runs the header.  So...the chopper (minus the header) headed to the shop for repairs.  They were up and running again by 5 pm and were able to finish before bed time.

We're thankful to have three silos full of nice corn silage.  Next comes 5th cutting of hay.

Stay tuned...

Keeping the Crows at Bay...

Crows...

They may be very intelligent birds...but they are an extreme nuisance on the farm!  They eat almost anything, but two thirds of their diet comes from vegetables and plants...primarily corn.

Hmmm...do you see the problem?

After the corn harvest, it's common to see huge flocks of crows converging on the cornfields, pecking away at corn that's been left in the field.  When manure has been spread, guess who comes to scavenge?  And what is the attraction of an ag bag like this?  How do the crows know that they're filled with corn silage?  They really must be intelligent.

So...we are left with the dilemma of trying to figure out how to keep the crows away from the bag.  If they poke holes in the bag...and they will...the silage will spoil. The bag must remain air tight until it's transferred to the silo. And if they get a taste of that corn silage, they will be back for more!

To try to keep the crows away, Jim put up several owls on posts around the ag bag.  The owls are hollow inside, and sit on top of metal or wooden posts. When the wind blows, they move a bit, which makes them look more life like...

We also put a couple of old hoses on top of the bag, and fastened them down with ag bag tape.  Don't they look a little bit like snakes?

So far this year, we've been lucky.  Although we've spotted them nearby, they haven't yet done any damage.  I checked out the bag when I took these pictures this morning, and it still looks untouched.

The bag will probably be transferred to the silo soon, and this particular battle will be over.  You can bet though...the crows will be hanging around when the transfer happens, looking for any silage that's spilled.

Anything for a free meal!

Done...

Finally...corn silage is done for the year!

This morning around 8:00, the guys rolled in with the harvester, tractors, wagons and the bagger, to chop our last field of corn silage.  Rather than refilling the silos now, we chose to put out a 150' ag bag.  Later this winter when the ground is frozen, we'll transfer it to the much emptier silos.

It was a rush to beat the rain.

Setting up the bagger, with the field to be chopped in the back ground...

The bag, which comes all folded up in a box, has to be positioned on the bagger and clamped into place...

Taking a look inside the bagger...

Once it's in place, the end is securely tied shut.  This end will be tucked underneath the bag as it fills...

The bagger is powered by a tractor, which is put into neutral.  As the bag fills, it gradually pushes the tractor forwards.  I sat in the tractor for a while to make sure it was going in a straight line.  It's a unique perspective, looking out the back window...  (pardon the dirt!)

The guys driving the forage wagons have to watch carefully as they are unloading, pulling forward bit by bit as the bagger inches forward.  It gets a bit monotonous sometimes for them as you can see here...

Well under way.  The far end of the bag is braced against some plywood boards and a pick up truck, to hold it in place as they get started...

Almost done!  Here they're counting the folds left in the bag, to see if all of the silage will fit inside.  You need to have some extra plastic left at the end, to seal the bag properly...

The bagger has just been pulled away, and you can see some silage spilling out the end of the bag...(there are rain drops on my camera lens!)

Here, Jim's forking the silage that spilled out back into the bag as far as he can, getting ready to seal up the bag...

All finished for today!  They temporarily closed the bag...rolling the end of it shut around a piece of wood, and securing it with cement blocks.  You can see the bag already beginning to puff up with gas...

It's raining now, but in the next day or so, Jim will use the skid loader to bury the end of the bag more securely.  It's critical that it remains air tight, so the silage cures properly and doesn't spoil.

It's so good to have this job finished for the year!

(Almost) Empty Silos...

It's the first week of school...and that almost always means that it's time to chop corn and fill the silos!  We remember countless times, when the bus was stopping out front at the same time that the silo fillers were pulling in.

This is the view from the silage room this morning...

Open silo doors indicate.that the silage level is level with (or lower than) the door.  The doors are opened from the top on down,  so that the unloader can throw the silage out the door and down the chute.  When the open doors reach the bottom, it means one thing...

No more silage!  This is inside the east silo...the unloader is resting just off the bottom of the silo, and Jim has been forking the last of the silage out by hand.  The unloader in the west silo is already at the top, ready for filling...

Jim knows which fields will be ready to be chopped first, and we've been taking sample corn stalks...running them through the chopper...and having them tested for moisture.  Today's samples came back at 70%, so they're still just a little too wet for our silos.  He would like to see them around 68%...which should be in just a few days.  Hopefully by the middle/end of this week, the silos will be full of fresh corn silage.

This afternoon's job?  Putting up the second unloader.  Then as soon as the corn is dry enough, we'll be ready to go!

Short Season Corn Silage...

I know I've said this before, but it really does seem like yesterday that we filled silo, and here we are again.  We don't usually fill until the last week of August...right around the first day of school...but Jim planted some short season corn so that we wouldn't run out and have to buy silage this summer.

Last week we spent some time getting the silo at the other farm ready for filing...

The old tile silo isn't very airtight any more, so a few years ago Jim put a plastic liner in the silo.  It's fastened at the top, and falls all the way to the bottom.   The only part that gets cut away is in front of the doors, so that they can be opened (one at a time, from the top) to fork out the silage.  There's no unloader in this silo, so it's forked out by hand every day.  This is inside the silo, looking up.  That long vertical strip of brown is where the plastic has been cut away from the doors over the last year.  Jim has all the doors shut here, ready to put a door liner in place...

He climbed to the top of the silo with the new door liner, and I stood inside to tell him when he had it lined up straight.  I felt a little claustrophobic inside there...this was my only way out, through that last open door...

He fastened it at the top and let it unroll, covering the doors...

Now it's ready for filling.  When air gets into the silage, it spoils, so an airtight silo is essential for good feed for our cows.

Last Saturday morning, the guys came to chop.  Here he is unloading from the wagon into the blower at the bottom of the silo...

Jim spreads innocculant on top of each load before it goes in the silo...

Keep your hands back!!  I wish my camera had a setting that would show you the blur of that auger!

Even though they were finished putting silage into this silo, they left the blower hooked up.  Jim ran the tractor and blower the first few times he went up into the silo, to get fresh air to breath in case any silo gas had formed.

If the short season corn here at home tests dry enough, they'll likely fill the silos here at home over the weekend.

Irene's Aftermath...

It's been a week since the lovely Irene graced us with her wind and rain...

Many fields were left virtually untouched by damaging winds, but there were others that were left almost flat!  For us "English", who use large choppers to harvest corn for silage, the flattened fields can be troublesome enough.  But for the Amish, who typically use horse drawn binders to cut their corn and then put it through a chopper at the bottom of the silo, it's another story!

This morning we saw our neighbor using something we've never seen before.  When something like this happens, the Amish bishops give their permission for "unconventional" methods of harvesting. 

The horses in front are pulling a two row chopper, which blows the silage back into the silage wagon behind, which is pulled by a team of mules.  This was their first round on this field...this part of the field is still standing nicely...

Every so often they had to stop and unplug the chopper.  The mules wait patiently...

Some minor mechanical difficulties, and they're ready to go again.  Ahead of the horses, you can see the flattened corn...



 And off they go...



It's a bit tricky to hit the silage wagon!  The mules have to walk directly behind the chopper, at least on the outside rows, so the silage blows back over their heads, over the driver's head, and into the wagon.  They got it straightened out!

Some Amish farmers are getting the "English" choppers to come into their fields, but they can't get everyone's corn chopped before the corn gets too dry.  We've even heard of choppers going cross-ways throught the field to try to lift downed corn.  In situations like this, creative juices flow!

Thankfully, most fields aren't like this one!