Silo Filling Prep...

It looks like today is the day.  The chopper is scheduled to roll in around 2:00 - 3:00 this afternoon, so we spent the morning doing some final prep work in the silos.

We have two silos here at home.  The west one had been empty for some time already, so Jim put that unloader up a few weeks ago.  This morning after feeding the cows, he got the second unloader ready to winch up to the top of the silo.  There's some prep involved...first, the unloader has to be lowered so that there's enough slack in the cable for him to hook it up properly for the journey upwards.  That's my job...cranking it down.  And it's a pretty easy one...

That big electric cord is unhooked...

And here's the cable fastened to the bottom of the silo.  We don't crank it the whole way up by hand, but rather remove the handle...

...and use the electric drill that you see in this second picture.  This picture was taken when the unloader was the whole way up at the top, and you can see how much more of the cable is wrapped up...

Doesn't it look kind of like a lunar lander?  I enjoy seeing the unloader from this perspective, with the shadow against the inside of the silo...

By this time tomorrow, Jim will hopefully be leveling off the full silos, and we'll be setting up the unloaders from the top!  There's a lot of climbing the silos involved on the agenda these next few days!

Silo Filling 2015...

It's the first week of school here, and so it must be time to fill silo!

It's this kind of a day today...

The corn is really tall this year, and the ears are higher than my head...between 5' 6" and 6' high.  I didn't measure to the top of the stalk, but all that rain early this season sure made the corn grow!

The corn at the other farm has been testing drier than here at home, so this morning the guys started by filling the tile silo...

Headed out to the field for the first round...

I relaxed on an empty hay wagon and watched until they came in with the first full load...

They just finished the other farm, and started here at home about fifteen minutes ago.  The corn here is a little wetter, and Jim's checking to see he wants them to continue, or wait a few days to let it dry down some more.

While they were filling at the other farm, I made a second batch of salsa.   We were completely out from last year, so I'm glad to have about twenty jars to put on my canning shelves.

I know I haven't been posting much lately, but it's been a little crazy here...

...We took Eric to college yesterday, and he's settling in.  I got a nice happy birthday text from him this afternoon!  :)

...Jenna and I made a couple of trips in search of a better violin for her.  Last week it was to Philadelphia, and she thinks she's finally found the one she likes!  School also started for her, as well as cross country practice, so now both of our evening barn helpers are gone!  A couple of neighbor kids are filling in the evening slots especially over our busy time.

Jim's Uncle Ray...who wrote several blog posts for me...here and here...passed away unexpectedly on Tuesday afternoon.  He had been ill, but no one expected it to happen at this time.  He and Aunt Marilyn live at the other farm, so we would see him often...out mowing the yard, working in his garden, sitting on the porch, etc.  He turned 81 one over this past weekend, and celebrated his birthday with his grandson, who turned 12 just one day later.  He will be missed!

Uncle Ray and his grandson this past Sunday, celebrating their birthdays... (photo thanks to his wonderful daughter in law)

So...a lot has been happening here.  It would be nice if life would just slow down a little and we could take a deep breath.

If you figure out how to make that happen...let me know!

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...

What's Missing In This Picture?...

Yesterday morning the guys came to fill our silos, as planned.  What a beautiful day it was for chopping corn!

They started right around breakfast time, and had the first silo filled in what seemed like no time at all.  It takes about 12 loads to fill one of our 12' x 50' silos.

While they were chopping, I had a few errands to run, and when I came back I saw all the tractors and forage wagons lined up in the field.  I don't think they could have lined them up any more precisely if they'd tried...

However...there's something important missing from the picture.  What do you think it is?

Silo Filling 2014...

Last year at this time, our silos were all full, and fall was heading our way in a hurry.

This year we had a cool spring, so the corn was planted later than usual. So...we're about two weeks behind in harvesting, as compared to other years.  Usually it's the last week of August when the chopper pulls in. (here and here are some of last years' pics) We remember many times...waiting out front with the kids for the school bus, hearing the unmistakable whine of the chopper coming up the road.  We would hear him long before we saw him...

Last week we ran out of silage here at home.  We were expecting it, but it meant lining up the chopper to cut at least a couple of loads of corn so that the cows had some silage to eat.  Jim had been taking moisture samples, and the corn was borderline as far as being ready to chop.  (The ideal moisture for in our small silos is about 67%)  It's not always easy to get silage chopped at just the right time.  When using a custom harvester, you not only have to get the corn at the right time, but you also have to juggle around the schedules of several farmers, all who have the same goal in mind.

The plan was, since the moisture was borderline...to fill one silo and then pull out, planning to come back this week to fill the other silo here and also the one at the other farm.

*****

The chopper is a fascinating machine, at least to me.  It's quite intimidating, especially when you're this close in front of it!  You want to be sure that the guy in the cab knows you're there before getting close!

The sides are folded up here, for travel on the roads.

Jeff took some time to write out some bills while he sharpened the chopper blades...

In the center of the picture, you can see the knife sharpeners.  This was something new to me, and I can't explain how they work, but it was interesting to watch.  I climbed up in the cab and took this picture looking down from the top...

Once everyone was set up, they cut a couple of loads, taking off the outer rows of corn from this field.  I can finally see the neighbors again!  (This is something I look forward to every fall.  I don't like to feel isolated behind corn fields!)  Hmm...who left that mess of silage on the road?  Don't worry...we cleaned it up...

Still trying to decide if the corn was a little too green, Jim squeezed a handful of silage to see how much juice was there.  His hand came away pretty wet...

After much discussion, they decided to pull out and come back in a few days to finish up.  Too much moisture makes a lower quality silage, not to mention a lot of smelly, messy silo juice!  Gotta keep those ladies happy...good silage translates to more milk!  By waiting a few days, hopefully it will be just right going into the silo.

Those "few days" are almost past, and we're expecting to chop the rest of the corn tomorrow.

Filling the Last Silo...

What a beautiful day we had today!  The weather has turned from hot and humid...to cooler (upper 70's) with a nice breeze and low humidity.  Yes!!

The past few days were drying days, as far as the corn was concerned.  The field that was just a little too green to chop on Friday was begging to be chopped today.

Here is a short video of the first load going into the empty silo...

All afternoon as I was peeling peaches, I listened to the drone of the chopper out in the field, and the tractor and blower at the silo, as load after load was emptied into the last silo.  It's a good feeling to have that last silo full.  Around the end of September, we will top off all three silos with our late corn, and that will be the end of silage for this year.

Tomorrow, Jim will level the silage, and we'll spend a chunk of time setting up the unloaders, so he doesn't have to climb up and fork silage down into the cart each time he feeds.

Fall is definitely here!

Silo Filling Adventures...

It was a day of adventures here, with silo filling.

After getting rained out after starting the chopping at the other farm on Wednesday, the guys started up again this morning.

Adventure #1...just as Jim was getting ready to go over to the other farm this morning, he noticed that the fill pipe here at home...at the top of the silo (of course) was broken.  Not so great timing, but there were no options but to repair it.  Now.

It wasn't a "serious" break, but enough that it took more than one person to fix it, and required a service call.  Can you see the shiny section of the pipe at the top?  That's what needed to be replaced...

Jim's running a part to the top, for Tom, the repair man.  Thanks Tom, for dropping what you were doing on your busy day, and helping us out!  That's his silhouette at the top.

The full silage wagons are waiting for them to get finished.  I think it looks a little bit like they're planes, lined up on the runway, waiting to taxi and take off...

Adventure #2...while Jim and Tom were working on the fill pipe here at home, someone had to go to the other farm, climb the silo, and tell the guys who were unloading when it was full.  Had they filled it too full, the fill pipe there would have plugged up.  Not fun when that happens. So...guess who got to do that?  Yep...the one who is terrified of heights!  I climbed up the inside of the chute, and stood up on the top and gave them the thumbs up or thumbs down.  There's a large flat area surrounded by a railing at the top of that silo, but I was still shaking in my boots!  But...I survived!

At the end of the day, we have two full silos, and one left to fill next week. The corn here at home was still just a little green.  It would've been ok, had we continued, but in a few days it will hopefully be even better.  Two down, one to go!

(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!

Refill 2012...

It's been busy this week...

On Monday, we refilled the two silos here at home.   Jim had been trying to decide when the corn was at the right moisture level for chopping.  It's very difficult to know just when that is...he looks at the milk line on the kernels...he twists the stalk above the ear to see how much moisture is in the stalk...and sometimes takes a whole plant moisture sample by running it through the chopper and testing it.  Even so, it's not easy.

This is the field we chopped...

First, we put the silo unloaders up to the top of the silos.  We used this drill to wind it up...it takes much less time and muscle than doing it by hand!  That's the cable holding the unloader up, in the top right of this picture...

I hitched a ride in the chopper again.  I walked out while the first truck was unloading at the silo.  You can easily see the first round that the chopper has made...

For the first round in the field, the silage truck drives directly behind the chopper.  After that, he drives along side until he's full.  Then he goes to unload and another truck takes his place...

The view out the front of the chopper...

Looking down at the corn being pulled into the chopper.  You wouldn't want to be anywhere near those blades.  This chopper has a Kemper head on it...it's different than a conventional head, which has the snouts that go between the rows.  With this type of head, he can go any direction that he wants or needs to...

This load of silage, with preservative spread on top, is being uloaded into the silo...

Meanwhile, back at the barn, Jim is talking to Jeff (the guy running the chopper) about how many more loads he needs to fill the silos...

He is also deciding whether or not to refill the silo at the other farm at the same time, or to wait.

The silage we chopped ended up still being a little wetter than he wanted, so Jeff's planning to come back in a few days to finish up. He'll be back in the area anyway, and will catch us at the same time.


Getting ready to head out.  The sides of the chopper fold up for running on the road...

Never a dull moment around here.

Now for the rest of the week, it's off to the Lampeter Fair.  The baked goods were judged this morning, so there's a load off my plate.  Jenna shows her goats tomorrow, and the livestock sale is on Friday, so the fun is far from over.

Check back later for adventures at the fair!

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.

Silo Filling...2011...

Today was a busy day, to say the least!

Filling all three silos was on the agenda.  The two silos at home were ready to go...the unloaders were both raised and secured at the top, and all of the doors were fastened shut. The silo at the other farm was ready too.  There's no unloader to raise in that silo, but it's an old tile silo that is no longer airtight, so we installed a liner in it several years ago.  Each time we fill it, Jim has to patch the area in front of the doors...from top to bottom. 

Here, the chopper is opening up the field at home behind the barn.  The tractor and cart are on the right...the only part of the chopper you can see is the spout...

This afternoon, I climbed the silo.  NOT my favorite thing to do, but....how else was I to get a good picture?

The first picture is looking into the silo from the top.  You can see the silage blowing into the silo through the gooseneck at the top of the silo pipe.  The metal contraption you see in the center of the picture is the unloader, hanging at the top, out of the way of the silage.  And the circle you see at the top, is the roof...

This is the view from the platform at the top of the ladder between the two silos (inside a protective cage of sorts)  The white thing in the middle of the picture is the silo pipe.  It's attached to the blower at the bottom.  The silage is unloaded from the wagons into the blower, and blown forcefully, fifty feet up into the silo...

And...just for fun...a view across the fields looking over the barn roof...

Other than a few "hiccups", things went relatively well...

We are very glad to be finished filling silo!  The silage is a little wet...we're getting some juice at the bottom of the silos, but like I've said before...rather too wet than too dry!  And tomorrow, hurricane Irene is threatening with who knows how much rain.  That would have set us back several more days until the ground would be dry enough to get into the fields.

In a few weeks, we'll refill the silos...top them off one last time before the late corn is too dry.  The rest of the corn will be harvested dry...either shelled and grain banked, sold, or picked as ear corn for our corn crib.  I'd say we've earned our sleep tonight!