Relocating Grain Silos, help!

[Alexz7272]

@NH homesteader Sooooo much better and cheaper!

 

[NH homesteader]

Yeah we go through 6 tons in a winter... Would be awesome to have a silo!

 

[Alexz7272]

Is that your main heat source?

 

[NH homesteader]

Yes it's our only heat source. We have an outdoor pellet boiler. And NH is really cold, lol

 

[farmerjan]

Our silos hold about 10 tons (as suggested by the local feed mill). We've found its cheaper to get larger amounts and I was getting tired of picking up 50# bags 2 times a week to feed everyone. We opted for a forage extender for the sheep, goats and alpacas as a supplement. The second one will hold wood pellets for the pellet stove. SOOO much cheaper to get it bulk (not up front). Here in Colorado, it is much easier to keep feed then in wetter environments. Where I am, it stays dry pretty much all year.

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I would be careful of ordering 10 ton to start as they look more like they are 6-7 ton bins. Maybe they are bigger around than i think; we moved the last 2 we got on our 24 ft flat bed trailer, legs left on and the one will hold 4- 4 1/2 tons and the other holds a bit over 6 ton. We figure no more than 2 ton per "section" and max of 1 ton in the neck. Granted they do come in different diameters, but there would be nothing worse than ordering 10 ton and only being able to fit 6 ton. I am not trying to be negative, just wanted to give you a heads up as to what we have found.
One tip, that we did; instead of pouring concrete to set the legs on, we went and put "cross ties" so to speak on the bottoms. It's heavy iron, maybe a small size I beam type, I can't remember, it's been several years; and bolted them on. 1 on each side front to back, then 1 on each side , side to side, under the front to back ones. It gets them up high enough to get a 5 gal bucket under them and they didn't have to be put exactly in place and we can move them if we need to and don't have to worry about any prep work. We haven't had any problem with them that way.
Keeping wood pellets in them is a great idea.
@greybeard we get out dried distillers in the super sacks for when we are grinding corn to add the protein and some alfalfa hay, to use as feed in the barn when we have calves in on feed. Gotta have a tractor with a loader big enough to unload them. We hold them up high enough to run it into the hopper with an improvised chute so have to use the big JD with the front end loader. If you are going to take it out of the top and not the bottom like we do then it's not as critical. The other problem we have encountered is the D****d ground hogs will tear holes in them and then it gets spilled. We trap and shoot them but they are a pain.... Like now when we are keeping back a bunch of heifers until after the first of the year, waiting to see if prices will improve much. With the drought conditions south of here, we are hearing that some farmers may have to cut back and sell more because now there are problems with water, let alone already feeding hay, and some didn't make alot due to the dry conditions this summer. It is getting quite dry here, the only saving grace is that we've had frost and it is getting colder so few active growing crops to need the water.