Miniature Harvestore Silo Stands Just 15 Ft. High

Miniature Harvestore Silo Stands Just 15 Ft High CROP STORAGE Silos 50 “Everyone who sees it says it’s the cutest thing they’ve ever seen I’m happy with how it turned out ” says Nathan Braunschweig Lomira Wis about the miniature sealed silo he made out of 3 used Harvestore silo panels He uses the mini silo to store feed for the 150 chickens he keeps on his farm The 3 Harvestore panels measured 5 ft high and were 9 ft long before they were rolled into shape The structure stands 15 ft high and is just 36 in in dia It weighs about 1 500 lbs and sets on a 4-ft sq 10-in thick concrete pad next to his chicken coop The silo holds about 2 tons of cracked corn or oats Braunschweig runs the grain through his home-built feed mill previously featured in FARM SHOW Vol 34 No 3 The silo is fitted with its own filling system which includes a pipe and a homemade gooseneck-shaped filler tube on top It has a V-shaped floor with an auger underneath that delivers feed into a large rubber dish which serves as a feed tray for the chickens “It’s just a smaller version of the bigger Harvestore silos that stand on our farm I fill it exactly like you’d fill a regular Harvestore ” says Braunschweig “I use a built-in blower on my feed mill to deliver feed up the filling pipe on the outside of the silo It works so well that I plan to build another one just like it ” Braunschweig got the used Harvestore silo panels and silo bolts from a silo dealer he used to work for The company supplies new and used parts for Harvestore silos and unloaders and also tears down old silos and rebuilds them for sale “The panels had been removed from the top of a silo and could no longer be used for silage because acid had pitted the panels’ glass lining which would let in oxygen and spoil the feed ” says Braunschweig “However I knew the condition of the glass lining wouldn’t matter for grain so I asked if I could have them I had a local fabrication shop roll the panels end to end and then bolted them together ” One problem is that feed sometimes tends to plug up in the floor’s opening “My feed mill is designed to turn the grain into a powder so when I blow ground oats into the silo it really packs down and can hang up I plan to replace the V-shaped floor with a flat floor and build a miniature unloading auger like the ones that Harvestore uses ” says Braunschweig He used 3/16-in thick steel to build the cone-shaped roof and cut a hatch into it “The roof is the same thickness as the Harvestore panels so this silo will be around for a long time ” he notes Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Nathan Braunschweig W183 Super Drive Lomira Wis 53048 ph 920 904-0993

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