Looking for silos but don’t know where to begin? Here’s a quick and easy guide on the kinds of grain silos.
Grains help feed the world, and silos help producers like you bring food to our plates. These iconic structures spot many farming areas’ landscapes allowing farmers to stow grain effectively.
Silos are those simple designs that don’t have many high-tech elements. But they need careful installation, operation, and maintenance.
A grain silo is a structure created to store materials in big sizes. They are usually tall and cylindrical and are assembled in the form of domes, warehouses, or large extended bags. They mainly hold seed, grain, or hay, silage harvested green, stowed, and left to ferment. This hay is used to provide livestock food or as a biofuel and is usually grass, alfalfa, sorghum, oats, or maize.
SILO TYPES
There are several types of Silos found in open areas. And they vary in use and how their structures are made. Here are some types of silos often seen:
TOWER SILO
These storage silos are cylindrical structures. They are generally about 10 to 90 ft (3 to 27 m) in diameter and can reach about 30 to 275 ft (10 to 90 m). They can be created from many materials – such as lumber staves, cast concrete, and steel panels.
Advantages of Tower Silos
- It tends to pack well due to its weight
- It guarantees lower storage losses
- Demands less area for building
- Permits greater mechanization during filling and feed out
Disadvantages
- You can experience a higher initial cost
- It empties more slowly
- Hay won’t be as moist in comparison to other silo types
BUNKER SILO
Bunker silos are channels, usually with concrete walls, filled and packed with tractors and loaders. Plastic tarps make the trench airtight.
Advantages of Bunker Silos
- It can hold a large capacity
- Farmers can fill bunker silos with conventional farm equipment
- Delivers faster unloading speeds
- Forage grade changes occur slowly if supplied using the progressive wedge
- It can be less expensiveIt is well-suited to extensive processes.
Disadvantages;
- However, the initial cost of installation can be higher
- It also needs more care in filling and packing
- It does not work for smaller herds
- Must be unloaded with a tractor and loader.
SILO BAGS
Bag silos are heavy plastic tubes. They are around 8 to 12 ft (2.4 to 3.6 m) in diameter and of varying height as required for the amount of material to be stored. They are packed using a machine made for the purpose and sealed on both ends.
Advantages
- Requires lower capital investment
- You can have a flexible storage system
- The feed can easily be inventoried
- Farmers can use it for small and large herds
- It has fewer safety and health risks
- Can have lower storage losses
Disadvantages
- There is a necessity for specialized equipment to function
- Plastic removal provides extra labor and environmental concerns
- Bags must stay intact; a compromised bag can result to complete loss
SILAGE PILES
A silage pile is constructed by unloading silage into an elevator and piling up the hay, much as a quarry piles sand or gravel.
Advantages;
- Inexpensive
- Suitable for short-term storage needs
Disadvantages;
- A large amount of exposed surface area
- The tremendous loss of dry matter during storage
- More difficult to pack
While tall tower silos still exist, the horizontal ones are more common. Vertical elevators are operated to fill silos; gravity is used to empty them in most cases. A machine called a drill hauls the grain to its next destination. It is critical to maintain the temperature and moisture of silos to preserve quality and stop contamination of the grain.
Silos are subject to uncommon stresses because of how it is loaded. Tremors, bursts, metallic corrosion, unequal soil pressure, and other elements can damage them and yield a silo to collapse. If that happens, people can lose their lives, and the failure may contaminate the silo’s grain and the environment.
Silo losses are often impulsive, and their collapse can damage surrounding structures. Although most concrete silos don’t need moisture sealing, water can seep through some silos.
Spraying the outside of a silo with moisture sealant eliminates this problem. Grain vacuums help workers remove grain from silos or compartments that don’t have drills or mechanical problems. These engines have hoses that suck grain from the silo into the unit.
VSM Technical Consultants provides solutions from customization to integration of Silos. We supply from concept, installation, and up to commissioning of each facility. We are ready to build your complete silo facility when you’re ready. You may also contact us for other concerns to inquire about silos installation and construction. Follow our Facebook Page for more details.