Greendale Farmer’s Silos

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31119, 23 July 1966, Page 10

Greendale Farmer’s Silos

Silos for bulk handling and storage of wheat should not involve a big outlay, a Greendale farmer said this week. And he pointed to four silos in his yard, built at an all-in cost of £125 each.

The silos were built by Mr I. W. Early, of Selwyn Terrace, over a span of two seasons. Each has a capacity of 30 tons.

Everything in the construction was made on the property, except for the roofs, which were cut and shaped by a city tinsmith. Each of the silos has five exterior metal bands made from 3in by l/Bin flat iron, with vertical members made of liin angle iron. When the siios were under construction, the corrugated iron and the bands were laid out flat, then stood on end, and drawn together for welding. Mr Early considers his method of fitting exterior bands round the silo to take the weight of the stored grain much more satisfactory than another method in which light metal bands are actually attached to the silo wall. He said that the five bands on each of his silos, as seen in the accompanying photograph, would take all the stress.

Mr Early’s silos require a minimum amount of manual labour for emptying, for the floors are conical shaped. In practice, the silos are selffeeding into the bin at the foot of tile auger filling the truck, until the flow tajers off when there are about six tons of wheat remaining. To complete the job a small auger is then pushed down a 6in metal tube fitted through the wall of the silo to the lowest point of the floor. The building of the floors

required three concreting operations .First the 2ft 6in bases were poured, and, later the interior was filled with boulders and a layer of concrete 2Jin thick laid. To complete the floors sheet polythene was laid (a precaution against dampness) over which netting was placed to hold the final layeT of concrete which, like the first, was shaped by hand. Bolts No bolts were used in the construction, apart from attaching the silos to the concrete base, but there are 1500 pipe rivets in each one. Taking all the materials into account, and valuing labour at 10s an hour, Mr Early assessed the cost of the silos at £125 each. With a 30-ton capacity, and taking advantage of the Is increment on wheat held till June, he pointed out that one of these would pay for itself in just two seasons. In addition there was the considerable saving in bags. Beside building his silos, Mr Early also built the framework for /his main aiiger. Built on a light motor chassis it can quickly be put into position or wheeled out of the way. To complete the set-up, electric lighting was installed in front of the silos. Electric power is also used to drive the augers. The machinery instructor for the Department of Agriculture at Christchurch (Mr C. J. Crosbie) said this week that conical floors were very suitable in areas where the drying of grain or seed was unlikely to be a problem. But in coastal and foothills areas farmers could strike moisture problems and might require drying facilities at some future, date.

With this in view, a silo with a flat floor could be con-

verted for drying much more easily. Of the exterior bands used by Mr Early, Mr Crosbie said that, in effect, Mr Early had used twice as much as he required. Mr Crosbie said the Ijin by 10 gauge galvanised metal strip recommended by his department was very suitable for silos of 15ft diameter and 12ft high. “Mr Early has used a heavier metal than I would recommend. I would presume he must have had it on hand when deciding to construct the silos,” he said. Useful Feature Mr Crosbie said the building of the Greendale silos in an arc was a useful feature, as this enabled them to be filled with the base of the auger in one position. With one silo filled, the auger need only be traversed sideways to begin filling the others. There need only be one unloading position for the truck.