A TEMPORARY SILO

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21216, 10 December 1938, Page 15

A TEMPORARY SILO

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN PLAN NETTING AND PAPER USED Silos made from paper reinforced by wire-netting are said to be giving satisfactory service at the Northfield Farm, controlled by the Inspector-General of Hospitals, South Australia. The manager of the farm, Mr McAuliffe, describes the construction of the silos as follows: In the first place, the ground on which the silo is to be built is made absolutely level to save the side strain which would result from even a slight lean when the silo was full of material. The most successful size for a paper silo is 18ft in diameter. Eight poles, 22ft long, are set round the circumference and let into the ground 3ft. The poles are first encircled with No. 10 guage pig netting to a height of sft, and to this is attached tough paper. This section is filled with chaffed material blown from the cutter into the silo, when another section of wire and paper is added and the same procedure adopted until the top of the poles Is reached. To fill one section and allow this to heat and settle down before adding a further section and material on top is considered best by Mr McAuliffe, who states that this practice results in excellent ensilage. The cost of erecting such a silo, without allowance for labour, was given by Mi- McAuliffe at about £l2, which, on the capacity of 50 tons, was approximately 5/- per ton. One considerable advantage, apart from its low cost, of this temporary silo, is that the poles and netting can be used in following years in other paddocks in which it is desired to make ensilage. The paper, most probably, would require to be renewed each year. It should be quite feasible to fill the silo and make satisfactory ensilage from unchaffed material if it were evenly packed.