Silo cap solution

As if county fairs aren’t eventful enough for families who exhibit dairy cattle, our county fair this year was extra eventful.

First, we had to evacuate our fairgrounds on check-in day due to an incoming storm. The storm looked worse on the radar than it ended up being, so we were able to return a couple hours later to resume check-in.

Then, a couple days later, a storm came through that drenched the fairgrounds and formed a tornado a few miles to the east. The twister passed through Melrose, a couple miles southwest of our farm, and left a path of serious wreckage. The turbulence surrounding the tornado was enough to take down a couple trees in our yard and take the fiberglass cap off our big stave silo.

As soon as we discovered the gaping hole in our silo roof, Glen called a silo company. They said they could replace the cap. With time, labor, and the cap itself, their estimate for the repair was $3,000.

“What?” I asked.

I completely understand that costs have risen. Equipment, parts, labor, insurance – everything costs significantly more now than it did just five years ago. Still, does it really cost $3,000 to replace a silo cap?

If you don’t want to read any further, the answer is: No. A silo cap can be replaced for much less than $3,000. You just need a little time, muscle power, and ingenuity. We have plenty of those three things.

Glen called another company that sells silo parts, but doesn’t provide silo service. The said they could order us a new silo cap for $195.00. We put the order in and Glen devised a plan: As soon as corn silage is chopped and the silo is filled, we’ll do it ourselves.

The next thing Glen ordered was a $50 safety harness. Then he braided a couple pieces of twine from a big square bale together to make a safety rope.

I’ve supported crazy ideas in the past, but this?

“Hey, this twine is rated for 550 pounds,” he reassured me.

We filled the silo two weeks ago, so this past weekend Operation Silo Cap commenced. On Saturday afternoon, after running the silo blower, Glen and Dan hauled our 12-foot aluminum ladder up the outside of the silo and slid it into the silo through the observation door. Then they pulled the new silo cap up, with Dan inside the silo pulling on the rope and Glen guiding the rope from the filling platform.

Once they got the new cap hoisted to the top of the silo, they decided it was too windy to continue with installation. You don’t realize how much more wind there is 70 feet up in the air versus at ground level. They secured the silo cap to the ladder and called it a day.

Thankfully, the wind stilled on Sunday. After morning chores, Glen and Dan turned on the silo blower and climbed back up the silo to resume.

For this phase, they set the ladder on the silo unloader, extended it, and tied the top to the silo cable, so Glen could reach the top of the silo dome. From there, Glen guided the new cap into place while Dan pulled on the rope. The next part is where the safety harness came in clutch. Glen needed both hands to fasten the new cap to the frame, so he first attached his safety harness to the silo cable with the carabiner clip.

Once the cap was fastened, all that was left was clean up. Apparently, it took a bit more effort to get the ladder back out of the silo, due to the angle of the roof. (Kind of like the owl who got stuck in our silo after it realized too late that getting in is much easier than getting out.)

Once they were finished, it was high-fives all around. You should have seen their smiles of success.

Anyway, that is how you replace a silo cap for much less than $3,000.

Moral of the story: It’s amazing what a farmer can accomplish with a little time, muscle power, and ingenuity.