(P.E. MASS.) New Ashford, Massachusetts 01237
Silos in those days were built inside the barn; they were about
8 x 8 or 10 x 10 square and of a vertical plank construction
extending from ground level through first floor and loft placed so
as to obtain all the height possible. They were filled by a chain
type elevator; if one looks real close part of the chain can be
corners then someone came up with the idea of planking across each
corner forming an octagon, then this developed into the stave type
circular silo constructed outside of the barn as we knew them.
However, they are now becoming obsolete for silage can now be
stored in earth trenches or between long parallel plank walls and
in some areas just piled on the ground and covered with plastic
sheeting anchored by old tires. As a teenager I put in many days
cutting corn and helping to fill silos. Stalks were first cut by
hand and just left in small loose bundles for loading crosswise and
horse drawn hay racks. Then horse drawn corn harvesters that cut
and tied about 10 stalks in a bundle came in, but the bundles were
heavy and one could not put many bundles on a wagon for fear of
overloading; also the cutter and blower came on the market. Care
was necessary when feeding bundles through the ensilage cutter and
blower, for it was easy to plug and stall any gas engine or small
tractor.. However, the larger tractors could easily handle the
average size ensilage cutter and blower.
It was not long before many different makes of ensilage cutters
and blowers belted to various makes of tractors appeared. One that
stays in mind was the ‘Blizzard.’ I cannot recall who made
them, some were more or less self feeders having a movable
continuous wood slat type belt that fed the bundles to the cutter;
however, someone had to stand by to keep everything going.
Every farmer used whatever tractor was available for belt power.
I worked on one that used a 2 ton HOLT Caterpillar belted to a
medium size ensilage cutter that did a good job, another had a
15-30 McCormick Deering that easily handled the job. Numerous
Fordsons were used and they had difficulty at times. One fellow
used an old Steel Mule right up to the time the field choppers came
in. Now the silage is cut in the field, blown into wagons dumped on
the site and stacked or placed by bulldozers. When used for feeding
it is loaded by front end loaders and fed to cattle by automatic
feeders.
Today most of the large steel silos we see are in effect a large
thermos vacuum bottle which stores ground corn only which looks and
actually tastes like cornmeal. The ears are harvested by a two or
more row corn harvester, ground, cobs and all and blown into the
silo. It keeps fresh for a season if outside air is not allowed to
enter, all this makes one wonder what is next.
We already have milk factories where a large number of dairy
cows are held on a few acres and just fed and milked; dry powdered
milk is also here. I wonder if imitation or machine made milk is in
the picture.
