Delano Herald Journal

Serving the communities of Delano, Loretto, Montrose, MN, and the surrounding area

Myron Heuer Column 2/9/98



It used to be that if you saw a farm, you’d
see a silo.

The tall round tower of concrete and steel,
and even some wooden ones, are found on all farms, especially
if it’s a dairy farm. Inside the silo was chopped up corn, stalks
and all, which was then called silage.

The introduction of silos and silage allowed
farmers to keep larger herds in the wintertime at a lower cost
because silage was less expensive than dry feed grain. But there
were arguments against silage. Cows would lose their teeth, silage
would burn out their stomachs, calving would be difficult, and
silage would affect the quality of milk. Some even thought it
would make the cows drunk.

The first silo was built in 1880 near Oconomowoc,
Wisc., just down the road apiece from Watertown. Previously, corn
was stored in pits. The first silos were made of wood staves,
but eventually masonry replaced the staves. They were developed
around 1910, and some are still standing beside barns.

The familiar blue Harveststor silos, made of
fiberglass bonded to sheets of metal, made their appearance in
the ’40s. Harveststor, which cost more than concrete silos were
a mark of a farmer’s wealth and size of his operation. The company
also may have had some very good salesmen.

Many farms have several silos, masonry and
Harveststor. I saw a farm here in southeastern Wisconsin that
had five or six silos. Most were Harveststor. I didn’t go by this
farm, as it was in the distance. But I’d bet it was a huge dairy.

You see silos everywhere here in this part
of Wisconsin, for after all, this is “America’s dairyland”
as the auto license plates state.

So what’s new in silos? They’re going back
to the pit. And they’re storing it above ground. Trench silos
have been appearing on many farms. The trench is covered with
usually black plastic, held down with old tires.

An even simpler way to store silage is to blow
it into a plastic tube, usually white, that lies on the ground.
Front end loaders transport the silage from the pit to the feeding
area. So its back to the basics.

But whether it’s used or not, the silo will
be part of the landscape for a long time. I just heard the other
day that a Wisconsin farmer and his sons haul a lighted Christmas
tree to the top of their Harveststor. It’d be neat, if all silos
were decorated at Christmas time.

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