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South-central Nebraska | Harvestores are airtight structures which utlize breathers and bags kind of like lungs to compensate for temperature changes - expansion. They are intended to hold silage, halage and wet corn. We normally started chopping silage at about 30% moisture for the corn. Dry matter was 30-40 % I suppose. If it was wetter it would cake up and literally have juice seeping out and gushing out the feeder door.
The diameters available were 20, 25 and 30 ft with increments of 5 feet. The largest model, a 30 x 90 held close to 50K bushels. Our largest are two 25 x 85 which hold 33-34K each. The structures are steel panels lined with blue fiberglass on both the inside and out. They were built from the bottom starting with the roof and jacked up ring by ring (I think). The bottom rings obviously are thicker and heavier. The bottom concrete went into the ground 6 or 8 feet plus was a few feet above ground acting as a giant weight to hold them steady and upright.
The feeders, we have Goliath silage unloaders, were efficient but COULD be high maintenance. We had two belt feeders, one 90 feet long and one 240 feet long in a confined, open front cattle barn. We never had feed loss due to spoilage and at the time the wet corn was run through a roller mill and thought to be a better feed conversion than dry corn. Didn't need a tractor and bunk feeder/mixer.
Still use the structures for dry corn and beans. Two have aeration floors, fans and vents. We are in the final weeks of emptying the one 25x85 of corn silage that was chopped 9 years ago. The feed is as perfect as the day it went in. We will probably convert this one to dry storage as soon as it is empty. I'm considering using a smaller 20x50 with 11500 bu capacity as a wet holding bin for the dryer. They do make cone bottoms for these, don't know the cost.
Grandpa (age 97 and still living) swears by them and always did. Said he made money feeding cattle with this system and sold lots of wet corn to smaller dairies in the area for a premium. My dad and I gave up feeding cattle at full capacity a few years back and I decided to quit completely when he passed away 4 years ago. Just custom feeding some replacement heifers for a neighbor until the feed is gone. So from then on, the structures will only be grain storage.
The Harvestore boom was a huge social event at the time. Tours and trips were going on all year long. We had hats, coolers, glasses, tools etc etc with the logo on it. Then things changed. | |
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Why hasn't someone reinvented a use for Harvestores?
