Ode To Our Silage Conveyor

The chain is a pain when it stretches in the rain

--My Fair Conveyor

 We have silage conveyors that carry the silage from the silos to a long feed trough that all the cows eat from. Unfortunately, one of them has been giving trouble lately. Last week we had a downpour that washed all the oil off the of the drive chain for our longest conveyor. It began to slip. And jump the cogs. No matter what we did.

Bad stretchy chain

In order to feed we eventually had to replace the chain with a new piece that we cut to length and installed.

Over the weekend the wide belt that carries the silage began slipping on the drive roller. The good news was that we had a replacement waiting to go in, but it still meant installing it.Yesterday we took it upon ourselves to replace the roller. We hoped to loosen the belt enough that we could slip it out the front, but in the end we had to cut the belt apart and remove the roller.

The roller fits on the end and the belt wraps up and around it

Next we attached new lacing to the belt and put it back together. Hurrah, for a long job to be finally finished! Hopefully, the conveyor will run well through the winter now and we'll have happy cows instead of hungry ones.

First Hay Bales

The weather has definitely been different this year. There is only so much you can do on the farm until the conditions are right. Case in point: chopping. Normally we are chopping our wheat, rye, and ryegrass for the cows to eat sometime after the middle of April. So far it has been too wet to do anything. 

We had about eight inches of rain in less than two weeks plus all the extra rain we'd gotten before that. The weather has also been mild here. I know this because the kids and I have had discussions that went on too long about wearing shorts to school.

In the meantime the silage we have in our silos is getting low. We have been able to chop a little without getting stuck, just enough to put on a wagon to feed as green chop, that is immediate feeding without letting it go through a fermentation process in the silo. The wheat and such is holding on to the water so much that our mower and chopper can hardly cut it.

First Round Bale of Hay

To solve that problem I actually ran the tedder and rake over it trying to get it dry enough, but not too dry, that we could get it to go through the chopper. Some of it that got too dry made the first hay bales of the year.

Many jokes around here have been made about how the preachers can stop praying for rain for the drought we endured last year. Things are looking up. Yesterday was the nicest day we've had with sunshine all day long and the ground is finally drying up. Hopefully chopping will begin in earnest very soon!

Wordless Wednesday: Inside Looking Out

Curious George the Cat and The Man in the Farm Hat

 This is George. He was a good little cat and always very curious.

George the cat

Today George decided to go exploring. George loved to go exploring. He saw a silage wagon and climbed inside to look around.  George was having fun walking on the soft silage until he heard the man in the farm hat start the tractor to unload the silage. Poor George was scared and wanted to find a way out, but he could not remember how he got into the wagon. 

Luckily for George, the man in the farm hat saw the little cat and turned off the tractor. He went to the front of the wagon and called for George. The curious cat was glad to hear the man in the farm hat's voice and quickly came to him.

George climbed into the man in the farm hat's hands and jumped onto the ground. He was glad to be where it was safe. The man in the farm hat was glad George was safe as well and hoped the curious cat would stay out of trouble for at least a little while.

Blue Skies

Wordless Wed: Yesterday's Last Load

End of the Season

Everyone has different signs they notice for the ending of the summer season.  Grateful moms might be delighted by the beginning of school.  Big and little boys might be anticipating the coming of college and high school football.  Here on the farm I always make a connection with the beginning of our silage harvest.

This year we have three fields of corn, and one each of sudan sorghum and pearl millet. We've already got our chopper and wagons out.  We had to change a bearing on one of the wagons that went out on the last day of chopping this spring.  After greasing all the machinery and checking the air in the tires we went to the field for a trial run.

Tomorrow we'll be raising the silo unloader and getting the blower ready.  The silage we harvest now will feed our cows through the winter, and if we're really lucky, until the end of spring.  The cows are eating this spring's wheat right now, and I'm sure they'll be glad to chomp into some new feed.

Filling the Silos

Harvesting our wheat, rye, and ryegrass for silage has been sometimes slow going for us this year.  Intermittent rain keeps us starting and stopping.  When it rains too much the silage is too wet to put up and the fields are too muddy.  When the weather is cooperative a lot can be accomplished.

Silo Unloader Raised to the Top

The first thing we have to do to get started is raise the silo unloader up to the top of the silo.  This is the machine that throws out the silage when we are ready to feed. 

During this time we'll also be out in the fields mowing our crop down and letting it cure out some before we start chopping and filling up the wagons.

The wagons are then unloaded one at a time and blown into the silo.

Finally we will let the silo unloader back down again and turn it on to feed those hungry cows!