Elevator Conversion Makes Silo Filling Easier

Elevator Conversion Makes Silo Filling Easier SILOS Silos 31-1-33 Milton Ruppert, Nokomis, Ill., modified an old ear corn elevator so it can be used to load bagged silage into a silo blower to fill a stave silo. He did the work for his son-in-law Roger Bauman, a dairyman. One end of the elevator is fitted with an 8-ft. long wooden hopper. Bauman uses his skid loader or tractor scoop to move silage from a sausage-type storage bag into the elevator to fill up the silo. An automatic feed bunk system feeds silage in the silo to Roger's cattle. "It saves Roger a lot of time, because he can load enough silage into the silo so he doesn't have to go out every day," says Milton. The elevator faces backward and its bottom "drive" end is raised just enough to unload silage into the blower. Its drive chain is operated by an orbit motor. The same tractor that operates the silo blower is also used to operate the orbit motor. A valve is used to control the motor's speed. He started with a 40-ft. long elevator and cut 15 ft. off one end. He removed the chain and reversed it so that the chain drives from the bottom end of the elevator, powered by an orbit motor. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Milton Ruppert, 555 S. Spruce, Nokomis, Ill. 62075 (ph 217 563-7768).

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