Robert Slattery's neighbors can't figure out why he hasn't put a chute on the silo he built last May. But Slattery, a dairy farmer near Rudolph, Wis., can't figure out why anyone thinks their silo needs a chute.

Slattery and his son, Matt, put up a 20 by 70-ft. concrete stave silo. Unlike conventional silos, this silo has no chute and no separate ladder next to its blower pipe. Instead, they built the blower pipe just to the left of the row of doors, which are protected by a cage.

"The key to making this design work is a top unloading, bottom discharging distributor-unloader. It's more expensive than a conventional silo unloader, but saving the cost of the chute and ladder made it affordable," says Slattery, noting that chutes are the source of many silo problems. "Farmers trapped in silo chutes can be poisoned by silo gas. With this silo, there's no place for gas to collect. Doors on conventional silos often freeze shut. That's less likely to happen on this silo because the sun can shine on the doors. It's easier to service the silo unloader because the doors let in a lot of light. And the person on the ground can see what the person at the top of the silo is doing, and each can hear the other."

As the silo is filled, the unloader-distributor, which is at the bottom of the silo, raises itself and forms a 19-in. dia. hole through the haylage at the center of the silo. It also levels the silage.

To empty the silo, Slattery reverses the motor. It augers silage to the center and drops it through the hole.