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harvestores

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pafreehling

12-12-2006 15:31:08

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I really appreciate all the replies for my top unload harvestore conversion. I had always heard that bottom unloaders were a death trap and the unloaders were a maint. nightmare. Any experience with bottom unloders would be helpful as all we have is 2- 10"x30" staves. Silage forks would teach some of these young kids what work is!

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Blue3992 (N Illinois)

12-13-2006 09:36:16

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Re: harvestores in reply to pafreehling, 12-12-2006 15:31:08

For those of us who haven't been around farming too much, could someone explain what the deal is with those big silos?

I assume you're talking about the big blue ones that say (Harvestore) on them. I've seen them here and there around the countryside.

How did the unloaders work? What was so bad about them? Why was it better than a regular old silo? Whay were they called blue tombstones?

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paul

12-12-2006 21:46:16

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Re: harvestores in reply to pafreehling, 12-12-2006 15:31:08

Fellows used to have Harvestor movers around here. Would think you could still find some around. They back up to a silo, tilt up & strap on a frame, unbolt the bottom, tilt it down & haul. I know they could handle 40', maybe up to 60' with permits. If you want one, that would be the way to go, lots cheaper than redoing all those bolts.

Never used one, but you got to be fanatical about the air tight stuff, and the bottom unloader stuff needs to be like new every year - you are stuck if something breaks.

Top unloaders aren't much better. Lots of repairs.

Plastic bags were popular 'here' for 5 years. Then the hassle factor showed up, and now concrete bunkers are the way to go. With the old bag machine around to handle excess capacity.

Last upright silo that went up around 'here' was in the mid 1980s.

--->Paul

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RodInNS

12-12-2006 20:28:16

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Re: harvestores in reply to pafreehling, 12-12-2006 15:31:08

For my own part, I'll stay with bunkers. I can unload them with any one of 2 or 3 loaders I've got around. It's not that I don't see advantages to the Harvestore's, or stave silos for that matter; it's just that the disadvantages seem greater to me. The one thing that always comes to my mind, relating to dairy barn equipment in general, is that's it's almost always poorly maintained. It doesn't matter if it's a top unloader, bottom unloader, or skid steer unloader. They're all the same. They all break. And we use all of them every day, have little or no time to fix them or maintain them, and they will all break. Choose you pleasure. I'd rather feed with another tractor loader until I fix the skid steer. That's not to mention that I do a lot of other work with the skid steer. I'd say if you don't mind spending some time and money to maintain the unloaders properly, and keep them in shape, then you'll get along fine, top or bottom. If you don't, then you're probably better off clear of them. Both. I'll be straight and say I don't like working on anything in or near a barn, so I'll keep the bunkers....

Rod

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pafreehling

12-12-2006 20:37:36

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Re: harvestores in reply to RodInNS, 12-12-2006 20:28:16

Yeah, we also have a bobcat, payloader, 4wd hoe and a tractor loader which for redundancy is great. I had looked at bags and some sort of bunker setup and one issue that ruins them both is spoilage risk. We are also on low ground and the mud is always a problem. Maybe I should just refinish our 10x30 staves but then I am back to carrying silage after I fork it down and it costs lots to fix them anyway.

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farmerboy

12-12-2006 19:32:59

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Re: harvestores in reply to pafreehling, 12-12-2006 15:31:08

Stave silos can be taken down and rebuilt. Most guys will about give them away but it'll still cost you about 3/4 of new by the time you take down and put back up. I've heard of guys taking 2 or 3 down by breaking out the bottom staves and running when it starts to tip. That would save alot on take-down. They then take all the staves that didn't break and make one good one. Problem would be finding the EXACT same staves in 3 silos. Another problem would be getting the roof down first. If you're looking to only go 20-30 feet, one 60-80 footer would pry yield enough staves. I've also heard of guys filling the silo one last time and throwing down the staves as they feed off it. That pry wouldn't be much of an option on an abandoned farmstead where most are sitting. It would also require hand unloading as you'd be removing the cable system with the first line of staves.

I don't know if 25 foot high would be worth the effort. I'd go 60 - 80 if I were building a silo. Our 90 footer is a bear to fill. Those last 10 feet take ALOT of HP. Our 4430 wouldn't do it but our 1486 would. The 1486 had a few more RPMs.

The Harvestores we had were pretty much trouble free vs. what has been said previously - no leaks, no unloader probs. Our Goliath unloader didn't give us any trouble, really. It was just slow. Had we been on TMR, it woulda been painfully slow. The feed quality was always good.

Good luck whatever you do.

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Illinois Farmall

12-12-2006 17:42:05

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Re: harvestores in reply to pafreehling, 12-12-2006 15:31:08

Ahhh.....silage forks! Do I ever remember those days. Climbing to the top of the silo.....forking out enough feed for the cows after milking.....climbing back down and THEN spreading the silage out along the length of the feed bunk. I have to admit tho I still love the smell of silage!

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BarryfromIA

12-13-2006 17:38:19

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Re: harvestores in reply to Illinois Farmall, 12-12-2006 17:42:05

I have heard of people throwing down to much silage and filling the chute to where they could not get out the bottom. I have also heard of carrying silage back up the chute so they could get out. We never had an upright, but we had a pit.

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Don-Wi

12-12-2006 22:39:40

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Re: harvestores in reply to Illinois Farmall, 12-12-2006 17:42:05

Well, if ya really want ot bring back some memories, you can always stop by and throw out a day's worth of feed. We've got 2 silos, one concrete stave silo that's about 16x34, and another old concrete one that I think is a 12x32.

Try to only keep corn in them, and if we do put any kind of haylage in them we are sure to have it out before we fill with corn again. When we do it right, we only go about 1-2 weeks without corn silage.

Donovan from Wisconsin

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msb

12-12-2006 19:53:38

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Re: harvestores in reply to Illinois Farmall, 12-12-2006 17:42:05

And carrying up a coaloil lantern with you to see by?An everyday chore after school on a central Indiana dairy farm for a boy of ten.

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shawnspeed3

12-12-2006 17:36:10

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Re: harvestores in reply to pafreehling, 12-12-2006 15:31:08

That's why we call 'em bankrupcy tubes around here..

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pafreehling

12-12-2006 17:50:28

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Re: harvestores in reply to shawnspeed3, 12-12-2006 17:36:10

Yeah, I know what I read about the mess in the later years especially with the lawsuits and know some people who ended thier farm carreers because of them. My use is for silge but again, I am only planning 20 or 25 footers-smallest diam. for my not so huge dairy beef operation. So I am either looking for used harvestores already down or staves is it can be done. We only have 2 10 foot diam. silos right now and they are very old.

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Glen in TX

12-12-2006 16:03:37

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Re: harvestores in reply to pafreehling, 12-12-2006 15:31:08

Harvestore became a very BAD word here and in many areas because of poor service, bankrupt dealers and bad sealing of silos. Many lawsuits and BS and no one won anything but plenty got stung hard by dealers and the company. We ran them for years and hey there were great in their day and when new and service help was available. Later when parts for bottom unloaders became hard to get or outrageous in price and silos leaked bad they became the blue tombstones. We sent the unloaders off for scrap metal and I never want to see another one. It felt really good to dump off that dang unloader at the scrap yard and never see it again lol. There was a company selling aftermarket parts for unloaders but still high on prices. That's why see those long white bags on ground now or bunker silos instead.

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pafreehling

12-12-2006 17:04:07

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Re: harvestores in reply to Glen in TX, 12-12-2006 16:03:37

So, if you had doors and a chute with a top unloader would this have made a difference or would you rather have a stave? Either way, small harvestore or stave I will put it up myself but I am trying to talk with experience and not just opinions on what works best. Bags are a mess and a daily chore with summer spoilage an unknown. I would rather work on an unloader than work on a loader or bobcat myself.
Thanks for the info!

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Glen in TX

12-12-2006 17:24:24

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Re: harvestores in reply to pafreehling, 12-12-2006 17:04:07

Bottom loader, top loader, silo, conveyors, augers, brush or paddle feeders, bobcat loader, feedtruck all take constant maintainance. That's the thing about more machinery to feed with is you have to always do it yourself. Can't hire anyone to service or operate it right when you can't be there or you wind up spending more money and won't make anything feeding. Hard for little guy to pay for all high cost machinery and compete with the big commercial feeders on price of feed per gain yet it can be done. You can take better care of them yourself and make it work but you need excellent help and no less. What I told you before was from experience with 4 of those $$$$%@*&! blue things and not just an opinion!

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pafreehling

12-12-2006 17:45:16

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Re: harvestores in reply to Glen in TX, 12-12-2006 17:24:24

Hey I did say opinion to offend you. Sorry, I really do appreciate the advice. I have put up lots of grain bins and thought harv's at 20 or 25 foot high would be achievable instead of erecting a stave silo. Labor is so high here in michigan I have learned how to do lots with nothing. I do not care about unloader rates as this cattle is the only sane time I get all day. As for staves, ours are only 10' diam and hand unloaders when they are not frozen solid! New staves are too much money and I do not know if used is even an option. I grew up with dairy and beef, did 2 tours in the persian gulf and now I am trying to fix stuff we always got by with. Again, I hope I did not offend you!

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Glen in TX

12-12-2006 19:18:15

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Re: harvestores in reply to pafreehling, 12-12-2006 17:45:16

No offense taken. Everyone is just trying to warn you for your own good that those blue things can real money pits. Just don't let some slick dealer talk you into that hole. Their old and got to be taken completely apart and cleaned real good and put back together with sealer and NO leaks, new air bags, gaskets and on and on. So yeah I can see why going with a top loader instead and cutting holes in side but it all still adds up. You'll probably never see any moved or used again in this area so come get em! lol. No one would miss them.

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pafreehling

12-12-2006 19:28:51

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Re: harvestores in reply to Glen in TX, 12-12-2006 19:18:15

Thanks for the information. I guess since I have several months I need to look into what it takes to put up a samll stave silo. For a 12x30 up here, new was like 12,500 without the unloader. Seems like lot but maybe I am too cheap.

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Aowner

12-12-2006 16:39:40

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Re: harvestores in reply to Glen in TX, 12-12-2006 16:03:37

Jusst about every one I know that installed one have either gone bankrupt or out of business.

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