Silo for Saturday

[Not db4600]

 

[ss55]

The old and the new.

Across western Iowa and southern Minnesota fewer and fewer farms still raise livestock, most have switched to cash grain farming.

 

[valleview]

Where you have good land, it's simply too valuable to raise hay crops or pasture anymore. Plus no-one likes to be tied down with daily feeding chores. The only exception is the large confinement hog units and that's not really farming - it's ag business. Agriculture has sure changed over the last 50 years!

 

[TerryfromSWIowa]

Many harvestors sitting unused.

 

[Mark Poss]

Interesting setup for the hay doors on the big barn. I assume they are doors.

 

[INCase]

Interesting setup for the hay doors on the big barn. I assume they are doors.

i was thinking the same thing. look like doors but i would think they would be hard to close being on that angle. wonder what the purpose would be for that.... extend the hay trolley out further but keep the hay trolley out of the weather at the same time????

 

[Pete in MD]

I think the doors open INTO the loft with a rope and pulley set-up. I agree with your thought about extending the hay trolley.

 

[J Wendt]

They had cables that were attached to the middle and you hooked them to the hay trolley when done very simple and easy. They swung down and pulled up. Just tied off the hay rope.

 

[Pete in MD]

They had cables that were attached to the middle and you hooked them to the hay trolley when done very simple and easy. They swung down and pulled up. Just tied off the hay rope.

That's easier/better than the rope and pulley system I envisioned. How were the doors secured when not in use?

 

[J Wendt]

You just tied off the trolley rope, you didn't use for anything else but lifting the hay and keeping the doors shut. That's such a big barn and so well maintained, I wonder what they use it for. I had ours reshingled and repainted 15 years ago, all it does is hold junk and a few bales of straw and hay. My barn is not as straight as that one, it was a kit barn that came in on the railroad and dropped off in the pasture below the barn. I could build a nice hay shed for less than another shingle job. You can't afford to insure them to be replaced. My son or grandson is going to have to really want it to do it again.