Abandoned concrete grain silos

[caver]

You see these and some look in good shape, just neglected. Often the roof is gone. I've seen some made of brick. Why did these fall out of favor?
I was driving to work today and seeing one jogged my memory.

 

[300UGUY]

Sorry you had to work today. I've seen some that have not been used in the 50 years that I have driven by them.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Scale of the farm is one of the big reasons. When they came up with the idea for bunkers to store sileage and haylage it became a lot easier and faster to store in a bunker compared to a silo. If you needed to add another load and your silo was full your were SOL or using bags. With a bunker you just build the pile higher (within reason that is). Also, bunkers are a lot safer then silos. Its a shame in one aspect because we all associate a dairy farm with a nice silo but a modern dairy farm just doesn't look anything like the old picture perfect farms we grew up around.

 

[slowzuki]

There are still lots of active silos, but they are falling out of favour fast and most are large steel hoop structures. I've heard of some converted into manure storage or other storage too.

Like Robert said, in a big operation the bunker or pit is king. What, maybe 10 times faster to build, can grab with loader to feed it out and costs a fraction of a silo to build.

 

[deere755]

In my area they are not used and sitting idle because cattle are no longer a part of the farm. Most everything in my area is strictly grain farms. A few of the Amish still use them but that is about it. I have a friens who uses his to store grain in. They were there so he took advantage of them instead of building a new grain bin.

 

[studor]

Around here they call them tombstones cause by the time you are finished paying for one you can use it to mark your final resting spot -- as Robert said it's all bunkers now - same thing with manure -- used to be a pile, now its a pond:ashamed:

 

[forgeblast]

We had a few guys near us build a house connected to them, it gave the house a castle feel.
Make one heck of a deer stand. (LOL)

 

[bearhawk]

I stayed in a hotel made from a row of silo's when I was working out in CA. I think it was a LaQuinta, I remember the rooms being quiet

 

[caver]

Thanks for the feedback.:thumbsup:

 

[Taylortractornut]

I have a friend that had one that was taken down. He made retaining walls from the staves, made a pool from the base, and one that was half taken down made into a guest house.