Jay NE Ohio - 6/5/2024 12:19
CanadianCowMan - 6/5/2024 09:16
How would the price to build this silo compare to a concrete bunker that would hold a similar amount? It would be ideal for my small dairy herd of 35-40 cows but nobody in our area would know anything about silos, blowers and unloaders. All knowledge and parts would have to come from quite a distance.
This silo should hold 2500 ton. If you go to this website, you can see what combination of bunkers it would take to hold 2500 ton:
https://wieserconcrete.com/product/bunker-silo/
For simplicity, lets look at one 64' wide by 144' long by 12' high bunker.
Need two walls. 144'x12'x12inches each. Total 128 yards concrete
Need a floor. 66'x144'x6 inches. 176 yards concrete.
304 yards concrete at $170 per yard= $51,680.
My silo is 264 yards = $44,880.
About $7k less concrete for the silo.
It only takes up 900 square feet of space where the bunker would take up 9500 square feet. That is almost a quarter acre for the bunker! Plus you would probably need an apron on each end.
Also need to add on excavating cost for that quarter acre because we are not flat here. I dug the footer for my silo in about 8 hours with a mini.
Then you have plastic cost every year. And tires to hold the plastic. And fuel for packing. And you will probably want a defacer. You probably already have a loader, but you will be adding hours to that loader every day.
And most people forget about the spoilage. Lets figure 10% for bunker vs. 5% for silo. That would be 125 ton per year extra loss with a bunker. $60 per ton is $7500 every year!
30x100 silo going up
