MAJOR Farm Changes in 2024 | Quit Using Bunker Silos? 

Wishing you the best in your quest to find the best feeding systems for your operation. America needs successful dairy operators!

My first thought was , "Oh, no, what about Eric's office?" And my second thought was no more beautiful videos of the bunkers being filled at harvest time. But I'm glad you're trying to get Dad to slow down and you too! You put so much thought and research into all your projects, I'm sure this will be a good move. Look forward to watching.

Have you thought about self-propelled mixers ? In your system you could put everything in it without needing a skidloader

My neighbor hung curtains from the top of the commodity shed down to about 15 ft from the ground it kept most of the rain and snow out.

Eric love the idea. We feed 140 cows in 30 minutes w/ three upright silos & commodities ran in out of feed tanks. Just make sure you run PVC pipes for drains on the bottom of those silos and have a plan to get rid of some Silo juice because you will most definitely have some w/ that height. Sollenberger Silos from pa built us a 24/80 in 2016 great work

Just always make sure you have a backup plan for when...some switches mess up.... Cow's will always be hungry around the same time as you know. On our Grade A Dairy we had 3 different ways to feed .. this was in the 80s and 90s. Retired now

WOW!! This is going to be a BIG project! Thank you for sharing all of your thoughts and some of the details that went into making this decision. Back in the 80’s when I was milking about 100 cows. All of my feeding was in four upright silos with fully automated feeding. I really liked this method for all of the reasons you have mentioned. And yes, one of the biggest advantages is the better feed quality for the milking cows. After all they are the real money makers! Even back in the 80’s vertical storage with automation saved a lot of labor costs. However I will say from experience that one of the downsides to a fully automated feed system is “the breakdowns”. It is not if they will happen. It is a matter of what to do “when” they happen. So I strongly encourage you to include a solid plan for scheduled maintenance. And a plan B for when “one of the major components of your fully automated feed system” has a problem, or fails. I would recommend designing in a “bypass mode” or “manual feeding mode” into your automation layout. You also may want to install a large stationary generator with enough capacity to back up your entire operation when needed. OMG 132’ tall silos? I hope you will be able to blow your forages that high without having issues. Your custom harvest team may need to upgrade their forage blower a wee bit 😂. I used to have trouble climbing my 80’ tall silos 😅 But maybe you are considering some type of “man lift” for access to the top. You might have to install some kind of clearance lights for that height…….or you could install a star which would be really be cool 😊 Well let me close by saying that I am very excited for you and your family. It takes the faith and courage of everyone in the family to make a major investment in your operation like this. I sincerely wish you all of the best 10th Generation Dairy! And may the Lord bless you and yours as you start on this new and exciting endeavor.

Congratulations on this project! I will be looking forward to seeing everything come together. And to the view from the top of the new silos!!!

The increase in feed quality with upright silos and ability to have more customized ratios and reduced labor makes a lot of sense. Will take a look at how they fill the silos now days. We used a blower to fill our 26’ by 65’ silos and looking into how they can get that forage up 132’. Corn silage was easy to blow but alfalfa was a different story. Will be looking forward to see how this progresses. Maybe could put a roof over one of bunkers and turn that to covered machinery storage. Best wishes.

We built a 24x108 poured concrete silo for CS to go with two other silos for haylage. We use the Valmetal AutoRation which makes and feeds the individual rations to cows and heifers. When you consider all factors including labor I believe it is the least cost option for our size of herd.

Good deal. One of the old bunkers would make a good start for a new shop

Wishing you the best in 2024 as you evolve! 🙏🇺🇸

Here in Quebec Canada. A 600 cows farm have automatic feeding whit no human intervention. All their forages are store in 9 big upright silos. Feed quality and accuracy is excellent. I have the same setup for my farm but on a smaller scale (60 cows). 1 person can do all the everyday chores easily.

It’s interesting to compare I’m in a similar situation with my dad wanting to slow down and with all the constant issues with the silo unloaders and self unloading wagons due to their age I’m getting done with using silos and moving to piles and bunks. Silos are just too time consuming and too much manual labor. There was a cold snap 2 weeks ago both solos were broke if it weren’t for the bunker and tractor for a week the cows would have gone hungry. Also no one around us to service them anymore. With a good pack job and silage inoculant I’ve had 0 waste off silage piles and find them to save time over silos. But every farm is different and theres no one way to do it. I hope your project successful and accomplishes what you hope it to!

Wow! Excited to follow along in your new feed project ! Thanks for sharing your farm life with us!

Looking forward to seeing the process as you build out the whole system! We are going from payloaders and a feed truck to a self loading TMR. Lots of different ways to feed cows!

And less plastic going into the landfill! This is awesome! Looking forward to the coming videos!

I love the idea of this. One thing i would critique is the silo heights. I got a neighbor with 2 140ft silos and they quit using them. Too much compaction. They were going thru unloading augars like nothing. The corn silage was concrete the last 30 feet down. I believe that silage is still in it today. Also they were running into blower issues with heavier forages. Just something to think about. Good luck!

WOWZA! What a project. Can not wait to see the videos as things start. So cool to see new silo's going up. Growing up in the midwest they still dominate our skyline but I bet less than 5% of them are used, at the most. Will you tear down your old one's and what are you going to do for a shop? Good luck as the project begins!

Congratulations 🍾🎉🎊 Sounds like the perfect setup for you and your dad! Can’t wait to see the videos of the construction.

Your excitement about the future comes through.

Eric, thank you for your videos... I am now living vicariously thru your videos. My family sold our dairy cows in 1994 and now I wish I would have been more interested in keeping it going back then, but as a teenager I was not thinking to the future... I will be very interested in how this project comes to fruition and will be interested to see how well it works... Turn the bunkers into shop and storage area now!

I lived down the road from a dairy farmer almost my whole life and your videos show me just how hard they worked. All I ever saw from time to time was them planting, harvesting, getting rides in the combine here and there... lol I really like this idea and I can't wait to see it through with all the videos you post about it!!

Wow, not what I was expecting. I hope it all works out for you. I also hope they are complete when you need them done for harvest.👍👍✌️

We have everything in bunks and deface what we need for the feeding and load it with a wheel loader into a truck with a mixer on it and park under augers that add the additives into the mixer. Everything is measured and the truck displays the weight. We also only feed once in the morning and put out enough to last to the next day.

Looking forward to seeing how things work out big change.

Oh gosh how exciting for you. I look forward to you documenting it all. All the best with your plans.

WOW!! Seems like a massive undertaking. Modern technology is becoming more and more used throughout the farming capabilities. Watching your farm transit to this system will be a feather in the cap for Lely as well with your RU-vid following as well. Sounds like a great opportunity to barter off some ad for unit pricing. I super excited to watch it put into use. Thanks so much for taking me along the ride!!

This will be interesting to watch. Living in Lancaster county, we have seen a number of farms sold at auction, I am hoping these will remain farms and not end up as developments. Best of luck.

the snow and ice may make it challenging for robots traveling between barns. I hope its easy to load old wagon for backup

You are absolutely crazy - crazy smart. We love that your ideas appear to be well thought out. Glad you were able to visit others with the same setup!

I also follow IowaDairyFarmer with a Lely Feeding system. He also has a 2 or 3 robotic milkers. But you were my first dairy farmer I have been following for about 2 years. Thanks for ur video and all the hard work you and your family does to to provide milk to us, the customers. Hope all is well with your family. ❤😊

I work for a Lely dealership in Wisconsin, we’re currently installing a Vector system. I think you’ll be very pleased with it!

Id love to see the numbers. My biggest curiosities are around maintenance and replacement costs(IE lifetime of the robots and other equipment). Those to me feel super nebulous and Im not sure how Id calculate those, but they are also vital to calculating the long term payback of the system. I feel like youd also have to take into account existing equipment costs too.. So many different factors. As I said, Id just love to see the numbers.

I agree with your concern of keeping the forage fresh. I've seen videos of the vector kitchen with the grabber claw and have wondered how it could keep the floor clean enough that there wouldn't be a bunch of spoilage. Silos seem to be a perfect fit for keeping feed fresh with this style of automation. However, there may be some challenges with expecting unloaders to operate flawlessly unattended during extreme cold temperatures. I guess I'm not sure what the wintertime temperatures are in your area. I am excited to see how this turns out for you.

That is a big project/change for your operation. Those silos will be more than double the height of your current silos! I thought that they had stopped building really tall poured concrete silos. I am wishing you the best in this major change.

WOW.. Excellent recap of your future feeding options.. I'm sure you have made a good decision. Where there is no vision, the people perish. So, you are headed on the right direction. It's always a bit scary to make changes, but in my life, change has always brought a better result. You will be blessed.

Wow this is a lot more and different than what I thought you might say. Sounds like you’ve really done your research for the best fit for your farm. I hope it all works out for you and your family

Exciting news. Looking forward to seeing the project come together. Wish lots of luck.

Hey Eric, we are currently building the Lely vector on our Lely robotic dairy farm as well! The goods seems to be a very exciting and useful foresight to us and hopefully they will be for you too! Gods blessing on the project and I hope it works out well for you!

Over the years I was always astonished just how much time you put into feeding every day. I wished for you to have a system that takes this load off of you. Basically exactly a system like this. After you mentioned the other videos I watched them and also thought the floor with the forage on it is not the best so I am extra happy for you that you are getting a better system. I pray everything goes smoothly and you and your family are happy with these choices.

Eric, you've made some major improvements over the time I have been following your channel. A new barn, solar power, a new house etc. I'm excited to see that you are making these gradual improvements and look forward to seeing the progress. I'm sure you will do well.

I would just like to say im so excited for this project that I just went and bought some merch to show my support. Never bought any YT merch before so im excited. Good luck in 2024 ill be watching! 🙂

Excited for you and watch everything come together. Good luck.

That's gonna be cool! Can't wait to see all the improvements.

I’m jealous that you’re never gonna have to throw another tire! 😂 Saw one working in BC and it seemed to do an excellent job. Good luck with the project!

Congratulations on what appears to be a well thought out business decision! I've been a business consultant for 40 years and that's the way to find and eliminate efficiency in an operation. Unfortunately, many businesses are faced with the right answers but don't act, afraid of change. Well done, an answer to a question you asked but one that should serve you well for decades.

Looking forward to seeing this set- up when its all up and running! Pretty excited for you guy's!

Been watching for few years & love to see how much you guys have grown & cant wait to see new feeding system evolve. Need a new Q & A with you & dad.

I was thinking about a self-propelled feed mixer, those electric ones from siloking are looking pretty good

You'll love it! Got ours put in August.

COOL Eric I love upright silos. I hope this works as planned. Always a learning curve with anything new. Lely Vector will be there to help you and dad fine tune to your needs. God bless your new venture.

I'm excited to see you moving the operation forward, but I admit I'm going to miss the bunker loading. I found your channel several years ago watching your customer cutter shoot silage over the bunker wall as he passed by.

Robots!!! Awesome sauce. Love the idea of dad being able to slow down and the money aspect working out.

Lots of great content coming up this year, very happy for you and your dad!

Awesome news Happy for you Tengen and can’t wait for the videos of the project

I am beyond ecstatic for you and your family, investing in making your life easier while staying the same size as dad enjoys himself! Especially while your other employees (11th gen) are growing. Where will you put your current shed contents? Maybe knock out the center concrete bunker walls and put a steal frame shed on top of the 3 remaining concrete walls?

It will be very Interesting and exciting to follow along with Erik this year. Cheers 🇨🇦

The project sounds exciting. Looking forward to your updates.

Wow!! Looking forward to seeing the project get started!!

Great talk! Sold me. I’m going to go with uprights and robots too. Hmmm. I just need a farm and cows to go with it.

Go for it! Sounds good. Are you gonna convert the bunker silo's into shop/equipment shed?

Automation is so cool man . Can't wait to see the finished product . God bless as you move forward 🙏

Excited for your farm to evolve this year!

Major investment and I’m sure very exciting for you guys. Can’t wait to see it all come together.

Sounds awesome and really well researched. After this project, it seems the next logical step is to install Lely robot milkers so you don’t have to rely on so many staff members milking cows 3 times per day. One robot per group would be perfect. Love watching your progress.

Sounds exciting. Praying for you. ❤❤❤❤

This sounds like a big change and improvement for the farm. You certainly have put the research into it and I'm sure it will work for you. Exciting times! Looking forward to all the great videos that will be coming.

In my opinion a self propelled mixer would be the only proper way to do the feeding in your farm. You should at least try it out. If it doesn't work for you, you can sell it anyway and have no financial losses. Can't do that with some concrete silos. With the robot you won't know the feeding is done for that day. Imagine it breaks down Saturday night, there's very little feed at the milkcows, so you only got a few hours to get it fixed. The outdoor driving also shouldn't be the easiest thing for the robot, plus how are you gonna feed the heifers at the other farm? Last but not least it will be a waste if you dont use the bunker silos anymore. I would love to have some bunks for my 45 cows (all feed in wraped bales), so it would hurt to see this. (hope there aren't too many grammatical issues) Greets from Austria

I am going to miss watching you fill and pack the bunkers in the fall- for some odd reason I enjoyed watching that. On the flip side- you can repurpose the bunkers for super long basketball courts.🤔

Just want to say I have been watching your videos since 5 years ago when you started posting on RU-vid. The amount of dedication and passion for the success of your family farm is outstanding and inspirational, to say the least. It has been incredible to see all of the changes you guys have put in place to be more efficient and have the best quality of product. All I can say is I pray for you guys to have success and wishing for the best of luck!

This is why I watch this channel. I'm the 8th generation on my farm, we've raised grass fed beef my entire life. Haven’t done dairy since before I was born (4 decades...) and I've never even heard of robot feeders like this, but it seems to not be that new! I can't wait to see this system. Sounds like all upside from labor to time to even waste from the bunkers. Thanks for sharing all this with us!

Good luck with the changes, I just hope the maintenance factors of all the new equipment doesn't make your life harder.

Over half a century in, silos are back n style. 😂👍🏻😎

Exciting. Look forward to the videos on the building and progress you make with them. :D

Congrats on your decision. I'm sure it was hard thought. I'm sure it will be a great addition to your farm. Thanks for taking us along for the ride.

Sounds like the perfect STORM. Im not on board with all the cost and new cement, you are already having trouble with the cleaning robots you have- and now you want to add more robots. Dont sell the tractors and feed wagon !! with every snow or mud tracked on the robot path, you have to clean it first before it will feed, still lots of labor, just a different location. What about power outage, or will it fry in a lighting storm cutting across the yard.

You're not crazy. We're feeding 300 cows all out of large upright silos. No tires to toss, no plastic to trim, no regrets. We're using top unload unloaders with auto let down, they work great. Adding a vector to our system is in the back of my mind. Good luck!

Wow! Great system, works great on a lot of farms in Holland. What goes around comes around when building upright silo's again!

Wow. Lots of information. Looking forward to following your project.

Well thought out plan to set your farm up for the next generation. I have never been a fan of bunker silos; poorer feed quality, higher waste, high labor input at harvest, the plastic, the tires, the mess. They are cheaper up front, but expensive long haul. The waste factor of a bunker will be a factor in which farms make it, I think. High waste and less than optimum quality fed does not mark a farm for success. I am truly impressed with the plan and excited for you family!

I Love the Lely Vector System. Silagecubecutters were very popular here in Germany. Using Operator Silos for the Vector is the perfect Way. In Germany, these Silos are to expensive to build. Self propelled Mixers and Bunker Silos are very often used cause of the Heads of Cattle per Farm. Would like to have a Vector for my Beef Cattle. Good luck Eric. 🎉

Well thought out. Great idea. Might convert bunker silo into a shop area.

Wow. A huge and exciting project. Would love to hear the numbers that were part of your analysis.

Would love to hear more about the finance behind it all!

Major change? Sounds like some future quality videos coming!

Great news, best decision ever, cant wait to see the results. I even advised you in a past comment, to go with the uprights and automated feeding. I am so excited I cant even tell…..less labor, less plastic waste, less spoilage, less dry matter loss….

Lots of luck and thanks for taking us on the "New Adventure"!

It’s not what I expected. Robots sure but didn’t think you’d go upright. I understand your reasoning. Looking forward to seeing the project.

I hope everything goes good with your farm for 2024 from the imperial county California 👍👍🇺🇲

I can't wait to see this project come together. Look forward to the videos.

Very exciting news, I will definitely be following the videos closely. Thank you for sharing this with us.

What an interesting new feeding program!! Whatever and however you can save time, money and improve production you will be ahead of the game. You and your dad have always thought long and hard about what is best for the farm and yourselves. Congratulations, It will be so interesting to see the changes. Thanks for including the links so I could see what you were talking about!!

After watching the videos you provided about automatic feeding, you are making the right choice. You also did your homework by visiting farms that have been using this system from 5-10 years. And it became an easy decision to make. I'm excited for you and your family to see the new system. I wish you the best of luck with the building and operation of the automatic feeders. Thanks for sharing the news with all of us. Stay safe.

Sounds very exciting! In southern Ontario, silos are coming back with automated feeding just like you are planning.

Well it all sounds good all the best to you and your dad for taking this big change on.Looking forward to seeing the up coming video's thank you for sharing

GOOD LUCK ERIC WITH THE FARM LOOKING FORWARD TO MORE VIDEOS

Super intriguing! I am looking forward to seeing the project work out well!

Eric, I have been watchin' you for a while and I know how much you truly care for all your animals for food and comfort. Best wishes going ahead and it sounds like you surely have done your homework. God bless!

Great idea! Wishing you, Dennis and family the absolute best!