Silo

It's always fun to find something unique while driving around in search of old barns and other rural kitsch. In general, silos are not that uncommon near barns in some parts of the world, but they're not seen very often in the area where I live. This area is categorized as a "temperate" region, which means that winters are shorter and not usually as severe as in more northern parts of the world. We definitely have cold temperatures — such as this past winter with temps below 20°F / -7°C all day every day for three straight weeks! — but winters are rather mild, all-in-all. During the usual mild/warm weather, farm animals can graze happily in pastures on the property. Only during colder months (and during inclimate weather) is it necessary to have feed for them in the barns where they shelter during such times.

That is likely the reason why so few farms nearby have silos for storing fodder. Instead, hay is usually stored here in bales — small rectangular bundles, tied with twine, that can be lifted by one person — or rolls — which weigh several hundred pounds/kilograms and require a tractor to move. Some rolls of hay are larger than others; there seems to be no "standard" size. Most of them, such as the one shown below, are so large that if a man stood behind it, you would see his head and shoulders, but not much more. I've seen them hauled in large pickup trucks (like a Ford F150) and one roll completely fills the bed, with no room to spare. Most of them are transported on trailers, with tractors lifting the rolled bales on-and-off.

Most barns here have "hay doors" located high above the main entry doors to the barn, where small bales of hay can be brought in and stored in a loft. As it is needed, it can be tossed down to the floor below.

In order to digest fibrous plant matter, some fermentation ^[1] must take place, either inside the animal or prior to feeding. Some animals, such as horses, have some ability to digest plant material in their "hindgut" ^[1] as it is called. Some other animals — called "ruminants" — have multi-chambered stomachs for "foregut" fermentation; they chew the food a bit, swallow it into the 'rumen" where it ferments ^[2], then bring it back up as "cud" for addition chewing before swallowing into the other part of the stomach. Ruminants include cows, sheep, and goats, in addition to wild animals such as antelopes, gazelle, and giraffes. ^[3]

"Silage" is fodder that has been allowed to ferment prior to feeding it to the animals. ^[4] Some farms leave hay in the field, either in piles, bales, or rolls, and cover it with plastic sheets to allow it to ferment. However, fermentation produces some liquid, which is corrosive and can harbor bacteria ^[source], so the liquid must be neutralized and that is harder to accomplish in a field. As such, most farms that produce silage for their livestock use a "silo" for a more contained and controlled process. ^[5] Although I've known about silos for most of my life, I learned something new and interesting about them recently: silos are also used sometimes to store wood chips, sawdust, coal, and other things, too! ^[5]

So, yeah, I was driving around one day back in 2010, searching for barns, when suddenly this silo presented itself! I stopped long enough to snap a pic and admire it for a moment before continuing my journey. Then, fast-forward sixteen years to write this post and I was trying to remember exactly where this silo was located along "Ridge Road" (the only notation I put with the photo). I couldn't find it, at first, on a satellite image, so I drove back down the road and didn't see it then, either! 🤔

I had to do some sleuthing. I kept looking at satellite images on different sites and finally realized what happened. Trees had grown up around the silo, obscuring it from the road and almost obscuring it from satellite images, too! 😯 Thankfully, it was more visible on Bing™'s satellite image, then I was able to go back and see it on Google™'s, too; if it had not been for Bing™, I might never have found it again. This is a prime example of how multiple tools can be useful sometimes!

The following screenshot shows the silo, almost hidden by trees, with the dotted line showing my viewpoint from the roadway when the photo of the silo was taken.

^{screenshot from WorldMapPin.com ← the world map for Hive posts!}

Zooming out on the satellite image, we can see where the silo is located near some of the barns I have catalogued in the area.

^{screenshot from WorldMapPin.com ← the world map for Hive posts!}

If you like silos, you can see more here:
   • my 2019 post: OLD BARN № 045 ...with silos!
   • Chatanooga Barn found by @enginewitty

Not much editing had to be done to my original photo (shown below), mostly just removing the fencing and a few weeds in the foreground to make the scene more pleasing.

I am so glad I was able to capture a photo of this structure before it became hidden by the trees around it! Now I wonder how many other things are out there, now hidden from view, that might have been visible many years ago! Everything in this world is so ephemeral. Such is Life.