Capacity of a Silo 



A silo properly filled — that is, if the contents are made compact 

 throughout^ — contains one ton of silage for every fifty cubic feet of space. 

 To illustrate the economy of a silo to store stock food as compared with 

 a barn, a ton of hay required 400 cubic feet of space. A farmer can 

 easily figure how much a silo will contain by the following rules: 



Multiply the square of the diameter by 0.7854, that will be the area of 

 the circular floor. Multiply the area of the floor by the height, that will 

 give the number of cubic feet. One cubic foot of silage weighs 40 

 pounds. Multiply the cubic feet by 40, and the result is the number of 

 pounds of silage. Divide that by 2000 to find the number of tons. 



Example 



If a silo is 16 feet in diameter and 26 feet high, 16x16x0.7854 equals 

 201.1 square feet; 201.1x26 equals 5228.6 cubic feet; 5228.6 cubic feet 

 multiplied by 40 pounds would make 209,164 pounds of silage, or a little 

 more than 104 tons. 



The following table gives the size of a silo, capacity in tons, number of 

 acres required to fill it, estimating 15 tons per acre, and the number of 

 cows it will feed six months, giving them 40 pounds daily: 



Summer Silo 



The benefits of a silo to preserve food for winter feeding are beyond 

 question. The farmer who combines stock and grain farming cannot 



