Silo facts for kids
A silo is a tall building used on farms. It holds a special type of animal food called silage. Silage is made from chopped green plants, like grass or corn stalks. Unlike hay, which is dried, silage is kept wet. It ferments, which means it changes in a way that helps it stay fresh all winter. This makes it great food for farm animals, especially dairy cows.
When Were Silos First Used?
Silos are a fairly new invention for farms. Farmers started using them a lot in the late 1800s. They are still an important part of farming today!
How Silos Are Built and Used
Even though silage can be stored in different ways, the most common silo looks like a tall cylinder. It usually has a cone or dome-shaped roof on top. There is an opening at the very top where farmers put the silage in. Along one side, there are doors that run all the way down. These doors are used to take the silage out.
In the past, a farmer would climb up the outside of the silo to reach the top of the silage inside. Then, they would go in and shovel the silage out. There's usually a chute on the outside of the silo. The silage would fall down this chute, making it easy to collect and feed to the cows. Nowadays, special machines do all this hard work!
Images for kids
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Steel grain bins in Ralls, Texas, United States.
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Grain elevators are made of groups of grain silos like these at Port Giles, South Australia.
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Silos in Acatlán, Hidalgo, Mexico.
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Concrete stave silo being built in 2015
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Harvestore tower silos that keep oxygen out.
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A bunker silo being filled and pressed down.
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An 8-foot wide by 150-foot long silo bag, just after being filled and sealed.
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This bin holds 27 kinds of stone, sand, and gravel in Copenhagen, Denmark.
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A coal silo being built using aluminum concrete forms.
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Many different plastic grain bins made by Buffer Valley Industries in Saskatchewan, Canada.
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Ancient Greek vases shaped like grain silos, from 700/650 BC, at the Kerameikos Archaeological Museum, Athens.
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A silo 3.5 miles southeast of Blooming Grove, Texas, built around 1900 by F. B. Cumpston. It was mainly used for corn.
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An old, no-longer-used grain elevator in Merrinee, Victoria, Australia.
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A grain elevator in Nebraska, June 2015.
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The Swissmill Tower in Zürich (Switzerland) is the world's tallest silo.
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Three types of wheat bins in Delungra, New South Wales.
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Percy Hobson Park water tower, Bourke, New South Wales, Australia (2021).
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Thallon, Queensland, Australia (2021).
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Yelarbon, Queensland, Australia (2019).
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Coonalpyn, South Australia, Australia (2018).
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Brim, Victoria, Australia (2015).
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Rosebery, Victoria, Australia (2018).
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Tungamah, Victoria, Australia (2019).
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Kantola Biscuit Factory, Hämeenlinna, Finland (2019).
See also
In Spanish: Silo para niños
