As a boy growing up on the farm, I witnessed my dad build many of our buildings, barns and sheds as he transformed the farm he had purchased into a modern working dairy. We had several smaller (8- to 20-ton) feed bins that were erected on the farm, and I recall the “fun” of piecing them together a bolt at a time along with the roll of sealer/caulk to make the bin watertight as we went.
More than once, Dean, our long-time employee and Dad’s right-hand man, would suffer the pains of working with a gentleman who didn’t see real well. Dad’s eyesight made it difficult for him to see what he was up to sometimes, much less to see if you were out of the way. Dean had a good many pinched and mashed fingers, with the blood blisters and bruises to prove it. One thing was sure, once that bin was together, we sure weren’t taking it apart by any stretch of the imagination.
As I said earlier, ours was a growing farm, and things weren’t always where they needed to be or where they would best serve the farm. One thing that gets discounted in the field of biotechnology is the gains in understanding we have made in the technology of farm buildings and layouts.
It is most noticeable in the elevation of barn eave heights, but frankly, thousands of advances have taken place in the building trades in the past 40-plus years. So it is well within the realm of reason that a feed bin might need to be moved, especially if it has plenty of useful life left in it.
So where do we start in taking that thing apart? The truth is: The best method may be – not at all. We have moved several bins on the farm using nothing more than a neighbor’s boom truck and a solid fencepost.
The physics of this method is much like a toggle bolt threaded into a hole in the wall that, once inside, opens to grab the inside of the block. We would begin by removing the lid assembly of the bin so it would not get sprung in any way by the cable of the boom truck.
Next, we would secure a large post to the boom cable so it balanced when left static. Being careful so as not to cause a fall, a person (usually me) would climb into the bin and help guide the post and cable vertically through the opening of the bin on top.
Once inside, the post would swing free to a horizontal position, and you were ready to lift. As the cable was raised, the post wedged itself inside the bin, and with no way to remove itself, the wedged post became an inside “handle” that we used to lift, carry, lay down and reset the bin in its new, more helpful location.
While easier than disassembling and rebuilding the bin, this method is not without some risks. First, the size of the post or wedge needs to be appropriate to both the diameter and weight of the bin. A post too long may weaken its ability to bear loads, and a post too short may place too much stress on the roof of the bin in a too confined area.
It will most likely be necessary if moving the bin any distance to trailer the bin. As the bin is laid down, there may be extraordinary sideways forces placed on the bin roof and opening that may render it unable to remain watertight and weather-resistant. The opening should be monitored during trailering to make sure the bin’s own bulk doesn’t misshape it.
There are services that have trailers specifically designed to move feed bins from place to place. They basically serve much like a rollback to tilt the bin over onto the trailer and then “dump” the bin at its new location. In fact, many feed bin dealers deliver “mostly” to fully assembled bins to your farm and set them on pre-cast pads.
The process of having a new feed bin goes from days of tightening bolts and curing concrete to a few painless minutes of “slam and set.”
One place you can actually see the technique we have visited about is the Internet. A Google search of “moving a feed bin” will bring up many examples, some in “how-to” format. Be advised that just like any other media source, you can see just as many examples of what not to do – and remember that the equipment used, size of the bin and the environment of the bin (flat, sloped, rolling) has a lot to do with your success in using any method to remove a bin.
It also goes without saying (but we are going to say it anyway) that safety is job number one in moving a grain bin. Bins are super-heavy, but the equipment used to lift or transport the bins needs to have maximum overhead protection. You need to be highly observant of where power and utilities supplies are located, and you need to use harnesses and hardhats to protect the “wrestlers” that will be assisting with the move.
A little over a year ago, I fell from a 14-foot stepladder that was on a trailer, landing on my back on frozen ground. I broke my right shoulder blade and powdered the little “fingers” that come off three vertebrae in my lower back. I was lucky. I didn’t miss work, but then I wasn’t counted upon for the physical duties of farming for a living. I bring that up just to ask what the cost of a brand-new bin might really be in light of being injured while salvaging an old one? PD
Andy Overbay holds a Ph.D. in ag education and has more than 40 years of hands-on dairy and farming experience.
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Andy Overbay
- Extension Agent
- Virginia Cooperative Extension
- Email Andy Overbay
