Dairy farming during the winter in northern Wisconsin can be very challenging, especially when it’s bitterly cold. Equipment has a harder time working and can occasionally break down. A while back, the motor on our silo unloader in our corn silage silo didn’t want to start anymore. We knew we had to get it out of the silo and get it fixed.

The big problem was that it was 40 feet up in the silo. It’s a 7.5 horsepower motor, weighing approximately 130 pounds. I knew Joshua and I could get it off the unloader OK, but to safely get it down the silo chute and back up a different one was my biggest concern. I gave it some thought, and I decided I'd better call the dealer that put the unloader in. I thought it was better to spend a little bit of money and make it a lot easier and safer for us.

So, I made the phone call and got a real sticker shock. They could send a crew of men to do the job and would charge me from the time they left their shop until they got back. Then, they would take the motor, get it fixed, bring it back and put it in. It would end up costing me about $1,500 – plus the cost of repairing the motor. As I said, I was shocked.

I began thinking of how we could safely do it ourselves. I had once made a bracket out of angle iron, iron rod, pipe, some chain and a heavy pulley that we could hang in the silo chute for lowering and raising heavy things. However, in this case, I needed something else along with my bracket to raise and lower the motor.

I prayed about it and gave it a lot of thought, and I came up with the idea of a two-way winch for raising and lowering the motor. We looked online, but we didn’t really find what we were looking for. So my wonderful wife, Joanne, made a bunch of phone calls to local businesses telling them what I wanted. We were able to get the stuff we needed from two local businesses. We put it all together and hoped we could fasten it to the silo unloader and that it would work well.

The next day came and we got up earlier than normal and went at chores really fast. Once they were done, we went at the silo unloader motor. We hung our bracket in the silo chute with the chains. Next, we hooked up the winch to our unloader. I keep a big rebuilt motor on hand for things like this. Then, we raised our rebuilt motor up the silo chute and swapped it out with the bad motor. Switching the motors didn’t go as easily as I had hoped, but we got it done. Finally, we lowered the bad motor down the chute. By the time we got it all done, it was getting dark outside.

Now our silo unloader is working great again, bringing out a lot of corn silage for our cows. They eat it right up; they don’t want to be without their corn silage. Our bracket and winch setup worked well, which was a real blessing. The next day, I took the motor to a motor repair shop, and they fixed it for me. It needed a new internal starting switch and bearings. I now have a rebuilt motor on hand for the next time I need one.

There are two important things to note about this. First, if God hadn't given us the wisdom on how to do this all and blessed it, we wouldn’t have been able to do it. God is so good. Second, if I didn’t have a wonderful family to help me with all of this, I could never have done it. They are super helpers.

God made family: husband, wife and children. I can’t imagine farming without family. They are so helpful and such a blessing. The love and support in a Christian family beats anything else the world has to offer. It’s a real blessing to take on a big challenge with your family and succeed. There’s a great sense of accomplishment in a job well done. Plus, we saved around $1,500. And yes, I did give each one of my family members a special bonus.