🌾 The Story of Silage and the Changing Tides of Ag

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Good morning. Today we present to you a 3-minute snippet of ag history and apply its lessons to YOUR operation.

Now for today’s topic…

The Story of Silage: Changing Tides of American Ag

Silos are almost synonymous with the American rural landscape. If you’ve worked around livestock much, chances are you have that unforgettable smell of fermentation or green chop cemented in the back of your mind. But why has silage cemented itself so deeply into our American ag backdrop? And what does it have to do with wings of change?

It started WHERE?

The term “silo” from where we get “silage” can be traced to ancient Greek. The word siros was used to describe a pit made to store corn. Evidence suggests that both Greeks and Egyptians had some primitive forms of creating silage and storing fodder long-term.

But this didn’t catch on in agriculture until the 19th century when ensiling became a mainstay throughout Northern Europe and beyond. A French farmer is accredited with documenting his trial and error of using air-tight storage to keep his forage fresh. Before long American farmers embraced his practices and sometime later, the UK followed suit.

Moving Across the American Landscape

It should be noted that the rapid uptake of ensiling in the U.S. was perfectly timed to the movement of commercial agriculture away from traditional subsistence farming.

Likewise, the industrial revolution that bled into agriculture also meant a dawn of tools and facilities that could effectively ensile with minimal storage. (Keep in mind, little is known about the ancient world extent of silage success and usage. Lack of efficient equipment and construction likely led to high rates of failure and excessive labor.)

Some of the earliest U.S. silos were similar to the pit styles of the ancient world. But these failed to stay well insulated, were difficult to pack and keep out moisture and were subject to freezing in the winter.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, we saw the advent of brick silos, shortly followed by the cheaper yet now iconic cement stave variety. The ability to build these tall, round silos meant that more forages could be stored in less space and with greater efficiency.

Considering the Future

Thanks to new technologies like silage bags, plastic wrapping and inoculants (plus conveniently heavy equipment perfect for condensing drive-over piles), silage making is now easier than ever before in our history.

With livestock numbers vastly growing on farms - dairies in particular - these new methods are quickly becoming favored due to convenience. For this reason, more concrete stave silos are sitting empty and it’s very rare anyone builds them new. The ones that do remain may one day become the next generation of the Harvestore “blue tombstones” that dot the Midwest landscape.

Something as simple as the iconic cylindrical silo has really shaped the idea of what people think when they envision the word “farm.” And this is for good reason - this humble structure was indeed a game-changer of its time and has earned its spot on farms across the U.S. many times over.

But at the same time, traditional silos are quickly fading into the historic fabric of our proud ag history. The reason for this is reflected in many themes we continue to discuss - expansion, better technologies and the dawn of a new era.

It’s bittersweet for sure, but it’s also a testament to the everchanging tides and opportunities of agriculture - from the ancient Greeks and Egyptians to the Gen Zers taking the reins today.

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