A post from Kelli–
As you all know, I’m still in nursing school, for what has seemed like a million and a half years. Â Last Sunday, I was working on medication summary sheets that we have to do before our clinicals so that we can learn the medications that we give to patients during our clinical rotations. Â I had been doing them for a few hours and was really needing a break. Â So when Jason came in and asked me if I could help him for about 10 minutes, I jumped at the occasion before I even knew what I’d be doing.
When I got shoes on and went outside, he told me that I just needed to watch a ladder for him while he climbed the silo. Â If you don’t know, a silo is a very tall structure that holds silage or corn that can be fed to the cows at a later date. Â Periodically while filling the silo, they have to climb the ladder on the outside of the silo to check a few things inside and make sure all is working well.
For quite a while, Jason didn’t mind climbing the silo, but one of his friends once told him to “think about all of your fingers falling off as you are climbing the silo,” and ever since then, it’s bothered him a bit because that’s what he thinks of.
The ladder to the silo starts about 10 feet from the ground and so they bring a short ladder in to get to the big ladder on the side of the silo. Â Jason set up the small ladder and my job was to make sure that it didn’t fall over while he was climbing up the big ladder to do a few checks.
While he was busy climbing, I of course had to snap a few pictures.
If you didn’t see him, I circled him with a little red circle. Â This particular silo that he’s climbing is 80 feet tall and 20 feet in diameter. Â I’m happy to report, he made it up and down safely and my ladder that I was watching didn’t fall over, so the final silo check was successful. Ever since I took these pictures, Jason has been asking me what people thought of his silo climbing and if anyone had any questions, so if you do, I’ll ask him the questions and get you the answers! Â I think that he actually likes to share his farming stories more than he’ll admit!
And now for the little secret–Check back in around 9:00 or so this morning. Â I told mom that I’d take over blogging for the day and so I have the regular posts scheduled for the day, but little does she know, I have an extra one…with a little secret…planned for 9:00!
I have a paralyzing fear of heights. Glad Jason didn’t ask for my help! More power to him!
My husband still climbs his silo on a regular basis, at 67 years old! I know I could never do it. I’m so thankful for that cage around it.
I’m sure glad Jason has a spotter, too, for that ladder at the bottom :)
does Jason use some sort of safety belt when climbing up the silo?
and has he ever tried mountain climbing?
My friend and I would jump in smaller grain bins when we were little. Stopped doing that after we saw a mouse was in there the same time too. When I see silos and grain bins I always think of that. Love farm stories.
When we had a dairy farm, we used an upright silo to store silage and feed the cattle. The chute would clog up from time to time while feeding. My husband would climb up the ladder and into the silo to unclog things. It happened to me once when my husband wasn’t around. I thought I could climb the ladder and check on it, but after about I got about 20 feet up in that metal tube, I changed my mind. No more silo climbing for me.
City girl here. Tell Jason I think he’s very brave and I believe farmers are unsung heroes. I agree a safety belt might be a good idea. Thanks for sharing a slice of your life that many of us will never experience. Very interesting!
I remember doing that–and not fondly! Farming is not for the faint of heart. :)
I have never seen a blue silo – what is it made of?
Well that’s too high a climb for my husband, he doesn’t even like going up to the eaves troughs on our 2 story house. Personally as a kid I was in every tree I could scamper up but after falling from the ladder trimming our cedar hedge I take it a little easier now. Glad he got you to spot for him, safety first is a good motto. So much can go wrong in a moment.
wow!
I feel faint standing too close to the edge of our deck – it’s about 3 foot off the ground.
I think Jason needs to find a different friend! It looks like there’s a cage around the ladder – good thing!
Heights make me physically ill, so my hats off to Jason!! Thankfully, we have no silos here on our farm. How many head of cattle does Jason have and what are they for, beef, milk or both? Make sure you post pictures of the cattle, especially the babies and autumn inoculation and castration…babies are so cute and I have fond memories of inoculation/castration time!!
Ok….I don’t get what “having your fingers fall off” has to do with climbing the ladder. Sorry, but I’m a city girl. It’s looks frightening.
Never used to think anything about climbing silos until I worked at a feedmill and had to watch the safety videos. (No I never climbed them, I was the adm asst.) Brings a whole different perspective. Glad you could spot for him. Can’t wait for the secret.
Where I live, a company took an old silo at a grain elevator and made it into a rock-climbing place. Yes, my child has climbed up the inside of a grain elevator.