Getting the Basics Right for your Interbloc Silage Bunker
Good design starts with understanding exactly what you want to achieve. There are also a number of regulations and best storage practices that should influence your end design. Spending the time to get this right the first time will reduce your long-term costs.
To help get you on the right path to building your perfect Interbloc Silage Bunker, here are some good design basics.
The Site
Spending some time selecting a site will make a big difference in the future. Here are some guidelines to help you pick the best spot.
Site the bunker away from hedges, trees, and major drains to ensure unimpeded access.
The bunker should be accessible all year round, so think about drainage and soil types.
Pests chew through covers which leads to spoilage – the bunker should be sited away from areas where pests may congregate.
Siting the bunker close to where you will be feeding out will reduce the cost and time .
Where the bunker is carved out of a hill side, water should be able to easily drain away from the bunker.
Most milk companies require feed storage to be sited a minimum distance from the milking shed.
Councils require bunkers to be sited away from surface water, and water tables.
Increasingly there is a trend among councils to require silage effluent to be drained to your effluent pond. Considering this when choosing a site now could save you significant money in the future.
The Concrete Foundations
Ground Preparation
A concrete slab is only as good as the ground it sits on. Good ground preparation is essential to the structural integrity of the pad.
All top soil, rubbish, and organic material should be removed. Soft spots should also be dug out and filled with compacted hard fill.
A layer of compactable hard fill should be spread over the site. Dependent on the ground conditions, CCANZ suggest a layer 75mm thick.
The subbase should be levelled to provide the required fall for water runoff. A common fall ratio is 1:50 (20mm every 1m).
The design should allow for drainage at the lower side of the fall.
The subbase must be well compacted.
The subbase should be as level as possible. An un-level subbase will increase the likelihood of cracking.
Concrete Slab
The finished quality of the concrete slab is largely influenced by the ground preparation.
Reinforcing steel doesn’t increase the load capacity of the pad. It is required for shrinkage control.
CCANZ suggests slabs that are subject to acid attack, and traffic over 3 tonnes, should be between 125 and 150mm thick.
Concrete shrinks when drying. This shrinkage causes cracking. Stress cuts are placed in the finished pad to control the cracking in a tidy way.
The openness area of the farm environment makes slabs especially vulnerable to cracking in the days immediately following a pour. The reasons include the temperature fluctuation between night and day, and the increased likelihood of uninterrupted wind flow, which dehydrates the slab.
Other Interbloc Rural Options
If you don’t think a Silage Bunker doesn’t quite fit your needs, we also offer other rural solutions:
