Tire use on farms for silage storage

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Tire use on farms for silage storage
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Michigans scrap tire regulation

• Natural Resources and Environmental Protection
  Act - Part 169
• Allows up to 3000 whole scrap tires to be used to
  secure stored feed.
• If use sidewall slabs no limit
• Improved management practices needed
• Reduce environmental risks

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Tire piles are a problem

• Pests
• 1 tire 1000s mosquitoes each year
• Mosquitoes carry and transmit diseases
• West Nile Virus
• Encephalitis
• Fire
• Arson, lighting or equipment failures
• Difficult to extinguish
• Evacuations
• Costly to clean up
• Pollution from fires
• Hazardous compounds
• Affect groundwater and
• Surface water

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Tire and SidewallStorage Requirements

• While Part 169, Scrap Tires, of the Natural
  Resources and Environmental Protection Act sets
  the requirements for the storage of more than
  3,000 whole scrap tires used at feed storage
  locations, the DEQ recommends that these storage
  requirements also be followed for storing less
  than 3,000 whole scrap tires or tire sidewalls.
  These include

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Tire and SidewallStorage Recommendations

• Fire prevention requirements
• Piles no greater than 15 feet high
• Piles no greater than 200 by 40 horizontal area
• Minimum of 30 feet between piles
• No closer than 20 feet from property lines
• No closer than 60 feet to building and structures
• Accessible by firefighting equipment
• Variance possible from local fire department

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Tire and sidewall storage (continued)

• Storage isolated from hazardous products
• Lead acid batteries
• Fuel tanks
• Solvent barrels
• Pesticide containers
• Allow fire department inspection of storage at
  any reasonable time
• Employees trained on emergency response

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Emergency Response

• Protection of people from harm
• Emergency contact numbers
• Fire department
• Availability of fire fighting materials
• Water (ponds, streams etc.)
• Hoses
• Equipment to move stored tires away from fire

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Prevention of Mosquito Breeding

• Whole tire should also be maintained in a manner
  that limits the potential for mosquito breeding.
• Providing for proper drainage (drilling holes in
  the tires)
• Treating the tires to limit breeding (larvacides)

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Drilling recommendations for whole tires -
drainage

• Four holes 1 inch diameter
• Where the tread meets the sidewall 2 on each
  side
• Provides drainage no matter how the tires lays.

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More than 3,000 whole tires?

• Written request to
• DEQ Waste and Hazardous Waste Materials Division
  Chief
• Reasons why needed
• Request
• Approved, or denied

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Minimize leachate (seepage) and runoff

• Harvest at below 67 moisture
• Use tight fitting cover
• Divert clean water from silage
• Keep a clean face and pad on bunker storage

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Other silage storage tips

• Be prepared to stop a discharge (if one occurs)
• Emergency Action Plan (Extension bulletin E-2575)
• Alert DEQ if leachate reaches surface water
• DEQ Emergency hotline [phone]
• MDA Emergency hotline [phone] (second
  option

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Silage Safety

• Tractor rollovers when packing silage
• Rollover protection structure (ROPS)
• Seat belt
• Dual wheels for lateral stability

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Silage avalanches

• DO NOT OVERFILL! Do not pile forage any higher
  than what your unloading equipment can reach
  safely
• Use care when removing tires, plastic covers, and
  spoiled feed from the top edge of the face
• Stay at least three feet from the edge, and
  approach carefully with minimal disturbance
• A hooked pole or rod can be used to stay even
  farther back while pulling tires or plastic back
  from an edge that looks particularly unstable
• Avoid undercutting silage during removal, and
  keep the face as smooth as possible
• Do not use lifting methods on the face during
  removal, as this can cause fissures which
  destabilize the silage

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Silage avalanches

• Never put more silage on top of the plastic, as
  this silage can easily slide down the plastic and
  become an avalanche during silage removal
• Stay away from the silage face during removal or
  sampling, and do not allow people near the face,
  especially while someone else is on top removing
  plastic or tires
• When sampling, take the sample(s) from the loader
  bucket after moving it a sufficient distance from
  the silage face
• Do not park or exit vehicles near the face
• Use a machine with a ROPS cab, or at a minimum a
  ROPS with side screens

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Confined spaces and silo gases

• Stay out of recently-filled silos
• Watch for symptoms of excess silo gas.
• Silo gas is heavier than air and will quietly
  move down the ladder chute of an upright silo.
• A bleach-like odor and the presence of a
  yellowish-brown gas around the base of a silo
• Dead insects and birds at the base of a recently
  filled silo
• Use a blower to ventilate silos at least 30
  minutes prior to entry. If the danger of silo gas
  still exists, use a respiratory protective device
  such as a self-contained breathing apparatus
  (SCBA).
• Never allow children or young family members to
  climb on or explore silos.
• Keep all doors between the base of a silo and
  ground level barns closed to limit the amount of
  silo gas that can enter.

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Summary

• Use sidewall slabs when possible
• Store tires and sidewalls to reduce fire
  potential
• Minimize silage leachate
• Be safe
• Packing
• Avalanches
• Gases