Wrapping a career fixing big, blue silos

ALEXANDRIA, Minn. — For decades, when a farmer’s day was ruined by a Harvestore silo malfunction, they were in luck because Les Kuehl was just a phone call away.

Kuehl has repaired and maintained Harvestore silos for 45 years in Minnesota and the surrounding area.

“It’s just getting too hard,” Kuehl said. “My body says I’m 74 years old; it’s just time.”

At Kuehl’s peak, he worked on about 350 silos a year. Near the end of his career, he was working on about 40.

Kuehl got into silo repair by accident. After graduating from Alexandria Technical & Community College with a diesel mechanic degree, he spent his early years as a mechanic for several implement dealerships.

Then, he responded to an ad in the paper that he thought was for a part-time service role for International Harvester tractors.

“I figured I worked on Case, worked on John Deere, worked on Massey Ferguson, I can work on International Harvesters too,” Kuehl said. “I went and met with a guy, and no, it was for Harvestore silo unloaders.”

He ended up taking the job, working for a father and son whose business was building silos. Kuehl was the service guy, and with his mechanical background, he was a fast learner.

“It was slow to begin with,” he said. “I still worked at the John Deere dealership, and then I’d do (Harvestore silo service work) on weekends or evenings. After a while, we got busier and busier.”

Eventually, Kuehl decided to quit John Deere.

“It was the best thing I ever did,” Kuehl said.

While some of his work involved routine maintenance, most of his calls were related to silo unloader issues. Depending on the day and the proximity of the farms, Kuehl could make 2-3 stops a day.

“Ninety percent of the repair work was replacing cutter chains and conveyor chains, sprockets that go with them, stuff like that,” Kuehl said. “As the unloaders get older, there are backbones and discharge housings and sometimes transmissions and bearings.”

Harvestore silos are designed with a top-loading and bottom-unloading system, so repairs needed to be done while feed was still in the silo. Kuehl was essentially working under a dome of feed at the bottom of the silo, but that never intimidated him he said.

“I was a tunnel rat from as soon as I could walk,” Kuehl said. “If I were outside in the winter, I would make forts.”

Harvestore silo unloaders, when working properly, use a chain-driven short arm with cutting knives that circle around the silo, slowly pulling silage to the center convoy, creating an igloo-like dome. Later, an extension, or long arm, is added to get closer to the silo walls to clean out the remaining feed.

With feed above him, the work was dangerous. Kuehl said optimally, a good dome of feed would be about 15 feet. But for some of his calls, there was no dome formed, so he had to dig a 3- by 3-foot hole to work. Being aware of his surroundings became an essential skill.

He watched for shifting feed, and if he noticed a shift, then it was time to take a break and observe.

“I’ve been in there when chunks have fallen down or alongside of me,” Kuehl said. “Or a chunk will hit you in the head. Then you just clean it back out and go back in.”

Kuehl has experienced close calls over the years. Some Harvestore silos have steel floors, so one time Kuehl was welding the floor under a dome of feed, while a farmer’s kid was supposed to be keeping a lookout.

“All of a sudden, I felt the feed come down and cover up my hole with about five feet of loose feed where my escape was supposed to be,” Kuehl said. “I was sitting there trapped inside, scrambling.”

Kuehl was able to dig himself out, but another incident did not end as well. While working in a silo with a moving arm, Kuehl stepped in the wrong spot and his leg was shattered.

Despite the danger, Kuehl said he has enjoyed the work.

Kuehl has not always worked alone. Several of his children and a grandson have helped him over the years, sometimes after school or during the summer. Other times they have helped full time.

“It was a way for them to make some money and show them what life is like when you have to make an income,” Kuehl said. “I was teaching them responsibility to get a job done and learning some mechanical skills so (they) don’t have to get a repairman.”

Kuehl said he prided himself on getting to his service calls as quickly as he could, knowing how important it was for dairy farmers to have working equipment to feed their animals. That meant taking weekend calls and even changing his plans when visiting family out of state.

“It’s the farmers,” he said. “You can’t beat them for being upbeat and going to work 365 days a year milking cows. I just enjoyed the people that I worked for.”