Creating The Silo Feeder

The Silo Deer Feeder all started with David Hershberger and his son in law Firman Troyer and their frustration of having to constantly refill deer feeders every few weeks and having big deer avoid them anyways. Firman and David wanted a feeder with more volume and that could dispense corn farther away from the feeder’s location.  From Christmas of 2022 to February of 2023 Firman started to build a prototype. The first iterations had a large wooden box as the funnel and eventually switched to plastic and a new auger and extended pipe inspired from agricultural designs. Unfortunately “It absolutely failed” Firman said. After giving up and starting again a few weeks later he was advised to make the feeder out of aluminum by an acquaintance from Miller Enterprise. In July of 2023 Firman and David set up their new feeder and it worked perfectly, each of them shooting 140-class bucks which were eating from the new “invisible feeder”.

One remaining issue was the twenty-foot pipes they were using. After a lot of trial and error and support from his wife they landed on using coil pipe and were able to create twenty-, forty-, and sixty-feet long variants. The last issue they had was the battery life; The feeders had a solar panel but on northern facing slopes the panels didn’t get enough sunlight to keep the battery full. Making the solar panel adjustable and adding a new large lead-acid battery. This new setup kept the feeder charged 24/7 year round in any weather. 

The Final Design
After testing with his neighbors and family the Silo Deerfeeder was ready for the public. The hopper can store 1,200 pounds (twenty-four 50-pound bags) of feed or corn and now with a new mega hopper can store up to 2,200 pounds (forty-four 50-pound bags) of feed. The auger can be set up with twenty-, forty-, and sixty-foot sections and can dispense corn downhill or uphill. The feeder can use more than just corn and can even be set up to feed cattle or horses. The feeder comes with a timer that gives you control for when and how much corn to dispense over sixteen different time frames each day. Wireless remotes are now available to override the timer and let you dispense corn from your blind or stand. The feeder is also very quiet and can dispense corn right in front of deer. Several users have also wired cell cameras onto the feeder battery as well giving them a free season’s worth of battery supply for their cameras.

The culmination of SILO’s work is a state-of-the-art-corn feeder that “is far and wide the best deer feeder on the market” according to David Hershberger. The Silo Deer Feeder will increase your chances of harvesting a big buck on your property and save you time and back pain filling your current feeders.