Few farming operations invite as many different opportunities for injury or fatality as a silage program. One of these is an avalanche or collapsing silage. It only takes a fraction of a second for part of a silage face to silently break off and fall, and the result can be deadly for anyone located beneath it. Two silage avalanche tragedies are documented and 5 common sense ways they can be avoided are presented. In October 2013, Matthew Winkelbauer was buried in a silage avalanche on a feedlot near Norfolk, Nebraska. Winkelbauer, who owned the feedlot, was pronounced dead at the scene. He was standing in front of the feedout face, which was about 4 m tall, and the avalanche pushed the falling silage more than twice that distance from the face. In January 2014, Jason Leadingham, a silage haul-back driver, was working alone in a bunker silo near Roswell, New Mexico, when 10 to 15 tons of corn silage collapsed on him. Leadingham’s body was not recovered from the silage until 2 h later, and the cause of his death was mechanical asphyxia. Many bunkers and piles are too large to be safe for the crew filling them and the one feeding the silage out. Common sense tells us that a 6-m-tall silage face is far more dangerous than one that is only 3 m tall. Here are guidelines that can decrease the chance of having a fatality or serious accident caused by a silage avalanche: (1) Never allow people to stand near the feedout face, (2) a rule-of-thumb is never stand closer to the feeding face than 3 times its height, (3) suffocation is a primary concern and a likely cause of death in any silage avalanche, so follow the “buddy rule” and never work alone in a bunker or pile, (4) post warning signs, “Danger! Silage Face Might Collapse”, around the perimeter of bunkers and piles, and (5) avoid being complacent and never think that an avalanche cannot happen to you. We cannot stop avalanches from happening, and they are impossible to predict, but we can prevent people from being under them. Every feedlot and dairy should have safety policies and procedures for their silage program, and they should schedule regular meetings with all their employees to discuss safety.