Archived News

26th February 2012

I remember Laurence upgrading part of the grain store at West Lane about twenty years ago; it’s the oldest grain store on the farm and sometimes struggles to keep a pace with the grain coming in off the fields and the grain going out in grain merchant lorries.

Grain used to pass from the grain store bin onto a conveyor belt and directly fill a waiting lorry, which would take about two hours!

Between 1992 – 1996 Laurence and Dick changed the conveyors and built an overhead bin; the grain would still pass along the conveyor and into the overhead bin which would be filled before the lorry arrived. The lorry parks under the overhead bin and with the turning of four handles, the grain drops into the lorry and fills it in just five minutes!

One aspect of the grain store which has always been time consuming and labour intensive has been the emptying of the final 5 or 6 tonnes of grain from the main storage bins onto the conveyors. 

Over the the last month David, Ian and Ed have been converting six of the storage bins to make them self-emptying.  This has meant working in some very cold temperatures recently, moving the conveyors and constructing a timber frame and angled floor. 

The angled timber frame is in place.

Five of the bins have the new framework in place and one has the floor completed.  It will take another month before all six are complete and if the conversion works well, the final six bins will be converted next year.  This is time well spent if it  reduces the back braking task of shovelling grain every summer.