| Grain
New grain plant keeps Svegma Drier at full capacity
Home to the 7th Duke of Sutherland , Mertoun Estate Farms Ltd , is located in the Scottish Borders and farms over 2000ha of land in total along both sides of the River Tweed .
W heat is the estate ’ s main crop , accounting for over 700ha of production , with other crops including barley , oil-seed rape , potatoes , winter oats and vining peas . The remaining acreage is grassland which is let out to local livestock farmers and land in environmental schemes .
In 2012 a Svegma SVC 9 / 5 50tph continuous flow drier was installed on the site to replace a fire damaged drier which was part of the existing grain facility which had evolved over many years . The drier had been fed by the existing intake and handling systems which restricted the drier ’ s capacity . Storage was also an issue with limited dedicated grain storage and potato buildings being used to hold grain .
With a change in management of the farms it was decided to build a new grain drying , handling and storage facility , developing a site at Ploughlands Farm . BDC Systems , in conjunction with local dealer DMI Mechanical Engineers , were appointed to design and install the new plant . The existing Svegma drier , supplied originally by BDC Systems , was to be moved and fed by new 80tph Skandia handling equipment . The new storage buildings were designed and erected by Thorburn Duns .
A total of eleven Skandia machines were specified including industrial grade “ I Range ” chain & flight conveyors and belt & bucket elevators . The system also included an Aagaard AF80 aspirator pre-cleaner , Zanin PRA
4 / 9 rotary cleaner and 105tph Jema belt conveyors feeding 7000 tonnes of floor storage . The floor stores feature BDC heavy duty drive over laterals with underfloor ducts which form a low volume ventilation system powered by Soby HLSG 75 fans and a Robydome temperature control system with wireless probes . The drier itself was upgraded with Akron Turbo Clean dust extraction fans . New internal and external platforms were also installed to aid access to the drier . A new BDC control panel was installed to operate all the equipment , including remote access via iPhone for the Svegma drier . Mertoun Estate ’ s Farm Manager , Jack Parsons , commented : “ Having used Skandia equipment before we were confident that it was the right choice on this occasion . The support and backup we receive from both BDC Systems and DMI is impressive and reassuring .” Mr Parsons went on to add : “ We now get full capacity from our Svegma drier using the 80tph handling equipment . Our intake capacity has been massively improved and allows us to keep up each day during harvest .”
26 | Farming Monthly | July 2017 www . farmingmonthly . co . uk