A mobile grain dryer purchased by Lincolnshire grower Dunmore Hind is performing well as part of a modernised grain storage facility near Grantham.
Supplied by Sharmans of Stamford and installed by McArthur Agriculture, the Mecmar S40T dryer ran non-stop for a fortnight last harvest drying wheat and oats for J Hind & Sons at Elm Tree Farm, Little Bytham.
“Tom Barker from Sharmans knew that we were looking to make changes to our grain drying and storage facilities and suggested that we talk to the McArthur Agriculture team,” said Mr Hind, who farms 800ha with his father Alan.
McArthur Agriculture designed a new system fed by a 12m long Skandia Elevator 60tph I-Line trench intake conveyor housed in an existing building to make the best use of space. It included prefabricated components to make the installation an easy process.
An existing hopper was retained to tip large amounts of grain into the intake or to tip smaller quantities of seed into the dryer. Grain is then transported via three 120tph Skandia I-Line conveyors to a purpose-built 3000t grain store.
The first phase of the development performed well during harvest 2022. The second phase – which made timely harvesting even more important – involved the purchase of the Mecmar S40T to dry an increased amount of milling wheat grown for harvest 2023.
The Mecmar automation control system features a touchscreen interface with remote access via smartphone or laptop. The control panel interfaces with an automatic moisture probe.
“Apart from having to stop the drier to check belt tensions, receiving an alert on my phone or seeing a flashing light on the control panel telling me that the bearings need greasing, the Mecmar just keeps working,” said Mr Hind.
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