• The Newt in Somerset, working with McArthur BDC, will process heritage wheat to produce home-grown flour.
• Addition to ingredients grown, foraged and reared on the Newt Estate and served in its various restaurants

Part of the Newt Estate, The Newt in Somerset, one of the World's Best Boutique Hotels, aims to supply its restaurants with ingredients grown, foraged and reared on the Estate. The processing of Estate grown heritage wheat will enable home-grown flour to become a valuable additional ingredient.

"As well as Einkorn and Emmer heritage wheat, we grow feed wheat and barley for our 400 pedigree British White cows, of which we are very proud as it is the biggest pedigree British White herd in the world, our 350 pedigree Dorset Down ewes and our herds of Red and Fallow Deer," explained Cameron Knee, the Newt Estate's farm manager.

To process the heritage wheat the Newt Estate's project manager, Ed White, was looking for a dehulling plant and already negotiating with a provider of post-harvest equipment, when a neighbouring farmer recommended that he talk to McArthur BDC.

White met with McArthur BDC at Groundswell and was so impressed with its range of JK Machinery cleaners, classifiers and dehullers, he asked Cameron Knee to have a follow-up meeting at the LAMMA Show.

Realisation by both White and Knee that McArthur BDC could deliver a more compact and cost-effective solution, resulted in McArthur BDC working closely with the Newt Estate, to design a processing plant to meet the Estate's requirements.

A JK Machinery JCC05 VibroCompact sieve cleaner, with the capacity for a quick pre-clean of up to 6tph or 1.5tph for a detailed clean, was installed to clean the wheat and prevent harmful material entering a JK Machinery JHC03 Compact Dehuller. The JHC03 has the capacity, depending on the grain, to dehull between 400kg/h and 1tph.

"As we are dehulling wheat, The JHC03 was our preferred machine as it uses impact to dehull rather than grinding. This is important when dehulling pointed-shaped crops, such as wheat and barley," explained Knee.

The grain is transported from the sieve cleaner to the dehuller via two Astwell augers, each with a capacity of up to 3tph.

Both the sieve cleaner and the dehuller are fitted with aspirators and to ensure cost-efficiency, both operate with the same fan and cyclone.

Once the wheat has been dehulled it again passes through the sieve cleaner, removing any remaining whole grains or husks not removed by the aspirator. The grain is then ready for milling and is discharged from the JCC05 sieve cleaner into 1t bags.

"Our local miller operates a stone mill which means he has exacting standards around the quality of the grain he is happy to mill. The McArthur BDC cleaning and dehulling system has meant that we have been able to not only meet his standards but exceed them, and he can't wait to get his hands on some more!" continued Knee.

The current system delivering the ability to clean and dehull its heritage wheat on-farm is just the start of the Newt Estate's journey to add flour to the list of Estate-grown ingredients used in its restaurants' kitchens.

In around 18 months' time the existing processing plant will be moved to a specifically designed building and the Newt Estate will be making decisions around how to increase its cleaning and dehulling capability.

"Working with McArthur BDC, which has designed a plant that meets our existing requirements with a cost-effective solution that is simple to operate, we will be looking at potentially installing JK Machinery equipment with a larger capacity and the features and functionality to further reduce impurities within the grain," added Knee.

"For any farming business looking at installing a grain processing plant, I cannot overestimate the importance of getting your preferred supplier to carry out a site visit to make sure that the design works within the available space," continued Knee.

Knee also advises that you get a good electrician onboard from the start. It is important that he, or she, is comfortable working with grain handling equipment and can interpret specifications and drawings.

"Plus, you need to engage with a supplier that has a proven track record in successfully delivering grain processing plants. McArthur BDC fits that bill and with its team of grain handling experts, I would recommend that you talk to them first!" said Knee.