Traditional milling is a very labour intensive activity. As the years have gone on and the Prior’s Flour has grown in popularity, we have been faced with real challenges to find ways to innovate our production processes whilst maintaining the tradition and ethos of the business and conserving / protecting the historic fabric of Fosters Mill.
One particular area of challenge has been finding safe and efficient ways to handle grain. In some years, we now handle over 60 tonnes of grain which until now has arrived at the mill in 25kg sacks. It does not take a mathematical genius to recognise that 60 tonnes divided by 25kgs equals a large number of sacks and each of those sacks is typically moved at least 5 times during the production process!
To preserve the miller’s back and muscular skeletal structure (!), we’ve needed to evolve the way we handle grain. Over the last few months, we have installed a vertical auger system which enables us to lift grain from the Meal Floor (ground flour) to the Dust Floor (the top floor) and from there, grain is now able to flow into the grain storage bins which sit above the millstones. We have installed this piece of equipment in the corner of the mill’s sack hoist chamber such that we have not altered the original fabric of the mill in any way.
As can be seen from the photo, the grain flows by gravity from a grain trailer through galvanised steel pipework into the grain auger boot and from there is whisked up the mill to be stored in the grain bins.
This represents an important step forward which will improve our productivity as well as the health and wellbeing of the milling team! The photos show our first trial run and we are now finalising the process and finishing off the installation / guarding of the equipment. We can and do still hoist grain and flour using the wind with our trusty sack hoist when required!
