About us

The Mount family’s association with the agricultural lime industry began in 1868 when Joseph Mount started quarrying in Brandon, Suffolk. Back then, chalk was dug by hand and loaded on to horse and carts where upon arrival at the field it would then be spread by hand also.
Joseph’s son, Fredrick came in to the business, later to be followed by his son Eric. By this time lorries were on the scene and the lime could now be spread by one or two men shovelling the chalk onto a spinner mounted on the back of the lorry. Mounts of Brandon had also moved into producing chalk for whiting, chalk blocks for building and chalk to be mixed into mineral feed. Flints also became a sideline for the company as they were extracted through the processing of the chalk.

In 1958 Eric’s son Keith joined the business and together they developed reliable soil testing methods that meant that lime no longer had to be applied to whole fields and could just be applied to the most acidic areas. Keith later produced maps and reports so that farmers could keep a record of what had been applied. Spreading became more accurate with lorries now using specially built lime hoppers with a conveyer belt and twin spinners.

By the 1970’s lorry spreaders were in decline in favour of modern tractors and trailed spreaders. As tractors became more powerful, larger spreaders and flotation tyres were introduced. Tractors & spreaders are still in use with some machines capable of spreading 2-300 tonnes per day.

In 1994 Keith’s son Andrew became the fifth generation of the family to become involved with the lime business. Keith & Andrew still run the business and now supply large tonnages of fertilisers and compost to farmers as well as regular lime tonnages. Nearly 140 years on the company and its staff have together built a reputation for an efficient service with traditional values and now sample up to 200,000 acres a year in 8 different counties.