RamdomChances

If you wanna try the machines out RC you would be welcome if in Sisaket sometime (although may be a bit busy during harvest time).

Thanks for the info pun, not much call for rice harvesters around here, but combines are being increasingly used. Are you out here full time now then ? I've ever I'm over that way I'll drop you a line.

Hi mixedbreed, nice to hear from you again.

^ I think they are Nile Tilapia.

Yup, if your prone floods in rainy season catfish will make a break fro freedom

Punstedt, can i ask what sort of price they are going for up there ?

MF, same question really. (approx is fine)

When I eventualy get around to it thats what I was looking at geting as well.

what a tremendous resource this site is.

Most of thats down to MF, he's really brought a new dimension to this forum

I've use this info from another post thanks to Maizefarmer

Thai Feed Mills

48 Moo8

Buddamonthon Soi 4

Sampran

Nakornpathom

73220

Thailand

Tel: 02 - 814 3480

Fax: 02 – 429 2811

Website: www.directory.thailand.net/tfm/

They do not manufacture up North, but their distribution network is good and they will custom mix for end users – subject to quantity (around 10 metic ton or more) and will of course debunk to your own silo. Their pricing is very competitive.

Lee Pattana Company

28th Flr

Wall Street Tower

33/137 Surawong Rd.,

Bangrak

Bangkok 10500 Thailand

Tel 02 - 632 7300

Fax 02 – 236 7751

Website: www.leepattana.com

Again, no Northern mill, but they distribute nationwide, will custom mix and deliver, are one of the major pig-food suppliers – but do cattle feed as well.

Charoen Pokhand Feedmills (known in Thailand as CP Gropu)

CP Tower

313 Silom Road

Bangrak

Bangkok

Tel: 02 – 2310231 (and any last 2 digits up till 50)

The big name in Thailand on livestock feed and have mills all over the place.

P Charoen Phan Feedmills

69 / 6 -13 Suksawad Road

Ratburana

Bangkok

Tel 02 – 4630040

A small company, but that will make them more inclined to be willing to offer you a customised product at a more competative price.

Singeng Sawankaloke Company

620 / 76 – 78 Sathupradit Road

Yannawa

Bangkok

Tel 02 – 294 63 29, 2946330 and 294 6331

Fax 02 – 294 6332

Another small company – Thai Chinese owned, but a great reputation for good quality.

Star Feedmills

29/8

3 Phetkasem Road

Bangkok

Tel 02 – 421 1025-6, 02 – 2580030

I know nothing about these guys

Thai Silp Cattle Feed Company

1584 / 67 – 71

Samrong Centre

Sukhumvit Road

Samrong Nua

Samut Prakan

Tel 02 – 3932178-9, 02 – 3931956 – 7

Big up North

The the big big boys are, last but not least:

Cargill Siam Ltd.

18th Floor, Sindhorn Tower III

130-132 Wireless Road, Lumpini

Patumwan, Bangkok 10330

Thailand

Tel 02-263 2929

Fax 02-263 2940

I was just looking at some of the stats for pepper from here :-

http://www.oae.go.th/statistic/yearbook/2003/indexe.html

It's under others

It shows the 2003 value at 680 kg/rai with a farm price of 79 bhat, that works out at a whopping 53,730 bhat/rai. Which is a pretty amazing fig, anyone got any ideas on the costs to grow ?

RC

Nice link issangeorge, i've put it in the links section.

Anyone growing chilli, the stats from that link look very impresive.

2003 stats ( the most up to date)

267 kg/rai and a market price of 64.24 baht/kg that works out at just over 17,000 bhat/rai

On the face of it thats pretty impresive, I wonder what the growing costs are. Planting, fertiliser ect

The other one that stood out was pepper 53,700 bhat/rai

Hello !

How much you expect money back for kilo when you sell your fish (pla nin,pla duk)?

Does it any matter how big your fish are or how many kilous (tons)your sell one time?

It's a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" question. Depends on what your stocking rates are, what type of farming you do ect. I've never really done it comercialy, just low intensity, relying heavely on natural food, but did'nt think the return was that good.

A friend of mine used to have a large fish farm (1x 5 rai and about 3-4 x 1-2 ponds) I remember him telling me that he had actually reduced his stocking rate but was making more money as the fish grew faster. For large quantities you get an "agent" come in and catch and buy the lot.

back to what I said first time round - nope, not much mileage in that

Oh well, thanks anyway....just a thought, I more or less thought as much.

Oh good link Chownah, I came up with the index for that whole publication, might stick it in the links tomorrow

Is this sweet corn/normal - as in picked when the maize stalk is still green, or are we talking about a dried and withered out maize plant from which the dried cobs are picked? - if its a dried out (brown and brittle) maize stalk, then this is not going to work - must have greeness to it and the stalk must still have mositure (some) in it.

The dried brittle stuff, this opening line I thought was something of a give away

Around here they sell the maize when it's dried, this leaves a dried and withered stalk. Can this be somehow utilised as cow food ?

the idea was that although it might not be very good there is loads of the stuff around for free and was there any way to improve it into a viable feed.

Yea the fang mak silos could be used for silage not prob, just have to take most of the front wall out (about 70 cm high)to get tractor accsess. If I can grow enough next year the three of them full will go a long way to aliviating my dry season deficite

As you know, and do not need to be told in this case RDC, this is not about an optimiun silage - this is about a comprise i.e. finding a way to utilise what is avalible - so the benefit is going to lie in been able to offset the cost of cassava as an additive in the free avaliability of the maize waste.

Yep, I'm just looking for a cheap/better alternative to rice straw or treated rice straw so we are looking for something about 6-8% protien (more is better) and less then 1-1.5 bhat/kg. If the base mix (dried maize stalks) is free it gives me a lot of scope for additives.

a) Possible to get this maize leftover as soon as it is harvested i.e. find out where it comes from and go and have a word with farmer. Get it the same day it is cut down, and chip it the same day - a chipper is easy to make (can be made for Bht 5k - 10K - and I can send you plans on how to make one) - portable and capable of processing about 1.5ton and hour.

I can get it the same day it's picked although its pretty much dryed and withered by then anyway. I'm looking at where they still pick the mazie by hand so the rest of the plant is still standing, I'd harvest then with a mechanical "chop" which would give me a course chip. (we used to have a chop but sold it cos we were'nt using it I'm now looking for a second hand one again).

I've got 3 concrete troughs I used to use for doing "fang mak" about 10m x 3m x 2m, they have drainage as well so was thinking about using one of those as a test. I estimate they hold about 7-8 ton of straw (dry) 10-12 ton wet (each). So we are probably looking at about 10 ton of silage. for making fang mak, they hold about 360 bails@20bhat (approx 20kg), I can buy cheaper than this depending on the time of year but we'll talk ball park fig's so that's 7200 bhat for the straw and about 800 for the urea. So we are looking at producing a viable silage for less than 8,000 bhat that gives around 8% protien. I'd have to hire a "chop" (not much) and probaly get in some casual labour (still not much) plus any additives

Lets get to specifics, what do you think would be good additives and quantities, I was thinking cassava chips and molasis, what was the acid you mentioned how a bout water. The sort of thing I had in mind was mabye layering it. A bed of choped maize, sprinkle some cassava, molasis, water, then onto the next layer. How long should it be cooked for ?

Yea if you have plans for a chipper i'd be interested, please send (I'll PM you my e-mail adress).

Oh there was'nt a "b"

Nignoy, yes fresh maize is good for silage, I'm sure I've seen forage maize. I'm not sure on the economics of maize as a silage, I know MF makes it, but i've always though it a bit expencive to plant with regaurdes other crops.

I've seen an other post here about worms, mabye in the chang mai section, you could do a search.

Cheers Chownah, I think they are talking about the whole plant, but it's just dried out a bit. I'm talking about the leftover stalk and leaves.

Around here they sell the maize when it's dried, this leaves a dried and withered stalk. Can this be somehow utilised as cow food ?

I've often thought about this, I assume the dried stalk has little nutritional value, but it's avalible in huge qantities and basicaly free. It's probably too dry to make silage out of but I was thinking about putting additives in it, mabye molasis to increase the moisture, and something to increace the nutritional value like cassava (man), lamb, or even soy, peanuts or something.

I relise its not going to be as good as "grass" silage but it's compitition is rice straw(fang) about 2-4% protien and around 1 bhat/kg, or treated rice straw (fang mak) around 6-8% protien and 1.5 bhat/kg.

Just and idea anyone with any thoughts ?

RC

http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/X4565E/x4565e00.htm#TopOfPage

Heres a good link for teak, including a scheme they were runing here in Nakhon sawan

If you have purchased the barn you can simply dismantle it and

take it where you will.

Not quite right, transporting wood without any paper work is illegal and you will get stoped by every police check point on the way.

For fresh cut wood it has to be registered with the forestry commision first and you get the paperwork from them when you cut it. For "second hand wood" probaly the poo yai ban, or the local ampour office would be the best place to start.

Failing that stick to the back roads when you move it, make sure its covered and have plenty of cash on you

Well the land seems a good price whatever you do with it. I don't really know anything about rubber, it seems a loooooong wait fro your return to me, but would probaly suit someone who will move out here eventually or already has an income. There is a big big difference in seeing land in the wet and dry seasons, but you asked the questions and seemed happy with the replies.

Oh you don't actually have to kill the beef yourself

RC

How much area do you need to farm fish?

Just depends on how many fish you want to keep and how "intensive you want to do it. I have a half rai pond and we stocked it with 1000 pla dook(catfish) and 500 pla nin, last year, I get the run off from the dairy paddock into it so the water is pretty rich. They grew pretty well with not much food, ate some, gave some away and sold some in the shop.

I have been told that I could stock it with 6-10,000 (depending on who you belive) but I would of had to feed at much higher levels and thought about things like airation of the pond.

Feed much the same as any other type of farming is the most importent, you have to try and create an eco-system in the pond so the fish have "natural" food to eat, a lot of fish farms add cow manure to the ponds to promote algei (sp) and the like, a light strung over it will attract insects. They used to do fish farms underneath chicken farms so the fish can eat the chicken manure, but I belive the big aggro companies have put a stop to this. Still many of the larger chicken farms will have pla chon farms as well as they get a lot of dead bird's and just mince them up and throw in the pond.

We were buying baby fish from the market, 50 satang or 1 bhat each depending on the size. Obviously water supply is crutial as well, you would need your own bore.

Anyone got any tips on best bait for catching catfish ?

Use a net

Mae Sot town itself is quite developed and is a tourist area, backpacking and the like.

I assume from your post she'll be doing something in the burmese/hilltribe refugee camps but I don't really know much about them. Parts of Mae Sot as very rugged and inacessible. What work does the organisation do ?

Good topic, I've "pinned" this.

I'll add my experiances. I've a 6 inch dia bore with a 2hp submersible pump I can pump around 10 cubic meter/hour (rough figs) based on how long it takes the tank to fill. My tank is about 16 cu/m and water is gravity fed to the house and farm, apart from when using the sprinklers (4hp pump). We had to go down about 60m

First just to add what others have said, go around your local area and talk to people who already have a bore or well (just for defination when I say a well I mean a big dug hole in the ground, a bore being 6-12 dia drilled). Find out how deep it is, who did it, how much it was ect.

I'm not sure if my driller used the slurry, I never even knew about it before reading tim's post. Ours also offered the "drill again if they did'nt find water" garentee. I would imagine this is only avalible in areas where they are pretty certian they are going to hit water. I can't imagine someone drilling through 30m of granite on the off chance.

Depth, size and type of pump will affect the price, I think ours was around 70,000 with the pump, concrete cap and fittings. my tank is made with 2m circular rings

It's not leaning honest, just looks like

Wells are much cheaper so I've heard but only sutible it the water is near the surface.

An other point is always get you well or bore dug in the middle of dry season when the water table is at the lowest, this is what I've been told anyway.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm............................

This is the only way in my books, I'm a Brit too so I guess I'm picky, mind you Ramdom, I guess some of these here haven't got an oven so they have to make do with the pan, the only way to get propper dripping (meat fat and juice) is from the oven.

Sol.

You can pick a gas oven up for as littlte as about 5000bhat, I think I paid about that for mine, temp controls not that good though, other than that if you want to cook a joint of meat you could try braising it, should get good gravy that way as well.

Thanks everybody for the information.

I can cook well enough to keep me happy but my wife dors most of the cooking.

Sometimes I just get the hankering for ..........

I have a shoulder of lamb in the freezer and a convection roaster which I last used 3 years ago but there is only me that would eat lamb.

I was nearly going to come up tomorrow...but I'm not Should be soon, put that leg of lamb on hold I'll teach you to make gravy at the same time

British gravey does'nt have milk, don't know what you do in the States. In the UK it's usually served with a roast, using the meat juces and water from the boiled veg.

Here's mine roast the meat in a pan or tin. Put in a little bit of water and cover with foil.

About half hour before you recon the meat is done, take it out of the oven, remove the foil and drain the juices into something.

If your having roast potato's par boil them for about ten min. Keep the water. I usually boil (only a little bit) the rest of the veg in the same water. When the meat is finnished, poor some of the veg water in the pan and de-glaze, add this to the previously kept juices, (I usually skim the fat of then as I use cornflour to thicken).

Put all the juices in a saucepan, stir and season then mix a couple of table spoons of corn flour with cold water, add this and bring to the boil while stiring vigorously. Add more water or corn flour to get the desired, quantity/thickness.

You can make a rue with flour and fat but I find the cornflour way easier.

I was wondering how long it would be before this came up.

Well in my instance I have'nt got a farm, my wife has. As far as I know and I'm no expert on it most of what has been writen is correct.

Treat your neighbours with respect pay your hardware store bills (and other suppliers) on time and if anything, and you will earn the respect of the community for your effort to be one of them.

Oh - and make a big effort to learn to learn to speak, read & write the language.

Things work very differently in the rural communities.

This sums it up very well IMO, we have student vets come and stay with us on work experiance out of Pitsanuluk, and had visits of a varaity of officials, to be honest it's never even been mentioned.

Should the "plants" portion of the "plants, pets, and vets" forum get shifted here and this forum's name be changed to "farming and gardening"?.....or maybe not?.....maybe asking the people who post plant questions there what they think about this too.....maybe a post there to discuss the possible change?

Personaly I think not, as really they are two different subjects.

I think plants tends to cover, indoor and garden plants. Where as farming is a different ball game. I'Ve got MOD'd rights in there as well so I can move posts over if needs be.

I've sort of got accustomed to the spelling of it now and it cuts down on the ammount of PM's I get as everyone always spells it random.

^ good idea tim, get writing . I'll probably pin some of the more generic, general info threads later.

RDC - good move in my opinion.

The subject was taking a life on its own, and the idea of consolidating it under its own heading helps to sort it out from the rest of the threads.

Tim

Thanks mate, I've been saying that for a while, some of the excelent posts you have made have contributed greatly in getting this froum set up.