kickstart

Do what, ใม้สะเดา Mi Sadow is Neem wood ,main one in Thailand is Siam Neem ,a quick growing wood popular for building ,when well-seasoned the worms will not eat it will last a long time, farmers often use it in building they store sheds, cattle sheds ect, but when still green wood worm can be a problem ,and it can split ,and warp ,what Thais do, get say a 1 foot square log 4-5 yard long ,they will saw though only 60-70 % then leave it to dry ,then cut it down in to planks or rails ,this will prevent it from warping., again need to remove the bark soon after cutting. It is not good in the ground it will soon rot out at the base, the Thai way use 1-meter concrete posts with a tenon on then put a tenon on your wooden post and bolt it together. If you have seen some of these rustic Thai tables and chairs, a lot are made from Neem wood. Interesting your Gratin Tepar you have some down in the Southern Thai province's, not heard of it Noth of their ,they probably are some but not common. .

Seeing this post and the word Gratin, made me look, we rear a few cattle and feed Gratin to our cattle, the specie is a tree legume, quick growing, more native to Queensland and PNG, does grow in Malasia. As for using it for wood working, as I said the one we feed to our cattle, is the same genus but a different specie we have some big poles of it about the place the wood worm likes it , But like a lot of tropical woods it will split as it dry's, this can be prevented by applying a thick coat of PVA glue on the end grain, easy to find, only 80-100 baht for a large pot of it . And has been said apply some anti-wood worm stuff, it will help if you can get the bark off the wood as soon as you can, after no more than 2 months, the wood worm lays they eggs between the bark and the wood, take the bark off and they should not attack the wood . As for drying/ seasoning times, a lot less here, than in a temperate climate, I have some big , Teak, Mango ,Madras Thorn Rain Tree ,in less than a year they were dry enough to work from being cut fresh. I put Gratin Tepa in to Google in Thai, looking at some of the photos of this wood it looks very nice with a very good grain patten ,whatever you do with it it should come up well.

I worked here in Thailand officially, then the contract finished I went back to the Uk, then I come back here on my own, that day at DM airport I got 81 baht/GBP, with marriage extension and now retirement extension I was shipping GBP over here at 70-down to 55 baht /GBP, now things are ok, money is here all the time . As for present exchange rates, as has been said a military government, normally not good for a currency, economy not in a particularly good shape but the Baht is still strong and not moving, if things happen after the election it might change, is it all this foreign currency reserves keeping the baht up or what.

That is interesting that you can change back and forward. When I applied for my UK pension, I wanted it paying into my UK bank, but doing the job on-line, the- paying-in-to-the-Uk-bank forms would not download after I had to re-register with the DWP. Now It is paid in to my Kasikorn bank, as for worrying about exchange rates they have not changed more than 1- 1, 1/2 baht in the almost 2years I have been claiming my pension.

You might be lucky to get these numbers from a street seller or on line ,but most people will by these numbers on the underground lottery, Spend 100 baht on 3 numbers, 50x50, you could win 30 000 baht.

You are right it was a late start this year to the hot season, you know when it is here, when the wind comes from the south, which they have for some time now but this year they are also coming from the SW, which for us is almost a first time, as for coming from the NW never not around here Lopburi, nor will it be until the rains comes.

A good question, we come from Europe where box scrapers are not used, but across the Atlantic they are used, also our Farmerjo has made/used one. I know Thai like the American way of farming, a lot of our dairy cattle breeds come from America. So, I presume, if they use one so will we, or they got it so let's use it, most certainly not to a good use. But that just about sums up they management, the photo is the same field about 50ria taken 6-8 weeks ago, this crop of corn has now been ploughed in just did not grow had lots of water, FJ said it was a cool spell true, but other crops or corn in the area grew, most were cut for corn silage. Just a big company farm thinking they have all the big tackle like they American cousins they can make lots of money, except the Americans have some idea about big farm management, this lot do not.

Running well late on this one, a lot depends on where you live, I live-in a big dairy cow area we have most things, we have calf milk powder, imported , mainly from Europe it is about 2000 baht/bag, one bag is about what you need from birth to weaning at about 6-7 weeks. we can also get bottles and teats for feeding calves milk, ask about where you live some one will know where you can buy milk powder etc. ,Mr Google might help you It sounded like this calf had a digestive scour ,due to the very wrong feeding of baby formular, what your vet ? did not say was to take it off and milk feed it glucose ,available from most chemists ,and or some Saches oral rehydration, mix 3 with 2 liters of warm water ,very often it is not the scours that will kill a calf but the dehydration, body fluids lost with the scour. As for using Gentamycin a broad-spectrum antibiotic, about the same as Pen and Strep, an anti-bacterial would be better, I use to use a drug called Intertrim,an anti-biotic and an anti-bacterial a good drug, now not easy to find now, or Amphoprim they are anti-bacterial tablets. As for vet saying he will not inject a calf under 4 months ,very set in his ways, I would not trust 80% of Thai vets, ie a friend of mine had a cow with a lump under its mouth Thai vet ,25 years' experience gave it 2 injections, never said what it was, I had a look at it ,a big abscess about to burst.

Saw this yesterday our local farming company, pulling this box scrapper around, about as much use as a chocolate teapot ,walked across the field ,2 inch underground a pan, land very hard ,did not leave a good finish . They would be better off waiting for some rain, going in with a one pass cultivator, and then drilling job done. But they days are numbered, all they land is rented, all they equipment is big, imported secondhand from the USA most of the land in our area they only get one crop a year, hardly enough to pay for everything., so I have been told they farm about 2000 rie.

So ,it him and his mates that wake me up at 5.30 am I am in Lopburi province home to some of the artillery brigades, they practice in the hills just outside Lopburi ,about 25 km, as the crows fly from us, they like to practice in the early morning, sometimes at night, we can hear their guns . Our joke, they are practicing for the next coup.

Talk of masks, the TV reporters on the news this evening, were wearing masks, first time for a long time, as a gentle hint the Thai populist to wear masks. Not that many people in our area have stopped wearing masks. our locale weekly market more wearing masks than not.

https://www.wikihow.com/Air-Layer-a-Tree As someone who does not know what air layering, is found this. I would say wait for the rains, end of May ?? ,this year is not a good year for fruit trees, ours in the garden are not looking well, just too hot, very few mangos about this year in our area, this time last year you could have done it now lots of rain.

Thailand’s election law bans the following: Selling or distributing alcoholic drinks or hosting drinking sessions from 6pm on the day before the election until the end of election day Buying or selling votes Preventing eligible voters from casting their ballots Providing free transport for eligible voters to voting stations Intentionally damaging a ballot paper Taking a photo of a marked ballot paper Taking a ballot paper out of a polling place Releasing opinion survey results in the seven days up to the close of voting on election day What law,the wife's family are already talking about how much money they will get and from which party. This 10 000 baht, cannot see it, that will cost someone a lot of money, but if it does happen all that cash about being spent would put a couple of points on to the Thai economy.

I am in Loburi like you still waiting, at 6 am today some distant thunder, no rain forecast for the next 2 maybe 3 days. This time last year maize crops where drilled and growing, this year nothing has been drilled no rain at all ,3.5 mm last week, just enough to keep the dust down for a few hours.

The Songkram festival is also a religious festival, Thai new year, this family have a shop selling pots for gardens, concrete pipes etc. they also have a dairy farm, and farm growing some maize. They have lined up all they vehicles, to the left off picture is 5 motorbikes. Here they are having merit making ceremony to bring luck for the next year, green coconuts, oranges, on the table the pigs head has not yet arrived.

Ture, but you like me started to pay into your pension when you started to work, though tax's I was 18, worked 35 years, can now claim full UK state pension. My Thai wife has not worked in a tax paying job for 25 years, but she now gets the Thai state pension, you had not worked for 25 years in the UK how much pension would you get? (I know the SS will top it up). More Thais should pay tax, I live in a rural area, in our Soi most people are farmers pay little or no tax, the 4-5 dairy farmers will pay about 5-10 000baht /year in tax, depends on how much milk they produce, how much tax dose a rice farmer pay ,wife's daughter and son- in- law, rice farmers do not pay any tax and had an income of 110 000 baht. The more tax you pay the more you should get back, wife's granddaughter worked at 7-11 for a while and paid about 4% in tax, you do not get a lot in return for that.

Problem with buying the Pacific 99verity you will probable have to buy it in a 10 kg box enough for a few rie and it would be a livestock feed verity ,I would say the op would only want 1 or 2? kg for the garden? It will self-seed but second time round the yield will be a lot lower, better to use it as an annual plant, sowing seeds every year. As for growing it in a mixed sward, sorghum will grow a lot taller than the other plants, could be a shading problem. also Sorghum likes lot of fertilizer, it is a hungry crop, growing it with other legumes, that do not need little or no urea ..........,, yes it will pick up some N from the growing legumes, but will it be enough. Aphids can be a problem, they will attack the flowers, a lot will depend on the weather ,we were lucky we had no problem with aphids, it is a just depends. The photo the op posted, that looks like what we grew for livestock feed ,try a kg from say Big C, and seed can be kept back for the following year.

As FJ said, it use to be a popular crop, we grew it once it fell out of favor as a difficult crop to harvest, seed heads use to be cut by hand, use to itch, the skin, all cut on pice work need to keep going to make any money ,payed per sack cut. Now we have combines to harvest the crop, we had one in, very little is grown, seems if cane and cassava has taken over Some farmers in my area grow white Sorghum and cut it for cattle feed, what FJ said about Jumbo, Jumbo is a hybrid a cross of Napier and Sorghum ,as he said feed to cattle in the cool season, it has no seeds, like Sorghum . The Sorghum for humans is normally the white seed sorghum the brown seed is mainly used as a livestock feed, humans can eat the brown seeds, but saying that looking at Lazada it is the brown seed they sell for humans, must be newer verities around.

You have just answered my question, I was going to ask do you use any seed dressing, seed going in to the land dry ,no problem with ants ect,is Flea Beatle here in Thailand.

Local cane grower spending some of his money from this year's crop. You can see the bore hole on the right and the cane in the background, and the old set up at the back, a po-pop engine mounted on a frame with the pump . He is using drip tape system, working well considering how hot it is.

I was also out yesterday spreading some cattle muck on our Nappier grass, I load it up with a rear end loader, then shovel it out on to the grass with the misses driving the tractor up the field, and yes it was hot. To quote Nole Coward "Only mad dogs and English men (and now Aussies) go out in the mid-day sun". The reason I was doing it now rain is due this weekend ?? while the muck was nice and dry easy to handle, a good rain on it will help to wash it into the land, the wife looked at the Nappier grass and said is it dead? I said no just the dry season, but normally it still grows, abet slowly in the dry season, this year no grow at all.

Very little Thai beef is exported, most farms are not geared up for that type of beef production, one reason to produce any beef cost need to be kept down, which Thais cannot do too much of a reliance on expensive concentrate, not enough on growing any forage for themselves .so keeping costs down. I know you can buy Thai Angus beef in prepacks frozen in Macrow if the same company has any for exports I would not know, same as the Thia French beef company they do export if so it would not be a lot If you look at a Thai mountain very little if any, area for producing beef, maybe a few farms with a few head of stock selling for the local market as for export very little if any. if so, would it be going to China I would not know, but I would say no . Thailand doses have a market for exporting in calf dairy heifer's, a few years ago a lot went to Vietnam, Malasia is another market, I think they are still sent down they .

No, I was wrong the wife just said 90 day, looking at my old records about right ,but they do not ripen evenly so say 100 days.

Your area should be like ours, find a shop selling seed and fertilizer, sprays etc. they should sell Mung beans, they will sell it for seed, will the seed have any seed dressing on it ??you will have to ask last lot we brought a few years ago did not have any seed dressing on . Or, not now to dry ask a local farmer if he will grow a rie or two. Last lot we grew not a bad yield we got 500 kg from we think it was 7 rie. Easy to grow, growing to harvest about 100 days.

As a lot of farangs in Thailand know that the number 9 is very auspicious, more than one person has said about 99 coming up as the 2 winning numbers, and most say it has been a lot of years since those numbers come up, wife's sister won 6000 baht on the underground lottery with 99. As for a computer picking the numbers ,,it could if it knew all the numbers for the past XX years odds of probability comes in to play, but the odds are still very low, basically I would say BS. That Chat GPT will be a busy little bunny on the 16th as a lot more people will give it a go.