kickstart

Cassava right now it is profitable the price is the highest I have known it is 3.40baht/kg, bearing in mind it is the end of the season, and they is a shortage of cassava, at the start of the season say last November it was 2.40/baht/kg, still not a bad price. The rest of the numbers these are for where I am in Lopburi ,the first ploughing a tractor and 3 disc plough is about 400/baht rie depending on your land you might need a second 7 disc plough that is about 250-300 baht/Rie, then ridging up about 200 baht/rie. You will have to buy in stems for planting you need 50 bundles/rie one Bundel is 40 baht around here, The wife's daughter and son- in- law plant cassava they get 500 baht/rie. If you do it now it will need irrigating, the drip tape is popular .do you have water ??,if not wait for the rains to you will have to ask where you are for cost of setting up a irrigation system. It will need spraying for weeds now around here drones are used they cost is now done to about 80-90 baht rie they a a disease of cassava that might want spraying for, fertilizer ? some farms use it some do not, not checked for a while a bag of compound fertilizer is about 1700baht/bag. Harvesting cost that is around here 50 stang /kg that is for a gang to come in that should? include haulage to the buyer. Needless to say, do it yourself would be a lot cheaper. The profit margin, how long is piece of string, as I said now the price is good, so as this is Thailand next year they will be a lot more grown price could drop, is you land fertile ?? cassava can use a lot of the soil nutrients if soil is poor as a lot of Thai land is, yield will be low .that is why you cannot say you will get X ton/rie. But, Thailand up to press, is in the top 5 producers in the world for cassava a lot in this area is dried and goes to Chaina, some is fermented down for ethanol alcohol for gasohol for all our vehicles, so in theory the price should hold up, but things happen .

I was a believer of giving the cattle a lick of molasses. It encouraged them to eat dry grass if that was only available in the dry season. Certainly made life a lot easier. It might be a bit of a faff, but they is a big but behind it. Thai dairy framers rear they cattle on the American way, cattle are in the sheds the hole time and fed is brought to them, in the USA farms have land where they can grow corn to make silage and feed that to cattle the whole time plus other feeds. Here in Thailand a lot of farms only have a few rie ,no land to grow anything, so they have to buy in all they feed stuffs, main sauce of forage being rice straw, as I have said before rice straw is short of everything 3-4% protein very low energy levels and even lower vitamins and minerals. So, the idea of treated rice straw is to increase the feed vale of it ,I first did it 20 years ago, a few farmers use to do it some had some bunkers in one bunker making it and one bunker feeding. Not seen it done for a few years now, farmers just to lazy to do it or what, some say milk yield did increase and cows eat more straw, could increase there fertility, but did not see many signs of that FJ, Molasses is a good feed, as you said popular in Auss, along with the Molasse/urea feed blocks, just put a few blocks out for the cattle to lick, as a supplement feed in the dry season . I have seen the feed block over here imported not cheap Thai farmers never seen them before, never caught on again some years ago I made some they worked well again a no- no never caught on. Molasses has been feed over here the Thai way, mix it with water and pour it over rice straw, waste of time the watered-down molasses had no feed value, then molasses was cheap, now I think it about 9 baht/kg.

Yes Recipe 100 kg or straw,100kg water 5 kg? of urea, mix water /urea pour over straw, cover for 21 days, then feed to cattle, it increases the protein of the straw and helps brakes down the Celulose of the straw, making it more digestible.

I would have thought that loans would have come from BAAC, or Om-Sin, Government Savings Bank, but do the have a limit I have posted that our dairy farmers have borrowed up too 1 million baht from BAAC ,but you are talking about a lot more than that . In this area we have an area that is full of poultry farms, the area is way out of town not so many house etc. ,not so many objections soil not good for framing soil very light. a bit cheaper land than better quality land in the area Most are independent farms suppling the big boys on contract they are funding it all of them self's, like you XX million baht investment money must come from somewhere. Note, a local dairy co-op who I use to work decided to build large dairy farm they borrowed 150 million baht from the Government Savings bank buying land. buildings stock etc. they lasted 6 years then gave up with a loss of 50 million baht. Did they pay any of the money back, do not know but they have a history of losing money bad management and corruption

I would have thought that loans would have come from BAAC, or Om-Sin ,Government Savings Bank, but do they have a limit I have posted that our dairy farmers have borrowed up too 1 million baht from BAAC ,but you are talking about a lot more than that. In this area we have an area that is full of poultry farms, the area is way out of town not so many house etc. ,not so many objections to it all soil not good for framing soil very light . so land a bit cheaper, than better quality land in the area Most are independent farms suppling the big boys on contract they are funding it all them self's, like you XX million baht investment money must come from somewhere. Note ,a local dairy co-op who I use to work decided to build large dairy farm they borrowed 150 million baht from the Government Savings bank buying land, buildings, stock act they lasted 6 years then gave up with a loss of 50 million baht. As I said at the time they can manage 30 cows but not 300, they aim, I think they never got they, no management, they gave up who will repay that loan, not herd who as of yet.

Thanks

With this grass seed no need to plant regularly with good management it should last a few years, same with a lot of other grass seeds ,waterlogging can be a problem most grass do not like waterlogging and will die . Michal Hare wrote a paper about waterlogging gras fields in Thailand he did some research with Mulato II left one area grew well, I think it was 2 other areas one had a lot of water the other was sat in water ,that area died the other picked up but did not do so well . I did wonder how much urea was used the photo come from Issan, with their light soil not so fertile, urea will probably be the main way the grass can grow Urea should not make the grass bitter, as CLW knows Duch dairy farmers are having big problems with urea from dairy farms getting into water causes, when I wa they a few years ago summer time, grass growing every were and was being cut for silage as well.

Same around here, Charolais do seem to hold they price more so than other breeds, most of ours are crosses from dairy cows, have seen some Brahman X Carolais they are nearly all nice-looking cattle. One of my beef cows is due to calve next month with a Charolais, tried a Beefmaster and a Angus on her did not hold, the Charoiais did her third calf ,she is finding it hard work dose not go far ,just hope the calf is not to big have cut back on her feed over past month hoping that might slow the calves growth rate down ,she is due on 23ed April ,but have found with Charolais and often Brahman they can easily go 7-10 days over that date and still calve alright . As you said price are low ,and if it like other times when prices drop it will be for some time yet .

Driving past our Betagro mill I see a lot of blower tucks a lot with a trailer a lot of the big poultry farmers use 18 wheel artics. We have a few local shops that sell pig feed in bags for the small farms I would say they will continue for a while yet. As you know we rear a few cattle, we feed brewers grains we have 3 local suppliers we buy grains in 40kg bags ,the bags are nearly all 30 kg old pig feed bags, the grains are delivered by truck and trailer or by 18 wheel artics ,you think about it 30 tons of grains going in to feed sacks that is a lot of feed sacks ,and most a new straight from the farm, not been around the mill .and as I said we have 3 suppliers in this area So somewhere they are still a lot of pig farms buying they feed in sacks. Like you our feed has gone up by 20% ,I would say the price will not come down ,if it does that will be first. A lot of dairy farmers have given up the margins are getting tighter all the time and rice straw is at a record price, not even thinking of their bank borrowings. Question might be dumb, if you have to change over to silos will you have to pay for them or will Betagro help, would it make more work no bags to take to the pig pens ,you will have to barrow it from the silo?, install an auger system expensive.

My cattle feed has maize, cassava, palm meal ,coconut meal, soya, rice bran meal, and some rice husks, if you look at a bag of feed it will list all the ingredients and they is a lot ,with a and or after each ingredient, they will use what is available and more importantly what is cost effective I have a big Betagro feed mill near here pre Covid they use to be a long queue of truck s waiting to tip they loads thay have come up from the port their loads coming from ships. Now I see very few now weather it is the war in Ukraine, inflation making imported feed stuff expensive, they must be using from local suppliers one guy I know is only 20 km down the road he sells them corn and cassava ,as you say soya must come from South America, someone did tell me that some comes from China, can not see that ,with the Chinese taste for pork you would have thought they would import most of their soya.

Very rare never seen one, can remember the TL?125 Honda, based bon then 125cc push rod engine, about the same time, shows my age, you could enter a classic class in trials with one now now .

I have been writing about growing grass for cattle, these are 2 photos from our grassland guru Michal Hear posted a while ago, the grass is Mombasa Guinee as you can see it has been irrigated. I would say this grass is 45 days old? Grass like this cut young, cattle will do well you could most certainly cut back on concentrate feed, it can be done, Michal said this is a goat farm ,luck goats.

Hi FJ I forgot rice seeders, something I have not seen around here, still done the old way here. Sounds if your Soya beans are almost a catch crop before rice planting, a few years ago some rice farmers tried sesame seed this time of year, a fairly drought resistant crop, some crops did well others did not, these crops I put down to poor soil, the soil was very light as I have said before known as Kee Pet ,so called as when it gets wet go's like duck <deleted> Nom rain around here yet wind coming from the Southwest which often means rain but our whether forecast says no rain, looking at Thai TV this morning hail storms up n CM made a mess of some house roofs. Since the UK has left the EU they are trying to negotiate a trade agreement with Auss and NZ, I wonder if some Australian exporters are looking at the UK market for, they beef, for as far as I know UK prices are still the same, or with inflation prices are only going up . One thing I often listen to the UK farming program on the radio ,since the UK left the EU no more EU farming subsidies ,now The UK government is giving suberizes but it seems most of it is based on the environment the better you are looking after hedge rows providing areas for wild life ect the better off you will be and the environment lobby is quite a strong one ,it almost seems that growing food for the masses is almost taking a back burner, the UK shopper might soon see more Aussi beef on their shelves than UK beef .

The Triumph T110 was a 650cc manufactured from 1953-1961, knowing Triumph they did a few mods over the years, why name it the T110. The Triumph T100 was a 500 cc modal, so called T100 as it could reach 100 mph a good marketing ploy, the T110 ,one motorcycle magazine at the time got one to 109 mph not quite 110 mph, but with a few mods it could retch 110 mph. This one looks like an early modal with that tank design.

Surprised that your farmers are planting corn, would have thought it was to early no reliable rain. We have a guy, end of our soi who plants Soya like you he gets gangs in and harvests when still green they bundle them up and load them on to a pick up, and away where to I have yet to found out ,will find out one day. Never seen them dried and harvested, weather they are dried and harvested in other parts of the country I would not know, I asked as thay are a main ingredient in livestock feed especially pig and poultry, is that imported for them? We are like you Sun Hemp has not caught on around here, I would say it is not a main cash crop like corn, I know it can be crushed for oil, but finding a buyer for it no one seems to want to take the risk. Could be a specialist market for someone willing to take the risk, especially the heath food market. Same as I posted what 2 years ago now, one guy growing millet seems an easy crop to grow seems drought tolerant a combinable crop, no one else tried to grow it again problem is finding a buyer, not a crop used in Thailand as it is used in Africa. One thing, our Soya guy has a special drill for drilling Soya, narrower row spacings, do your farmers use one, or use a corn drill up the field then back down the middle for anther row, a dairy farmer near here did that to drill grass seed did well too.

A yes and no, yes as it give you a instant heard, buying g a cow and calf, but you then have to get that cow back in calf. All cows when they calve will lose weight ,they use all they energy resorces to produce milk for the calf ,hens the loss of weight, you buy a cow and calf in she could well be thin ,will not come on heat ,just not fertile ,if she is a first calving heifer makes the job even harder ,first calvers need feed for producing milk for the calf and for her self to grow and to become fertile ,producing milk and growing can be done becoming fertile not easy ,same problem the dairy heifers ,getting some back in calf is mission impossible. If you buy in some heifer's you can feed them ,also pick the breed of bull to use ,when they calve you can feed them prevent them from the weight loss .in theory she has calved for 3 months she should come on heat and hold to service . Looking back at our records our heifers are calving at 26-28 months of age, getting them calving earlier makes them more productive . I read a paper a long while ago saying heifers calving at 3 years old, some are even older makes them more difficult to get back in calf, reason why did they calve at 3 years plus ,just not fertile to get in calf ?,and it carrey's on in future years . As I said growing some good quality grass is more than half the problem.

I read an article in The Nation must have been 20 years ago, saying then with compound interest it would be 50 years before all the farmers paid back all of, they debt. I live in a bid dairy cow area I know a few farmers who are in debt to the BAAC to the tune of 800 000 baht ,I would say others are the same, some more Also we have a lot of sugar cane in our area a high investment crop a lot of farmers are in debt to the same tune ,a lot get their sugar cane cheque ,pay off some of their debt ,then borrow some more ,the debt never comes down ,it will take a lot more than 15 years to pay off most of these debts. And remember in our countries farmers are subsidized by the govenment ,here in Thailand it is only the rice farmers that get any subsidies

Sure, no problem, a good idea, where to start, first off breed of cattle, Angus, Beefmaster or Charolais would be ideal, but anything above 75% of one of these breeds will result in heat stress, Beefmaster is the exception they originated from the hot parts of the USA and can stand the heat. The easy way is what we do. find some Thai Native X Brahman heifer's they are about you will know them they have short ears, from the Thai Natives, do not buy any long-eared cattle/ things, they just do not get fat, then ask your local Department of Livestock Development or in Thai Gom -Pa-sue-Sat to AI your cattle with the above semen, they should have it. Then feeding your cattle look at the DLD web site they have different varieties of grass seed, Mulato II, Mombasa Guinea, plus other varieties or look at Ubon Grass Seeds, the owner is Michal Hare, who has posted on here knows all about grass seed., a lot depends on your soil type. You could do a cut and cart system -hard work -cattle have feet and can walk, you could use a grazing system, I use to do a strip grazing system using electric fences worked well. with water you should be ok in the dry season by irrigating the grass You will need some concentrate feed should be able to sauce it locale and some cattle minerals. The main question how many cattle, I would start off with say 3-4 heifers with their calves, remember cattle grow, 3-4 cows plus fully grow heifers or bulls will soon shift a lot of feed.

Where to start, first cows are not loaded with antibiotics, all farms are tested for antibiotics in their milk any farm found with antibiotics in the milk will get fined 30-40 times they daily income, basically a month supply of milk, with some farms that would be enough to put them out of business. Not many grass feed cows especially now in tie dry season no grass, most cows get feed rice straw. A lot will get feed rice straw 365 day a year. With the rice straw diet not so many heathy cows about all are shot of energy in the diet leading to poor quality milk, and a major infertility problem. Most farms use a brought in feed not a good quality feed company's trying to keep the prices of feed down, a lot of the raw ingredients are imported, not cheap, unlike the US of A, home grown, not a lot of corn and soya is used to expensive. No "industrial "cows in Thailand the average daily milk yield is about 12-14 kg/day a few good farms will do 8-20 kg/day, see above for reason. Ethically friendly suppliers very few and far between.

This Garry Lineker story is steeling all the headlines over the past two days, but I found this: The Prime Minister announced the creation of a new detention centre in Northern France, a new command centre bringing enforcement teams together in one place for the first time and an extra 500 new officers patrolling French beaches. The measures will be funded by Britain as part of a £500 million three-year Anglo-French deal, from the Telegraph. Is I see it why should the Uk taxpays pay money to France, when the French could stop them boarding the boats, as we know the French want them out the way, so they do not have to look after them in their detention camps. Does anyone know how the French stop illegals coming into France, I know they have a problem on the boarder with Italy, if the French stopped more of them entering France it would help everyone.

Ture, but the football related programs and a boxing program are off the air.

Talk on the radio today, with no presenters and pundits on MOTD ,what happens if audience figures go up, this might happen as a one off, what happens if it continues.

That loan is also making big news the guy, Richard Sharp is only Chairman of the BBC, and he did declare that he facilitated the loan during the appointment prosses, and he has given money to the Tory party in the past, that is being looked in to, but do not hold your breath on any outcome. Note. A lot of BBC Radio 5 programs are off the air this afternoon, presenters coming out in sympathy.

Weather forecast is for Monday for the storms, been getting warm around here, but the wind breeze is starting to come from the south, meaning hot season is on its way. Will test my new rain gauge, we had a 360 backhoe in doing some work widening our driveway, he swung round .............exit rain gauge, got a new one from Shopee. We would like some rain, but sugarcane harvesters would not like a lot, still a fair bit to cut. Any rain, someone will try drilling some corn, last year it worked, drilling early and they got a full crop, some years, gets to two-foot-high no rain, local cows are happy they get the plants, makes a change from rice straw. One thing, cassava price around here is now 3.40baht/kg the highest I have known, it is almost the end of the season, and the market is short, one local buyer is getting 4 baht/kg, he sends it to a factory that makes cassava flour.

Thay have been though the meat grinder, back in 1997 then they borrowed a record amount from then World bank and IMF, it was our Tony that finished paying it back, and in record time. Then bank lending was 58% of GDP, highest in SE Asia at the time, now its 62%of GDP, about the same, but then inflation was not a problem. A case of we shall see.