IsaanAussie

Congratulation. Now if you can get 80% of that from the buyer.

Gotlost,

Do you achieve 80%? Wow if that is the case I might rethink growing a tree or two..

IA

If appears that tose of us who have persisted with rubber tree plantations are being rewarded. I was just doing my usual "What on with Commodities" skate around the net and found this link.

§Ò¹¹ÓàÊ¹Í PowerPoint

Personally I got scared off with the 2008 slump. But, and pardon the pun, it seems rubber has indeed BOUNCED back.

Isaanaussie

I have grown several lemon trees from seed, but many grow the root stock, usually the slower the growth the nearer to the fruit the new plant will be, also planting the seed fresh from the fruit is quicker than drying it.

I have had imported trees flourish well and these are easy to air graft for new plants

wouldn't know how rootstock would come from the seed but definitely can see bhow many seeds will not produce the original fruit. Reason is that they are super-hybrids that finally started producing fruit for the reason of the breeders that were hybridizing. that is why the all come grafed as it is true to the characteristics of the desired hybrid. that said I grew up on "Myers" lemons a beautiful sweet/sour flesh that was not acrid in the least and the finest lemon-ade under the sun; my wifee brought seeds back from California planted them and we are a few years into seeing what will happen but I don't think we'll end up with anything close to a Meyer but it's part of the fun and life on the farm. I'm going to bring in some stock to graft to some wild stuff she has growing at the house and hopefully in the future I'll be able to pass some onto others if it survives and proves to be a great producer here as it is in the states. yum yum and choke dee

Ford,

Mark me down for a few trees once you, sorry, your wife has done all the hard "graft". Glad it appears to be normally aspirated FEF this morning, as it had appeared a very much supercharged FEF waiting for the world cup last night?

Isaanaussie

This is one of those ocassions when I'm just speechless. Farmerapache, I congratulate your efforts building your farm and house. I wish you all the best for the future.

Isaanaussie

Todays topic is about silent helpers. They do things to help without your knowledge, do it their way "Fix it or <deleted>> it", and always at your cost. Why don't we farangs understand that they didn't do it on purpose, it was either an accident or whatever is broken was old anyway? They helped us and we get angry. They will never understand we Jai Ron farangs!

Helpful Family June 11 2010.pdf

Enjoy

Isaanaussie

Lickey,

I have been in Thailand for 11 years. Started planning for the farm about 7 or 8 years ago. Started land development about 7 years ago. Started building works and purchased first pigs August 2009 and moved full time here last November.

You were late to bed weren't you?

Isaanaussie

not more cheddar!!! love it if someone could make some GOOD cheeses

Here, here. Even a tasty cheddar, but please no more soap bars.

Dave, next time you are travelling up the mountain from Sariburi to PakChong you will see some very large diary enterprises. Having stopped at most, I am not aware of any that sell let alone make cheese, maybe thats worth a try for a cheesemaker?

IA

Well I am not sure what to say. See reality is I have been able to generate a bit of time lately as I am doing the cutting and layout work at home and the BIL is doing the welding. After a year with little internet activity, the sudden surge is merely pent up urge to type.

So apart for 4 or 5 strolls a day over to check those "naughty children", the pigs are doing quite nicely of their own. Heart and soul, nar...don't think so. Just another aussie battler still attending the International School of Hard Knocks.

Thankfully mellowing a bit with age. My Dad once told me when he was 17 years old he realised just how stupid his father was. I doubt I was much older at that time. He also told me by the time he reached 25, he was amazed at how much his father had learnt. As the management career chapter of my life is now well behind me, I have realised that having everybody "On the same page" is a nonsense.

Honestly, I have found this forum an excellent source of first hand experience, and people such as yourself Ford, who are willing to share it. (Blow a little smoke up your fundamental orifice as well) Age teaches me that there are well-read, armchair "farmers" everywhere, God Bless their "witty" remarks, as a decent link or reference often emerges as a result.

Just another day on the farm.

Isaanaussie

Edit required to add, actually 2004 Ford Ranger XLT 4x4.

As this topic slides down the page, I thought it appropriate to put it to bed by thanking those who appreciated my woodworking etc, as well as those who contributed to the topic discussion. For those that flattered me by suggesting I become some sort of philantrapist teacher, I am afraid my pockets aren't deep enough, nor are my ideals set that high. Happy to share any knowledge I have with anyone who asks when I have the time.

As to the topic itself, I do see my venture as having a chance of succeeding here in Isaan, albeit on my economically jeopardised budget. One thing has not changed, it will take hard work. The key is to align directly with the local economy, anything else that works is a plus. Lots of contributions of a little bit.

Isaanaussie

Nellyp,

I am no rice merchant, nor do I have either the storage for or funds to buy rice. So maybe someone else can supply those answers to you. For me at the moment, it's sold as soon as it's in the bags.

I do know of a farang near me who funds rice crops in the same way as the Thai's do, he has storage facilities apparently as well. I have no idea how he trades the rice. The system is the funds are borrowed at a monthly interest rate of around 3% for seed and fertiliser purchases. The funds are returned with interest and a portion of the crop. Sounds attractive but I believe one look at the "debt collectors" who don't look like accountants to me, will tell you that recovery is not all that easy at times.

I find most people around here tend to sell what they need to immediately after harvest, to clear existing debts and keep the rest. This is either consumed, kept as seed or sold to cover other costs. A village based co-operative would be possible I suppose.

IA

Agreed on the kids.

Thought of offering the relatives 200,000 to build themselves a new house?

I purchased second hand (4yr old) and rebuilt mechanically. Cost a third the price of a new vehicle and hasn't missed a beat. 2004 model Ford Ranger XLT 4x4.

IA

I seriously think a 4 year old motor would be out of my league as I want to keep as much cash as a float as possible ( fall back money/ good investment). Where are you in Sisaket IA? I am thinking that I may end up working/ living thereabout rather than staying near Huai Thap Than (missus' area). I may just give them that house and start afresh as I stay in the village still have all the other relatives there

. I don't mind the imediate family too much, it's just there are so many others

Nell,

Beween Khukhan and Sisaket. Not much in the way of employment here but there is an english language course in Sisaket that has eight foreigner teachers in it, also a number of reasonable houses for rent at around 3-4000 a month, or so I'm told.

Issaanaussie

Well not wishing to suffer the time out issues or whatever of Foreverford and Lickey. I wrote mine contribution offline. Please find and get a laugh from the attachment.

Isaanaussie

Bloody marvelous mate goodonya...can just picture it.....'stop little bit for me", "Go straight"...love it..same same here mate..made my day ..keep it up

Thanks Dave,

Arh a Milligan fan! Man after my own heart... ' "Great little woman your mother" said Milligans father as the two of them stood watching her dig the air-raid shelter. Milligan responded, "Yes and getting smaller all the time" ' Cracks me up. Even the poetry, "Thought I saw Jesus on a tram, I asked "Are you Jesus?" He said "Yes I am."

OK. A few days ago I made a statement about living in Thailand gave the same sort of freedom that I had as a child. Of course I was promptly reminded that was only possible because of my hardworking parents. Well in order to explain what I really meant, I attach something that a friend sent me some time ago.

KIDS of the 50's.doc

Isaanaussie

weigh a pig with a string.xls

I have talked about this with numerous other people and always said I would find the How To and let them know. So for those I have dispoointed by not sharing this with you, I include a calculator in excel format where you can take two measurements of the pig in question with string or tailor tape and have a good idea of the weight without dragging the scales and a crate to the pig's pen. Or causing all that noise. It easy to do if you spend enough time with the pigs and they trust you.

The attached excel file has a picture of the measurement locations, but to be more precise you need to measure the length from the rear centreline of the ears to the forward point the tail meets the body. The girth measurement is taken around your pig just behind it's front legs. Type in both values in centimetres and the answer is calulated in Kilograms.

If it helps, let me know.

Isaanaussie

Someone once told me that if you include enough keywords in a post you can write anything you like on Thai Visa forums without being struck by lightening. Ok, so to keep Bina happy, as both our forum leader as well as a valued contributor, here goes. Farm, tractor, pig, cow, goat, feriliser, EM, organic, self sufficient and that is sufficient I hope. Oh, extra point for sufficient? What about it Bina?

So down to the actual message.

I would like to express my public thanks to the support team for their brillant site update. It was done professionally and as unobtrusively as any sytem rebuild I have experienced. Given the fact that we are in Thailand and many other parties must be involved, this one I vote in the top 5% IMHO. Well done and thanks so much. I hope i am not the only member who expresses thanks to you all either privately or publically. If I am, then let me know and I'll think of some more keywords and thank you all again Long live TV and long may it's quality support team be with us.

Isaanaussie

Well what can I offer today? How about the new blue water tower in the mobahn? How many of us have one of those that has never been started up? 1.5 Lan Baht just sitting there. Maybe I'll check the diary notes and write something soon as I remember there was a good story in that episode of 'On my wife's farm', in the meanwhile who else has one?

Isaanaussie

Scully and others into boars and bores,

I forgot to add that the new pump and bore are now working OK. Obviously the pump which is locally made and proudly wears a sticker saying "Avoid Imitations", leaked water and sucked air. Apparently ISO 9001 certification here doesnt include QC or testing issues.

The pressure switch was operating that quickly that I thought it was a pace maker not a pressure switch. Anyway, nuts and bolts have been tightened and flow restrictions removed and we now have close to the 75 litres a minute expected. The 1/3 Hp motor is running a little warm and should be replaced with something bigger, but it will do for now.

The bore is settling down and the sand is now mostly water, which both pigs and I are grateful for.

IA

I have just had a new 4" bore sunk for the pig sty. It is 15 metres deep and cost 100 baht per metre. The existing bore was hand dug and only 8 metres just didn't produce enough water.

I have purchased a robust piston pump which can draw water from over 20 metres at 4500 litres per hour. To this 1" pump I have fitted a pressure tank and switch, and a gate valve. Altogether, including a 1/3 HP Japanese electric motor the unit cost 4,200 baht. So I have an automatic pump for a bit less than the domestic round versions common in town.

Being belt driven allows the pump to be used without electricity if needed.

I have 4 tanks of 1000 litres each and will use the pump to replenish them as well as a source of pressured water for hoses etc.. The tanks will supply gravity feed drinking water for the pigs and during power outages can be used to provide some water for washing.

My logic for the system was to supply sufficient for drinking and wash out for the sty. At 15 litres per pig per day, that means at maximum stocking a daily requirement of 1,500 litres. I thought that 2- 3 days supply in storage would suffice so I went for 4,000 litres. The sty is arranged in two rows of seven pens and water is supplied to the back of each sty and to the front of some. So there are four primary lines each fed by one tank. Weight of water was also a concern and a primary reason for going for four tanks rather then two 2,000 litre.

Issanaussie

Thanks for your post we too are going to grow pigs for sale and have recently built our pens (6 containing max 10).

The bore hole is for cleaning only as we have two of those massive pot water containers for drinking water. These are at the top of a small hill so gravity runs it to the pens.

We have ordered our first instalment of 12 pigs (start small) and are due next week. It will take a while to break even but after that we will hopefully be making money.

Anyway if and when we have broken even I will start a topic about it.

Why wait that long? I could be dead by then! Just kidding, if you are planning on growing pigs out and yours are newly weaned, your timing is pretty good for the weddings around New Year. Discounting startup costs, but from the day the pigs arrive you should be showing a gross profit within 5 months. I would be interesting in talking to you about how you intend the handle the business side of things. Openly on the forum is perhaps not the way, PM could get things rolling.

As a thought starter, if you are anywhere near me, and are going to grow and finish pigs then we could be of help to each other. My operation is deliberately sort of grow/finish pens.

By the way, love your bouncing elephant, good choice.

IA

Yes there is only a small window for planting rice in my area Sisaket. The harvest is set by when the rice has reached its peak, earlier the yield is down and the drier it gets still in the paddy the more broken rice you will get, hence lowering the price. The correct question should be when do you sell it, that you can control.

Answers on other crops are abundant of the thread. My point of view is I am better off growing things I can add value to or utilise as feed. I don't have the capacity to fill a transport with enough to deal with the major merchants in Bangkok and the local markets and merchants are virtually a lockdown. You really "have no choice" their way or the highway. Good luck with that one, I have a feeling that will be harder to realise than you think.

IA

Agreed on the kids.

Thought of offering the relatives 200,000 to build themselves a new house?

I purchased second hand (4yr old) and rebuilt mechanically. Cost a third the price of a new vehicle and hasn't missed a beat. 2004 model Ford Ranger XLT 4x4.

IA

A dwarf with a lisp goes into a stud farm "I'd like to buy a horth" He says to the owner of the farm.

"What sort of horse?" said the owner.

"A female horth" the dwarf replies.

So the owner shows him a mare.

"Nithe horth." says the dwarf, "Can I thee her eyeth?"

So the owner picks up the dwarf to show him the horses eyes.

"Nithe eyeth.", says the dwarf, "Can I thee her teeth?"

Again the owner picks up the dwarf to show him the horses teeth.

"Nithe teeth.... can I see her eerth?" the dwarf says.

By now the owner is getting a little fed up but again, picks up the

dwarf to show him the horses ears.

"Nithe eerth.' he says 'Now...can I see her twot?"

With this the owner picks the dwarf up by the scruff of his neck and

shoves his head deep inside the horses vagina.

He holds him there for a couple of seconds before pulling him out

and putting him down.

The dwarf shakes his head and says: "Perhaps I should weefwaze that...

"Can I see her wun awound?""

Hate to be a prophet of doom so I'll just say I'm not excited about the prospects for this seasons rice.

First the rains are late so will be our rice. Second the FAO has stated that global production is expected to be high this year and food commodity prices in general will be down.

I have done a bit of poking about and produced a bit of information that graphically show the trend against last year and over the period from 2005. This information is the FOB price ex Bangkok hence doesnt relate directly to our pricing here, but there are enough parallels to draw the conclusion that without Government intervention this year the prices will be well down on last year.

Interested in everyones opinions. Please find attaced files.

FOB Rice prices 2005 to May 2010.pdf

Isaanaussie

Khonwan,

My pleasure.

If Bagwan's duck is so stupid it won't swim then perhaps he should switch to pigs.

Now I have a pig that is the smartest animal I have ever seen. You may not believe this but she can actually count to ten. Incredible, I hear you say, well I'll go further and say she only has three legs, same as those chickens!

She is so smart... I just can't bring myself to eat her all at once!

Have a good day.

IA

He is not pulling your leg, some strange things happen in Farming.

Consider this. I drove into town to buy pig feed and then delivered it to the friends farm where our pigs are on holiday. He lives some distance out of town and the roads are pretty poor so it takes a bit of concentration to avoid the potholes.

Suddenly this chicken races across the road in front of me and seems to be travelling at Mach 2. I was dumbstruck, this thing was travelling so fast that I just had to stop and get another look. I walked up the track the chicken had burnt up trying to find the bird when the Thai farmer approached me. I asked about Super-Chicken and he just smiled and indicated I should follow him towards his house. He creeps to the edge of the foliage and presses me back, pointing around the corner. I take a peek and there is the chicken pecking away as usual.

Now my eyesight isn't what it used to be but I swear blind, that chicken has got three legs. Not only that, but so do all the rest of them. My Thai isnt much good either so I sprint back to the car, drag the missus out and back up the track, "Look at that?" says I. "Um, chicken, so what" Then she spots the third legs and bursts into rapid Thai conversation with the farmer who is laughing himself sick. After several minutes the chat has stopped and they are both almost rolling on the ground laughing.

So the background story as translated to me. Proud chicken farmer becomes father to a son, being poor he only can afford to kill one chicken a week to eat and the now growing boy, the farmer and his wife are always arguing over who turn it is to get the drumsticks. So he eventually his luck changes and a mutant chicken is hatched with three legs. This hen is carefully reared and finally reproduces her own likeness.

I thought that was amazing, but failed to see the humour, so I asked what the punchline was. Still in hysterics, she says, "I ask him does chicken taste good?" "He says Him not know, cannot catch!"

Isaanaussie

Nellyp,

There is a saying about the best laid plans of mice and men going awry. Sods Law or Murphy's Law tell if something can go wrong it will. But if I lived in an insulated, risk free box I think I would go crazy. You certainly seem keen enough to take a crack at it.

To add my two bobs worth I can tell you that poor planning will yield poor performance. I arrived here 11 years ago in a well paid job and have been planning an early retirement to farming here for the last eight years or so. With the economic crash of 2008 timed to perfection I retired on the worst day possible, so an adequate start turned into a total rethink of my detailed plans. It has been and remains, a battle.

I took the view that returns from farming would be difficult enough, but to achieve any profit, most of my remaining capital had to be assigned in investing in income generation. Plans for our house are gathering dust, I settled for extending the existing family home and establishing a small shop. The rest is funding the establishment of our pig farm. Our farm land is still only growing it's usual rain fed rice crop, with returns as PN describes.

I have three suggestions for you. First, I do not know how old your kids are, but I would want to be absolutely certain they were well informed about what their life here would be like and were as eager as you to come. Secondly, You have a house already, use that until you get re-established here. Build a decent western style bathroom and clean up the rest, if possible before you come "permanently". Thirdly hold onto as much cash as you can. Use your land and that available to try out your farming plans before thinking about buying more. My experience is that you will hit resistance from Nay-Sayers amongst the people who will usually work your land and as carefully as you plan and describe what is needed to be done, it will prove a challenge to achieve it. The tirades of absentee owners, especially western ones, may well leave your land without a workforce at all.

Whatever you do, don't lose sight of your dreams nor those of your wife and kids. Just be cautious about jumping in the deep end with a cheap life jacket.

Isaanaussie

Well not wishing to suffer the time out issues or whatever of Foreverford and Lickey. I wrote mine contribution offline. Please find and get a laugh from the attachment.

Isaanaussie

Life in the village Jun8 2010.pdf