IsaanAussie

With all due respect to your specific undetailed question, the first bore I had sunk in Isaan. It cost 2500 baht had a 4 inch casing a 1" delivery pipe and foot valve, all in price. 

I suggest you tend more information to get a better current estimate.

If your information is from the manufacturer then immediately dump these clowns. Two weeks life of either fuel or oil, absolute rubbish. Even Honda clones from China are way better than that, ten times!

2 hours ago, worgeordie said:

With 7 Rai ,just look on it as a hobby, mix it up, animals, fish, chickens ,fruit, veg at

least you will have food to eat, if you don't a profit , good luck

I agree and would go a bit further and suggest you forget making a profit. Get a couple of heifers instead of a mower. Buy young beasts and grow them out for 4 months, sell them for a new pair. Best case you get enough to cover any external expenditure. If you are going to diversify, concentrate on any earth works needed and get ponds dug and beds built up. 

22 minutes ago, huuwi said:

When our clay is wet, my shoes are in the size of 23 and weigh around 200kg after i walk from one end to the other.

Around our area (trang) most of the rice harvest is private and the rice husk is used by the guys who clean the rice, so no chance for me to get a big truck load. I will have a look around to find some rice husk, but no high hopes to find this big amount. Have to send the missus on a mission.

Most of the CRH sold is produced by rice milling companies that burn the hulls to produce electricity for their mills. Around here it is a waste product that the mill gives away to anyone prepared to come collect it.

Try looking in the Facebook Marketplace entries in your area, usually under garden supplies.

Another source is to produce it yourself if you can get a load of hulls from a small village rice mill. I used to get mine this way. The process is simple pyrolysis burning in a pile. 

The photos appear to be all of one heifer? Could be wrong. Get us some pictures of the left hand side rear if you can. On face value, and assuming no illness, I agree with KS, seems like a reasonable deal.

A simple visual test if you have gained anything is to compare the soil particle size between your native soil (probably sub-soil fill) with a bed you have added organic matter to, at least a few months after incorporation. Our basic clay soil is very fine, like talcum powder, so dust or concrete in the dry and porridge in the wet.

Whatever you add should promote biology because it is the soil life that sticks the particles into aggregates. If you haven't got larger aggregates, add more "stuff". 

So what can you add that is cheap, comparatively long lasting and "clean"? Probably the most reliable is CRH (carbonised rice husk). I used to make my own but now it is available for about 500 baht a ton, or 2000 baht for a high sided 6 wheeler load. The CRH is the carbon source and has some liming effect. 

Of the lime options I use dolomite as it adds both magnesium and calcium. 

Key is water whether you are "composting" soil or growing plants. You will not promote biological activity without maintaining moisture levels be it in a compost pile or right in the bed. 

Edit: Back on topic. I have used many different bags of potting mix here. Some have been OK, most rubbish, allways inconsistent. I look at them as anaerobic incubators "Sealed sweaty armpit" plastic bags . I make aerobic composts and prefer things that need to breathe.

On 6/2/2021 at 3:26 PM, bankruatsteve said:

10 meters high for 1 bar pressure.

Yes if you are chasing pressure. My farm setup uses larger diameter pipes to increase flow rate. 4X1000L tanks linked together and feeding into 2" pipes. Fills a bucket in 10 seconds. Those tanks are sat on a platform 2.4 metres from the ground.

You might consider placing the storage tank on a stand as a means of guarding against power outages. Doesn't need to be too high to give you a good volume of gravity fed water. 

I have a K-Lion 150cc ATV same as the model in the picture below. They are sold here in Thailand as are the hitch to fit and a trailer. I priced them at 15K for the trailer and about 2K for the hitch. Not cheap but no hassles.

18 hours ago, kingofthemountain said:

Farm life in Issan for someone over 70 yo can be indeed something great

however the main concern at this age could be where is the nearest hospital ?

And how long it takes for you to reach this hospital if you have an heart attack 

or a problem like that in the middle of the night?

Of course i wish you the best with your health, but imo you can not avoid

to ask to yourself this important question

 

Agree completely with How2. I am a year or so younger and an accident resulting in a bad break of my leg. Yes, planning for accidents is important, but remote Isaan is not necessarily an issue.

I was 15 km from the local hospital. It was late Sunday afternoon and we were in a small villlage wat. I was taken by ambulance to the hospital arriving within an hour of the fall. An hour later with XRays taken and leg immobilised, and another ambo ride to the province main hospital I was being examined by the orthopedic surgeon. I was operated on the next day. 

I feel no more at risk here than I would be back in Australia.

I would suggest you get the well cleaned out before you do anything. The frogs themselves are unlikely to cause harm, but they must have a food source and environment that may well be a problem. For instance, mosquitoes. 

I would clean out all the rubbish and pump the water out. It would let you get a close look and also determine how fast ground water refills the well if at all. 

I assume by well you mean the classic "wishing well" type of hole. Dimensions and photo might help.

None of us will influence the major agro-chemical giants marketing but we can all simply stop using their products. Same thing goes for paying for organic certification rather than employing natural farming methods and materials to produce healthy produce without the need for a piece of paper. 

Time to stop reading the packets and pushing the .......

Standard service for any vet. Becomes more of an issue as an animal ages. We de-nut boars as piglets under a month old and it takes a few minutes per animal, no frills and no fan fare. 

As one of a few members who has kept pigs here in Thailand, there is a "best course" if you choose to lodge a complaint. There are laws which are enforced.

However, as with everything here, there will be risk.

Can I ask you to post a wider area view that shows the whole farm? Perhaps include a link to the image? It would make it a bit easier to get an idea of the operation. 

There have been many "reports" of food and feed containing pesticide residues. However I haven't seen any that show flow on effects to manure. Interesting. 

I disagree that composting doesn't help. There is much information showing that the microbiology involved does breakdown toxins, even heavy metals.

Off topic perhaps but I would suggest however that bat manure would not be on my list. It has been shown to contain coronaviruses similar to the current problem. In fact 8 years ago Chinese miners who handled the bat manure died on similar symptoms. With manure and virus being studied by the Wuhan Virology Clinic.

3 hours ago, Michael Hare said:

3 rai is a small area. Why not try growing grass to sell as fresh forage? You can cut every 40-45 days. If you don't want to cut yourself, some customers will give you a contract price and cut it themselves.

 

Excellent idea. I have a similar size block of Mulato II for this wet season. Locals will buy, cut and carry as needed to feed their cattle during the rice season. You can also charge to run it through a chaff cutter.

Now its getting interesting. First, as a farmer relying on commercial feed what chance do you have for a profit? F@uck ALL. Relying of commercial "best practice" regardless of the animal, fish or fowl you farm 80%of your costs. It is prescripted. CP Owns this space!

Glad you joined the discussion KS.

I hope a few more "old members" do too.

Raw hulls contain lignin which is slow to decompose. It is burnt off during the carbonisation process as are volatiles leaving effectively charcoal. This will effect the C::N ratio and increase pH levels and act similarly to liming.  CRH also acts like a normal carbon filter and provides a home for microbes.

Note CRH will effect the nitrogen levels with excess carbon reducing the nitrogen content. The trick is to get the balance right. As nitrogen is lost quickly in composting (leeched and volatised) having a high level of carbon at the start will assist in trapping the N in plant useable form given microbial activity is present.

Have you looked at the dental clinic in the KhuKhan hospital? 

One option is to use the water plants in your compost, high nitrogen source. You can also spread it out over bare ground as a mulch layer to protect the soil. It will dry to a much smaller volume and can be incorporated into the soil before you plant rice or other crops. Some people introduce azolla into rice fields after flooding. It provides a source of nitrogen to the crop and prevents weeds getting established.

Biggest problem.... getting it out of the pond. Back breaking job without some form of equipment. AND most of that stuff grows back very fast. 

The small fern like plant looks like Azolla which is very high protein. Two others, duck weed and water lettuce are also rich in nutrients. They can all be feed to your animals. I advise you research how much to give each animal or bird, and what preparation if any you should do. I have fed water lettuce to pigs in the past.

As a general rule use the new plants in preference to the larger, older ones.