IsaanAussie

I would like to hear from you. Things have to change for the small farms to survive. 

On 12/29/2020 at 10:09 AM, Essex said:

Found them on alibaba, min buy lot is 100. I think I will import them and sell on Lazada....whoops, wife will sell on Lazada.  Issan Aussie will know from experience, faster, can cut corners easily, no power cords or drained batteries and no dust.  Dead easy to use and makes accurate cuts.

 

I agree they are easy to use, at least for me (my Dad was a good teacher). I have tried to teach several locals here but few are able to produce consistent results. Slow, steady and careful are concepts not normal for most here it seems, perhaps it is just me...

I have one of these, a blue one. I brought it over from Australia, was my fathers originally.

Some ten years ago I had a neighbors mob of Soi dogs kill about ten piglets overnight. The piglets had run into the aisle in the sty and the dogs topped them, nature in action I suppose. I took the dead piglets to see the PooYai, he asked if I saw which dogs did it. Despite having a load of dead piglets I said I didn't so he could/wouldn't help. 

6 months ago someone in the village poisoned both my pups. They had supposedly become chicken killers. Again no witnessing, no help.

My point is simple. Your neighbors will only control their animals on their own land but will not limit them to staying there. Do the same, including predators. No need to ask or wait. Keep your stock safe and eliminate any and all introduced/invasive risks.

1 hour ago, NanLaew said:

find out who the major rice traders are

Start with the Thai rice exporters. Try this site http://www.thairiceexporters.or.th/default_eng.htm

I suggest you need to research more about the essence of Thai culture and what motivates Thai farming people. It is nothing like our western ambitious career path. It is tradition, family, religion and the like. Sabai, sabai. Do not judge Thai people by your own standards of success.

Just now, Yellowtail said:

If the bottom falls out of the rice market (subsidies aside) the rice rots in the field as no one can afford to pay people to harvest it.

Anyone with land can prepare the ground, plant seed, fertilise and harvest without a baht in their pocket. The system exists to make it happen. The rice market will continue to increase in volume along with population. There will always be the "middlemen" to finance it. 

What has changed here is the younger generations are better educated (taught to think) and have higher expectations. But the lot of a farmer has not changed, accepting all the risk and little reward, no different anywhere in the world. Here those new expectations have arrived faster. Success was a well feed family, now he is a subsistence farmer in debt, alone and aging. 

Ask yourself the question, could you plan your life as a farm laborer here? 

Just now, bodga said:

already  told  workers here they can have a percentage of  profits, 40%

Really? And you think they believed you? 5555555555555

When was the last time the "overdue" harvester or tractor turned when promised? 

Guys it doesn't work that way, never has.

The exception used to be rubber tappers. The plantation owner supplied all materials and the tappers cared for the trees and land, spread fertiliser and harvested the rubber. Sales income was split on a percentage basis. It worked when prices were high and a good income was to be had. Now, same as rice hard to find people prepared to work for nothing.

3 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

 

One really should not have anything to do with the other. What you have to pay your staff does not have any direct effect on what you are able to sell your product for.

We are talking about farming labor in small villages, ain't we? What is paid as wages to other members of the village is effected by the going rate of rice. In the case of family members often there is little, even no cash involved. 

For those who would like to know more on the financial side of rice farming, the link below was produced a few years ago and provides a guide. It is a complex picture which should be understood in context of this topic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPoacysvVQI 

Just now, kickstart said:

You beat me to it ,or 40 x 40 meters ,if it is only a small area buy a 100-meter tape.and walk it your self .

If you want it for legal  reasons ,ask your local land office, they will measure it and  put in numbered  boundary markers.  

There's a first, me beating you to anything KS! LOL

My long stride is almost exactly a metre, and I own a big green tape reel. 

There is an phone App that Thai harvester guys use. Way too smart for me! I have only just managed to use the camera function as well as the phone calls. 

1600 sq metres to the rai. Measure in sqm and divide?

The old saying applies, "Farmers buy at retail, sell at farm gate, and pay for the transport both ways!"

Yes, being self sufficient will drop your external spend but not necessarily lower your costs by much. 

I have looked at cheaper alternate materials and value adding to them to produce the quality levels. Example is cassava based diets, the pulp which starts as a carbohydrate source but can be fermented to increase the protein levels. 

45 minutes ago, OOTAI said:

IsaanAussie

Did you think it was financially viable to make them yourself?

If Yes what sort of cost saving did you think you made? 

Simple answer is no, not if you are buying basically the same ingredients at retail prices. Simply no way you can compete again the main stream feed manufacturers. 

5 hours ago, Dumbastheycome said:

My theoretical plan is to devise something that is reasonably  mobile and using an auger  to lift the rice to an elevated spreader for a cascade or "waterfall" to increase exposure to air drying between mesh screens in  a recycling  process. I can get  augers from old harvesters and construct a  bin  from sheet metal. If I get to a point where it is mechanically  functional a blower and humidity level sensors could  be  added.

I have a year to  play  anyway. lol

Like you I looked at drying rice about 10 years ago. I used to take that part of our harvest for sale to the rice merchant and watch the basic moisture checking process. The difference in price was small compared with the cost of make/buying a drier. I looked at solar drying and using the heat from a rice husk carboniser. For our volume the numbers did not stack up. I looked at supplying the service to locals, but there was no interest.

We use blue happa nets and spread the rice, we do not use a road surface but a well drained area in the village.

If you can get this to work at anything like a cost benefit, please let me know.  

If you are only making small batches at a time then you could do what I did and buy a motorised meat grinder to produce the pellets. You will have to dry the pellets. I bought a table with the grinder and motor and a few different size die plates for around 6,000 baht.

I already had a concrete mixer to mix ingredients. I also had a concrete floor under roof to dry them. I produced about 300 kgs of pellets each batch, taking less then a day.

4 hours ago, Tagged said:

Helping out is something different, and of course you help out when you can and it is needed.

Well summed up. I try to fit in, not stand out. Follow the example of others in the village.

If anyone is thinking of moving here to an Isaan farming village, do not worry about being the only farang and being isolated. There are lots of us to pick some new friends from. Just check out the many Isaan based facebook pages. 

Many of these guys have been here a long time and are valuable sources of advice. Most are only too open to sharing

Just now, nickmondo said:

i think you need a check up from the neck up mate!

clearly you have got yourself excited with the prospect of this lovely life.

in reality, it aint going to be like that.

rent somewhere rural first, and see if you like the country life.

Please excuse me if you weren't addressing your comments at me. But if you were, I challenge your Hua Hin based comments on living in Isaan. I love life here in Isaan, and have done for over 12 years. I have no illusions, I have made many mistakes, invested a lot and lost because I thought I "knew better", "could make a difference". All those new chum errors that we "guests" here fall for. 

I regret nothing and continue to learn.

Just now, craigieboy1973 said:

expect the opposite and just make sure you have an out plan.

Just now, Dexxter said:

If (or more likely when) your marriage breaks up she will own the house and you will get nothing. Spend nothing in Thailand that you are not prepared to lose.

Sorry but to me, these thoughts are just so negative guys. Planning for failure? Why did you come here, what are you looking for?

1 hour ago, Time to grow said:

At this point, we plan to consolidate and adapt. Mindful of measures we can take to conserve water and use it more efficiently. We are considering the option of digging a deeper well but that is no guarantee either. A significant portion of my farming is aquaponics. The aquaponics relies on recirculating water but still requires topping off due to evaporation.

From a water optimisation stand point both hydroponics and aquaponics probably lead the field. But for me the science, analysis and control, plumbing and pumps needed are no more the answer than monoculture rice is to Isaan now.  

8 hours ago, 473geo said:

 

Really you hope others 'better qualified to comment join in' - well we are progressing very nicely thank you and those that are joining the 'newest new thing' would find it quite expensive to catch up to our home reared breeding stock we built over the last 10 years from one 20,000 baht in calf cow.

 

Good luck I hope you get some 'new ideas'

I think you may have understood me, let me rephrase that comment. "More qualified than me". No offence meant. 

My comment on new ideas comes from frustration I suppose. My wife's family have acquired some Charolais cross cattle but the marketing and financial planning leaves a lot to be desired. As Kickstart wrote, it ain't easy. 

I wish you well.

Just now, 473geo said:

Future plans, not sure, increasing the breeding cattle slowly, for now seems to successful need to build an additional straw barn as number increases. I don't see us moving away from rice just yet.

My wife has suggested we may possibly buy 'new rice' next year meaning 'seed' rice

Oh, the newest new thing, beef cattle. I hope others better qualified to comment  join in. Straw is needed for roughage but for the beef cattle here, now, it is not the basis of their feed. Grow some fodder grass. 

Moving away from rice, as an Isaan farmer, impossible! 

I am really enjoying your responses to my post. Especially those in lower Isaan like me. Let me pose a question to all of you given these are the conditions we are in and the situation is likely to worsten. What are you going do on your farm, adapt, redevelop, what?