OOTAI

Never.....

I wish my grass looked so good as JungleBiker said I don't think you have anything to worry about.

Do you catch the grass cuttings when you mow?

I would recommend using a mulching mower and don't mow too short.

Only water a couple of times a week but not lightly make sure you give it a good soaking.

Do you apply fertiliser? If you want green use high nitrogen but better to use a balanced mixture.

Do you use your yard/grass for anything or is it just for looking good? I am not being sarcastic its just that in Australia which is the driest continent on the planet people waste copious amounts of water just to keep their grass looking good.

I tried keeping ours looking nice and green but then the Missus always complained about the pump being on for hours everyday. So now it ebbs and flows with the rain.

Garden/yard looks very nice by the way.

On ‎7‎/‎30‎/‎2019 at 6:43 PM, madmen said:

 

 

Taking an Asian wife or GF back to OZ I could never do. The racism is insane and wouldnt be fair on the girl, The guys consider Asian woman as the last thing you pick up in a nightclub at 3am if you did not find better and refer to them all as slopes. The Woman are worse and don't want them in the social circle because they are all prostitutes and will steal their husbands

 

That's the harsh reality 

I have to disagree with this statement as my wife spent over 8 years in OZ with me. Maybe it was different to your idea because we lived and worked in more remote areas (country towns) not cities. She integrated really well and had many female friends. She did tell me about a couple of times she was the recipient of racist behaviour but most people were not an issue.

Tagged

Looks good so far. I have a question for you though, always a question hey!

If the land backs onto a "park" why didn't you put the water collection pond at the top of the land?

I understand having one at the bottom as it catches the run-off from the land, but you then have to pump it back up the hill to the IBC's.

Keep posting pictures.

On ‎8‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 10:29 AM, Dmaxdan said:

I've noticed this before with convoys. The lead vehicle goes and the rest blindly follow no matter whether it is safe to do so or not. 

Maybe its me but I don't understand the relevance of this statement.

My interpretation of the OP was that there was a "convoy" of pickups which had been adapted to carry straw being overtaken by an Isuzu, not that the overtaking vehicle was part of the convoy. 

I have the belief that the "convoy" was going slowly as they were probably loaded, and we all know how Thai's overload, the Isuzu comes up from behind and can't see past the last vehicle in the convoy so proceeds to overtake what he thinks is one vehicle.

As he gets out in the overtaking lane he has a "ah shit" moment as he sees the truck coming, but like a good fellow he doesn't brake and take evasive action he speeds up to keep overtaking expecting the truck to some how get out of his way.

I have seen this scenario and the vehicle being overtaking shifts left as does the truck coming the other way and the overtaking vehicle slide straight through the middle of them, no problem because they are good drivers.

Wazzadg44

We are in Buriram near Nang Rong just off Hwy 24.

When she built our house she had a bore put in as well and it cost under B20K but it was only 30m deep and uses a suction pump on top to pump out the water. That was back in 2010.

We have another bore at the old house about 50m from both the others and I don't know how much it cost but it only went down 6m and it has run dry along with a lot of others around the village.

I went for a ride (motorbike)  the other day through the village and passed the main water storage dam/hole it is huge but for the first time in nearly 20 years I seen most of the bottom. They have had to put an excavator in it to dig channels to allow the water to flow to the pump intakes to get water for the village. 

wazza

While I was back in Australia in April my missus got a bore put in here and she says it cost around B55,000 and she brought the pump about B15000, I don't know if the pump cost is included in the 55k or not.  I believe the bore is about 60m deep and the water is good. She has connected the pump to 6 of those 1m3 bulk containers (so approx. 6000L) and they get filled in just over 2 hours. She connected the bore pump to a couple of floating switches (mercury switches I think) so that the "tanks" are always full.

Hope that helps, but please be aware that the numbers could be all wrong as sometimes getting information is difficult

boonthai

The advice given by Tanoshi in the previous post is absolutely correct.

In my case I got the Australian marriage certificate translated to Thai and then got that signed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFO). They posted it back to us after we paid the fee for postage.

My wife then took this to the local Amphur office and registered our marriage. She then got a for, can't remember the number, filled out and signed by the boss at the Amphur. This form was then what we used when I applied for my Visa (married to a Thai).

geistfunke

In my opinion the solution is simple, change the return date of your flight to 4th July and return so you can be in Thailand on 5th July and then on the 6th July go to collect your "stamp".

Seems better to me to miss a couple of days in Germany than to go through all the BS of starting over again.

You say in your original post that you have 30 days until "you would like to leave" so I interpret that as you can be flexible so I would wait until you have the extension before booking the flight out.

That's what I did in the same circumstances and when I went to get the stamp for the extension put into my passport I got a re-entry permit at the same time.

Maybe you could purchase a ticket that allows you to change the dates if you get short of time.

Oh really OOtai. Mate dont bring your knive to my gun fight. This has nothing to do with money, this is about greed and being a farmer not an industrialist. If you cannot see the difference, you arent human. You see no value in the pigs as creatures, no enjoyment, just as income, how do you view your kids or your spouse, bits of meat?

IA no where in what I said is there anything that says that I agree with producing pork using a production line/ factory method. What I did say was I had worked in such a place. What I was trying to say is that doing it that way is not new.

If I could convince my wife to let me raise pigs (she reckons they stink too much) I would like to build a facility that would allow me to let the pigs out into a yard for periods during the day where they could be more natural than in a concrete pen. In my realitively short time working at the piggery I came to admire the pigs as being as good as a dog and therefore I wouldn't be able to kill my own (I also spent quite a time as a slaughterman), so in the end I don't have pigs as I would become attached and never make a profit even at 100B/kg.

And people who call themselves herdsmen go for that? There are no ethics in that at all. Piglets weaned at under three weeks, massed together in groups of 20 litters and transported? That is obscene, inhuman, call it what you will but I would never do that to a creature that cannot use solids under 10 days and be starting to move towards them at 21. Then you expect 5.5 kg to reach 100 kg in 4 months after destroying its digestive tract development? What sort of chemical growth promoting shit are you feeding or jabbing them with?

OK, I'm an Old fart, past his use by date. But if any of you guys tell me that is the way of the future, it better not be face to face because I will throw the first punch and it will be as hard as I can.

IA it is not the way of the future, it is the way of the past (at leasst in Aussie). In 1972 I was working at an intensive piggery just out of Perth and we weaned at between 3- 4 weeks. Chucked all the litters from that week's weaning into 1 pen and fed them until they reached "bacon weight" (which from memory was around 90kgs) and then sent them out the door. There were 2 sheds at the farm with nearly 900 sows and they had a contract with Huttons to produce at least 250 pigs per week. "Herdsman?" absolutely not, bacon factory most definitely! Surely you remember the uproar regarding Paul Keating and his piggery, That's what was happening there as well. Battery hens versus free range hens, Australia has been there and moved on because too many people have feelings and emotions but they still want to eat the cheap meat and eggs produced from a production line, can't necessarily have both.

I will wear my full face motorbike helmet if I come and visit you again one day so you break your knuckles not my face.

Big Guy

Have a look at the pinned topic "Farm Equipment Links" there was a link posted on there (second to last i think) that has lots of tractors and other stuff but I don't know know where their located.

Another alternative is to have a look on the internet at "JSSR Auctions" they have an auction in Bangkok every month. You can go and inspect on inspection day, register then bid on the net if you don't want to go back and bid at the actual auction. They have a delivery service which I found reasonable. I bought a small excavator for B100,000 and then padi B9000 to have it delivered to Burinam.

Jim

I am disappointed in you, corrupting a couple of young Thai buddhists by celebrating Christmas.

As I say to my missus when she asks, "What did you get me for Christmas darling?"

My response is, "Nothing, christmas is for christains not Thai buddhists!"

She usually replies,"Well that's what you will be getting for a while."

To all as Jim says, "Stay safe"

With reference to the above post, what would a typical modern irrigated rice farm in Australia or America produce per equivalent of a rai?

I found this statement, "Australian growers produce the highest yielding crops in the world, around 10 tonnes per hectare"

on this site http://www.rga.org.au/about-rice.aspx

There are 6.25 Rai in a hectare so this equates to 1600kg per Rai produced in Australia.

Last year the wife decided to sell some of her rice to get the governemnt price which I think was supposed to be 20B/kg. Anyway first she had to have her land papers as only people with proper chanote title could claim. So she loaded up the truck, about 3 tonne, and headed to the local major rice buyer, there are several but only one that buys for the goverment scheme. Gets there at about 8am takes a ticket and finally gets to be the second last load to be taken for the day at just before 4:30pm. They take a sample and tell her, "too much red rice, no good, can't buy" so she brings it home. Next day she heads off to the smaller buyer she normally goes to and he pays her 14.5B/kg.

So this year she actually went out and bought some certified seed to ensure she has the right stuff this time, we'll wait and see. I think she might have plans to have her gun in the truck next time just in case they F#*# her around again. Although she is Thai, after spending 10 years in Aussie running a business she gets really pissed off sometimes having to deal with her fellow countrymen.

It is not that hard to store grain for long periods and to keep the pests under control.

try searching Google for:

"storage of grain using carbon dioxide" or "storage of grain using phosphine"

I have tried to attach a document I found which some may find interesting.

Training Manual Grain Storage.doc

IA as you do quite often, you have whetted my appetite to find out more about this issue. I did what everyone else does and used google and found an interesting paper which is titled:

Fertilizer Management in Rice Cultivation

Booklet No. 36

Manuers & Fertilizers: MFS-22

I don't know how to paste the document into this reply but if you use google (as I know you do) then you will find the document.

Although it was written back in the 90's and is talking about rice growing in India, I found it to be very informative. He even has a section where he talks about using a mixture of natural manures in combination with commercial fertilisers.

Keep posting and hopefully once I stop working for a living I can become a farmer again and learn more by being hands on rather than learning from google

Jotham79

Man you have it all happening. For someone who can't do too much physical work you haven't have made it hard for yourself unless you get good help.

hoefully your BIL will work out in that regard, not all Thais are lazy but they seem to have difficulty persisting at times.

One thing that I want to try in the future is growing "crickets" they don't take up much room and sounds like you have a good covered space to put them in.

^Moench

I love your place, thanks for the photo's, its easy to see why you are so happy.

May you enjoy many more years of happiness "livin the dream".

Russ

a couple of years ago I bought a mini excavator from JSSR, only paid 100,000 for it. I have since taken the steel tracks off and put on rubber ones which cost me another 36,000 but other than that I have had no problems with it. The best part is that I have lots of fun and been able to make drains on our blocks etc to control the water flow. It pisses me off the way people are happy to let the water go wherever it wants.

Back to the subject at hand, if you go to JSSR's site, either one as they have 2, on the inspection day you can start and test the equipment. I am not an expert on mechanical issues so I just looked at simple things like state of hoses etc.

I am not sure if you have enquired about their payment system but in case you haven't they require you to transfer 200,000 to their bank account before they give you a bidding number. We had no issue with them promptly refunding the residual after the auction. They have a transport service (for a fee) to dleiver anything you buy which I thought was reasonably priced.

So depending on the amount of owrk you have and what your mechanical repair capabilities are your best option may be buying a good cheap machine from them. But you have to pay when its broken down (for the repairs) with a contrasctor you should be only paying him when work is being done.

Good luck.

JohnCC

I couldn't agree more with the responses so far. If you only have 15 rai it will never pay you back and most likely cause you grief, unless of course you can do the repairs yourself. My missus has a bit over a 100 rai and I bought a new tractor, a Euro 55DI with a front blade, a rotary, plus 2 disc ploughs. It was about 60,000 cheaper than the equivalent Kubota package but I wish i had gone with the Kubota as it is difficult to get parts for the Euro and I can't do the repairs myself. So the missus hates it because she has to do the work organising to get it fixed. The main issue is the double clutch and the way my BIL drives it.

So if you want a "toy" to play farmer with, like me, then by all means go for it. If you don't have your own then as Jim says you wait in the queue which gives me the shits as you never know for sure when they will actually come. Luckily my missus also hates being dicked around, so if they don't come when they said they would, she rings them up and sacks them and gets someone else.

My advice to you is have a look at the "JSSR auction" site on the net, their 2 sites are located in Bangkok. I've bought a few things from there and you shouldn't have an issue finding a small second hand tractor. They have a delivery service, for fee of course, but I considered it reasonable. I even seen a smal tractor with a front bucket in the latest line-up, not very flash looking but might be OK.

Good luck and remember if you're not having fun you're doing something wrong!

Here's my thoughts on the "the price of a rai".

My missus bought her first piece of land, about 15 rai, for 10,000/rai about 8 years ago and we thought it was expensive then.

A year later she bought some more, 38 rai at 12,500/rai.

The next lot we had to buy because the Aunty owed us money and was going to put thew land papers into the finance company which would have meant she (the wife) would lose her security, that cost 20,000/rai for 12 rai.

She then bought 20 rai (in her words "the best rice growing land") for 60,000/rai. After that she paid 100,000/rai for 4 rai so she could build her house. Later she bought some more (8 rai) for 62,500/rai.

Just a couple of months ago she asked my opinion on whether she should buy 10 rai with some rubber trees on it for 1.5million, my opinion was that it was too expensive but told her that its her money. She didn't buy it.

In the end I asked her for her opinion on why the price of land is rising so much and reckoned it was because youger people have been working in the cities and then coming home with some money and they want to buy some land, I am not so sure that that is the case.

My opinion is that most of the prices you hear are the people trying to prove they they got the best price and then the next person has to go one better and ask a higher price.

In the end most of the prices are bullsh*t.

The missus went to look at some land last year, I forget now what they were asking but shee ended up offering them about 60% and they went off to consider it. They came back and said they would take her offer but on the condition that she told no-one what she had paid them for it. In the end the missus changed her mind and didn't buy it because the land was surround by the vendors family and access etc could have got messy.

As for the question of access to a landlocked block, she was given 4 rai by her mother but it didn't have any access. It was totally surrounded by land owned by other members of her extended family but not one of the miserable bast**ds would sell her a 4m wide lane to be used for access. In the end she came to an agreement with her ex BIL and he agreed to give her access in exchange for 1rai of the land but he did so on the condition that she never enclose the access.

So in my humble opinion the price of a rai is whatever some twit or smart operator will pay for it. While I tend to agree with some of the comments here that the price will not go down, it should also be remembered that there are not a lot of Thai buyers with the ready cash available to buy it in a hurry should a person need to sell it.

Firstly thanks to all those who have posted in the past as it has allowed me to get a better idea about what is needed to grow rubber trees.

I have a couple of questions regarding how close should a tree be planted to the boundary. So far it seems to be accepted that rubber trees are planted in rows with the rows spaced 7 metres apart and the trees in the row 3 metres apart. So the questions are:

1. If it is decided to make the row parallel to the boundary fence how close should it or could it be to the boundary?

2. If the row is perpendicular to the boundary how close to the boundary should the end tree be?

My problem is that in one area there is the neighbours house within about 4 metres of the boundary so if we were to plant too close then they (the neighbours ) might not be very happy if the tree branches overhang their property.

Would it be a good idea to leave enough room for a tractor to pass along the boundary between the fence and the closest trees?