OOTAI

mixed breed

I was wondering if you have had any experience with what I call a "finger" harvester i.e. one that feeds the rice into the harvesters front using finger type arrangement rather that a rotating drum to feed the crop into the cutters. I have read that people consider them to be too slow and too wasteful i.e. losing grain over the back.

I was wondering if by too slow people mean too slow to make money when contracting. I don't want to go contracting I just want to be able to harvest at my leisure when I am ready. I don't want to have to rely on family to cut the rice or wait for a contractor to come.

I have seen this type of harvester go for between 50 and 100 thousand at the JSSR auction so if I could use it on my 50 rai it would pay that money back in 3-4 years. I have included a photo but I don't know if it will work or not (it didn't).

Your thoughts would be appreciated, thanks.

My thought for the day is that this isn't Thailand connected.

Since it could prove interesting (or not), I'll move it to the Pub.

Crossy

I wasn't aware that we had pigeon holes for different topics as I normally only browse through the "General Topics", Farming and Isaan forums I just stuck it there. Maybe we need a forum called "The Bulls Dunny"

Anyway I just want to say thanks as this quote from my post over in farming says it all in this case.

No sooner do we take a step out of our customary routine than a strange world surges about us.

J.B. Priestley - All About Ourselves and Other Essays

So when you moved it I was taken or forced to step outside my normal routine and as a consequence spent hours reading stuff in the pub.

OOTAI,

Didn't know you were into fishing. A true fisher of men. I wait with "baited" breath.

IA

IsaanAussie

I am sorry but I'm going to have to admit to being dumb but I don't understand. I googled "fisher of men" and it seemed to point toward religious meanings. Maybe I should just revert to my old favourite and ask you to do a Pauline for me "please explain".

Or I could do it this way.

Establishing the Boundaries for Success

There is something that I Don't know

That I am supposed to know

I don't know what it is that I don't know,

And yet am supposed to know,

And I feel I look stupid

If I seem not to know it;

And not know what it is I don't know

Therefore I pretend I know it.

This is nerve wracking

Since I don't know what I must pretend to know.

Therefore I pretend to know everything.

I feel you know what I am supposed to know

But you can't tell me what it is

Because you don't know that I don't know what it is.

R.D. Laing - Knots

In reality I decided to post these quotes because I sometimes get sick of people here saying to others "don't do it". If someone wants to "live the dream" I reckon we should encourage it.

Anyway I am now starting to think I have been infected by the urge to just write down my gripes on here.

As an addition to the quote I posted in the General Topics I thought these might shine some light on what it is about those of us that go how and try something new, such as farming in Thailand. Most often this is totally different to what we are experienced in and therefore both daunting and exhilarating.

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

George Bernard Shaw - Man and Superman, Maxims for Revolutionists.

Man's highest merit always is, as much as possible, to rule external circumstances and as little as possible to let himself be ruled by them

Goethe

We rarely gain a higher or larger view except as is forced upon us through struggles which we would have avoided if we could.

Charles Horton Cooley - Life and the Student

I had six honest serving men:

They taught me all I knew.

Their names were where and what and when and why and how and who.

Rudyard Kipling

No sooner do we take a step out of our customary routine than a strange world surges about us.

J.B. Priestley - All About Ourselves and Other Essays

so all you armchair "fill os iffers" go for it

As usual these days I am sitting around wasting a Sunday morning and I thought why do people consider that TV memebers are whingers?

So I had a look through one of my books and come up with the following quotations which may help explain the situation.

Everybody thinks of others as being excessively human, with all the frailties and crotchets appertaining to that curious condition. But each of us also seems to regard himself as existing on a detached plane of observation, exempt (save in moments of vivid crisis) from the strange whims of humanity en masse.

Christopher Morley - Pipefuls

We should have no regrets. We should never look back. The past is finished. There is nothing to be gained by going over it. What ever it gave us was something we had to know.

Rebecca Beard - Everyman's Search

The average man finds life very uninteresting as it is. And I think I know why…is that he is always waiting for something to happen to him instead of setting to work to make things happen.

Alan Alexander Milne - If I May: The Future

There is no position in the world more wearisome that that of a man inwardly indifferent to the amusement in which he is trying to take part.

Phillip G. Hamerton - The Intellectual Life.

I live from one tentative conclusion to the next, thinking each one is final. The only thing I know for sure is that I am confused.

Hugh Prather - Note to Myself

People often complain of their environment: it is dull, colourless, or even hostile; and it never occurs to them to enliven it or rectify it rather than just endure it. A lamp doesn't complain because it must shine at night.

Antonin G. Sertillanges - Rectitude

No sooner do we take a step out of our customary routine than a strange world surges about us.

J.B. Priestley - All About Ourselves and Other Essays

Establishing the Boundaries for Success

There is something that I Don't know

That I am supposed to know

I don't know what it is that I don't know,

And yet am supposed to know,

And I feel I look stupid

If I seem not to know it;

And not know what it is I don't know

Therefore I pretend I know it.

This is nerve wracking

Since I don't know what I must pretend to know.

Therefore I pretend to know everything.

I feel you know what I am supposed to know

But you can't tell me what it is

Because you don't know that I don't know what it is.

R.D. Laing - Knots

feel free (as I'm sure you will) to help enlighten me with your thoughts or other quotations

IssanAussie

Thanks for your reply. I haven't downloaded the attachment on feed costs yet will do that tonight.

Just a thought for your future planning. Your rotation schedule for the sows has them producing a litter every 21 weeks (correct me if I'm wrong). This is, in my opinion a little to optimistic.

14 weeks gestation, 4 weeks from farrowing to weaning, either 1 week to go to boar or 4 weeks if misses first mating, therefore 21 weeks possible.

A long time ago I spent some time working in an intensive piggery. They had 2 sheds, one had 330 sows and the other 540 sows and they had to produce 250 bacon weight pigs each week to supply their contract with a smallgoods producer (Huttons).

Anyway the smaller shed (where I worked) had been operating for 4 years the other was a lot younger. In the whole 330 sows there was only one who had survived for the whole four years and was still going strong. In that 4 years she had had 10 litters, so it is possible, however not very likely. I believe planning for 2 litters per sow per year to be more realistic. The average litter at that time (a long time ago, but not that long that the world was still flat) was 8.5 and the greatest killer of piglets was the mother laying on them.

Thanks again

Hope that clarifies your issues

Isaanaussie

IA

I don't have issues, I have questions because I'm an inquistive bastard and because you are a helpful (?).

Anyway next question (this is probably like having kids, never ending questions) how do you classify the stages - Weaner, Grow1, Grow2, Finish1 and Finish2 is it by weight or age or is it that on average it doesn't matter as pigs of a certain age are (or should be) a certain weight.

What do you expect in terms of litters per year from your sows?

Do you wean piglets at 4 weeks?

Do you clip teeth and tails?

Do you maintain the pigs in a pen all the time or do you allow some time in a paddock each day?

Do you vaccinate the young piglets against disease?

Do you feed twice a day?

Do you let recently weaned piglets eat as much as they can?

Would you be kind enough to provide the various feeds you use and their cost?

If this is all considered proprietary information I will understand.

Oh by the way i would like to congratulate you on the posts in "Down on the Farm" they have absolutely captured the way it works. If you can understand that then it can be a lot of fun watching the result dawning on them. The dawning is "maybe farang not so dumb afer all".

Cheers

My numbers are done a little differently. FCR of around 2.2 means 200-220 Kgs to get to 100Kg liveweight. Starter feed at 62 Baht per Kg down to 28 Baht for adult feed.

..............a piece being sold at the farm gate to locals for 58 Baht per KG.

Isaanaussie

IA

Call me stupid but something just doesn't add up for me here. My understanding of FCR is that it means for every 2.2kg of food you get 1kg of meat (bodyweight).

Therefore at your lowest feed cost of 28B/kg and using FCR of 2.2. Each kilogram of bodyweight would cost 2.2 x 28B = 61.6B

So if it costs you 61.6B to get a kilogram that you then sell for 58B I don't see the 44% return.

As an aussie politician once said "please explain".

Alternatively if you take your pig that had a cost of production of B4500 which you sold for B8000 then taking the overhead cost of B500 into account the return is B3000 form a cost of B5000 or a return of 60%.

By the way thanks for the information on feed cost as I am trying to put together a spreadsheet to gauge cost /price sensitivities before I jump into the quicksand of pig breeding / raising

My visits to Korat immigration have always been quite OK. I've found the staff pleasant and helpful. But, re your last sentence, are they moving again? If so, when? And where is Ban Don Kwian in relationship to the present office location (next to Toyota). I need to extend my visa before 2 July.

If you look down a bit below this thread you will see one that gives that info.

Its called Korat Immigration Moving again

Thaddeus

If you are able to go to Google Earth and locate the place can you post the coordinates that way I might be able to find it without getting dizzy (maybe) turning right.

Appreciate it

The topic is a philosophical one that intrigues me. The meaning of life may well be the number 42, but I'm way past that hence personally irrelevant. What are we doing here and what are we attempting to prove? So lets leave our Thai and probably better halves to one side for a moment.

If I go back in time, back to when I was just another comfortable member of "my" society. No cultural differences for me, just for all the immigrants in Australia, learn English you freeloaders. I attended a lecture from an American guy in maybe 85.This guy said there are only two ways people are motivated. Fear of Failure or Thrill of Success.

So what is each of us trying to change, ourselves so we can enjoy our dreams, or Thailand so we can realise our dreams? Maybe some of us just enjoy dreaming.

This ultimately makes my brain hurt and I hopeful can revert to FEF to lead us to the path of enlightenment.

A tired and emotional

Isaanaussie

I believe that what motivates me is "learning and understanding" so in the context of the two reasons above that would probably fit into "Thrill of success" . Learning and improving oneself, I believe is a key element of Bhuddism, so maybe that is what I like about Thailand. The fact that out in the countryside I am not "regulated by government rules" ,such as over here, and that allows me to do things to enhance my understanding. Not only practical and physical aspects of our everyday life but also how people interact in a society that is not the same as what I am used to so that frees me from learned and ingrained biases.

One of the main things I learned when I returned to school and University as an "old" man was that what I intuitively thought was not always correct and at times I needed to let the numbers and physics do the talking. This then leads to having the practical understanding to be able to apply the theoretical solutions

One of the most interesting things I was involved with was working on measuring the energy contained in an explosion using variations of material within the explosive. This was done by measuring the bubble energy created when the bomb was detonated underwater. So some people might describe what we were doing as "blowing bubbles" absolutely great fun. Over many years I used explosives as an underground miner but then to be able to learn the theory behind explosives was fantastic.

If I am able to live in Thailand for the rest of my life without having to work for someone else then to me it means that I will be free to explore what interests me not my boss. That to me is "living the dream".

Isaanaussie

Thanks for this thread it is most enjoyable reading. You have basically summed up my outlook in Post#18.

Hopefully in a couple of months when I finally "escape" from this life into my "retirement" in Thailand you will allow me to pay you a visit so I could discuss your ideas and opinions on God's gift to the world i.e. pigs.

Just one thing that I would like further clarification on is, where did the table you attached in your OP come from as I interpret in a little differently than you? As you have the benefit of the whole reprot and therefore can see the table in its full context I have no reason to doubt your view. However the way I read the table that 28.36% of the people in Buriram gain their income from agriculture & livestock rather than 28.36% of an individuals income coming from agriculture & livestock.

I hope to become self-sufficient rather than to trying to make an income from farming and at the same time keep myself "busy". Bina made some good points about the way country Thai's seem to think. I know my wife said to me one day "all thais worry about is do we have food for today and money to buy some food for tomorrow". I struggle at times to comprehend why it is that most don't understand some basic economics.

She recently asked me about whether I thought it would be a good idea for her to set up a shed and grow some mushrooms. The main point of concern to me was that she didn't understand the need to have a sure market for the end produce, she reckoned she would delat with that when needed. I did however convince her to maintain a record of all her expenditure and then record all her sales (revenue) and in the end I believe she broke even or was a few baht in front. She also came to the conclusion that the bags she boiught never performed as she was told they would in that they stopped producing a couple of months earlier than she thought they would. So in the end from my perspective it was a good outcome because it gave her something to do and think about, it taught her to have a better understanding of capital outlay and revenue and a truer understanding of what amking a "profit" actually means.

As kandahar says in one post, "Maybe instead of being the successful Farang farmer, you can be the guy who made so many successful Thai farmers" education can be as rewarding as making a profit.

We own land/small house just south of Utumphon and our main house is in Sisaket. I don't think you would make enough from farming plus your wife's income to support you and your family here. In Sisaket English teaching jobs with a "qualification" pay about Bt30K/month plus any private tutoring you may get. I would have thought that was your best bet if you really want to move here. Get the Thais to do the farm work (strictly speaking you are not supposed to do it anyway).

You only need Bt400K in the bank for a marriage visa, if you work you will need a work permit which the school will help you with. You should also get cheap or free education for your kids in the school you teach at. As has already been suggested, ask about visas in the appropriate section and you should get a more informed response.

You may be able to build a bungalow for Bt200K but I wouldn't want to live in it. You are budgetting to buy land at Bt25K/rai, you will not find good rice land at that price here, think nearer Bt40K/rai. Your budgeted income of Bt75K from 15 rai of rice land is too optimistic, think more like Bt50K-60K.

Considering the low cost of medical care here, the cost of medical insurance is very high. If you can keep a large cash float you may be best off self-insuring.

I do make enough income to live off farming, but I bought a large investment with me. The only way to make a small amount of money in Thailand is to bring a large amount with you!

Thanks for this. I now believe I will need to teach to feel secure with my family. I have already had 2 schools email me about interviews but this is too quick for me at the moment, though it does show I should be able to get work. I never intended working the land myself and am a bit dissapointed to learn I will only make 50/60k per rai. i have been in correspondence with another member on here though and believe I could get at least 2 crops off land i can farm that is 40 rai of good land by the side of a river, i may even be able to get 3 crops from it.

the schools that have been in touch with will provide me with a WP and help with a visa, and will also re-imberse me any money I spend on them. my wife is insistant the land is good land and did cost 1,000,000baht for 40 rai. She has now told me that the cost is less because he has to go through somebody elses land to get to it (God knows what chaos that will cause) I suppose i am going to have to see what others grow as second crops though, i have been advised to grow what ever has the high cost at the time as i may be able to grow lots of things if i irrigate in the dry season and will just need to control water feed.

I really do noy know what to do about a house as i will need to be closer to a big town or city to teach so I may rent a house till I have decided ( this will also make it easier for my wife to find a better (read higher paid) job. She used to work for the language school i worked for and also has accounting quals thoug did not finish university just college. But her English is good and also her administrative skills.

Thanks for the advice. Who knows we may even meet one day

Neil

I think you need to re-read pnustedt's post. He said you may get 50-60K return from 15 rai not per rai, so that is 4K per rai!

As for the access to the land through someone else's land, its OK until you have a disagreement.

Good luck for the future

If what you want is to live in Thailand go for it, if you wait until you have removed all the risks you'll never do it.

rideswings

My missus gets other people to grow rice on her land and it costs her nothing and she is paid 30% of the rice harvested as the lease payment. I would suggest that your best bet, provided the old fellow will accept the idea, is to tell him you will pay him 5000 per month nad he can lease his land. That way he gets some money and some rice and only has to work on his 4 rai. There is no way on earth I would pay someone else to do the work for him and expect an honest endeavour from them as an outcome.

quote by OP in post#1

"my major concern is that my gf has applied for an australian spouse visa, and she only has about 5 weeks to go before we're able to go to oz."

Sorry about all the stuff with the shopkeeper but in my opinion you will find more trouble with Aussie immigration if you & your gf have applied for a "Spouse's" visa and are not married. If you are married, which I assume you are, then you need to start referring to your wife as exactly that and not as your gf.

People at Immigration pick up on little details like that and next thing you know she's on her way home.

Hope everything goes well for the future in Oz. By the way there are plenty of bigoted pricks here as well but hopefully they don't assault her.

So far I haven't seen anyone have an attempt at defining "democracy" so I'll have a crack at it.

The definition I like the best is " A social condition of equality and respect for the individual within the community".

Are we ready for that? I say we because if you live in Thailand then you are part of that community, are we all equal?

The problem I see in Thailand is that nobody seems to understand their roles.

Elected Government - makes the laws supposedly for the good of all the community

Judiciary - interpret the laws made by the elected Government

Police - enforce the laws made by the elected Government

Military - protect the community and preserve the right of the elected Government to make the laws

Please feel free to disagree as its the debating of conflicting interests that establishes the acceptable norm for the community.

Finner

It is on Hwy24, about 15km from Nong Ki (so must be almost in Nong Bunnak).

I didn't see any of the larger tractors i.e. 90's but they did have 2 of the Euro 55DI's available along with lots of other models.

Try this web site

http://www.eurotrac.co.th

I was driving between Chok Chai and Nong Ki and stopped at a place that was selling tractors. They were all used tractors but I believe they were most likely imported as parts and reassembled here.

The one that impressed me most was a "Euro 55DI" it had 8 hours on the clock ( maybe a new clock??) but looked new and was for sale for B380,000 which inlcuded the mandatory bladeat the front and one implement at the back ( I suppose that means either a disc or rotary.

As I had never heard of a "Euro" I just typed in Euro 55DI into gooogle and it come up with the above site.

By the way they also had used used Fords, Kubota's and Iseki's for sale.

Ootai

The auctions are held approximately every month at JSSR. There are other auctions but this one I know quite well. There is another one coming up the end of this month. Hang on and I'll try to get the website for you......

OK here it is:

http://www.jssr.co.th/cgi-bin/eng/home.php

One thing I like about the website is that you can go back to the last auction and see what prices everything sold for.

If you go to the one at KM32 the first day, the 27th, I'll be there. The other two auctions at KM 35 are for more serious bidders, contractors, businessmen, and exporters.

Best thing is to go there a day or 2 before the auction to test out whatever you are interested in.

finner

Thanks for the reply. i had visited the JSSR site before but didn't know that there are 2 and I must have always gone to the KM35 site because everything I seen looked very expensive so when you said that you bought the 2 tractors for 50K each i thought it must have been some other auction. I have since revisited the site (through your link) and can now see the KM32 site does have more what I'm looking for. At the moment I am in Australia so won't be there for the auction on the 27th. I will be in Thailand over xmas (for a month) so if they have an auction while I'm there I'll try and get along.

Thanks again

For a tractor, I bought 2 from the auction at about B50K each, 2 wheel drive, 24 hp complete with "rotarys". A lot of people prefer 4wd and 30-35 hp and these sell for about B150K with rotary. Not only can you use them on your farm but can rent them to your neighbours and have fun playing with them too. Just have to be careful what you buy.........

finner

Could you please tell me where tha auction was held that you bought the tractors from and who conducted the auction. I am trying to find somewhere to buy a cheap second hand tractor (to play with before maybe buying a new one). At B50K each I would have bought the 2 of them as well.

Thanks

In the past 3 years we have "sponsored" my wife's niece and two of her sisters to visit us in Australia, all at different times. We have never worried about trying to explain why they are visiting just that they are family and wnat to spend time with my wife. The main thing I believe is that in all cases I provided Statutory declarations to the embassy that we would be providing all the support they would require i.e. accomodation, food, health expnses if needed etc. We also providee evidence of our ability to provide that support i.e. payslips, bank balances. That was all and every time the visa (3 month) was granted no problem. As I read somewhere on this forum don't make a simple task difficult or complicated and tell the truth, i.e. your sister in law is coming to visit to help provide support to your wife at this time.

Good luck hope you get the visa.

Last year my wife bought some paddy fields in Buriram, about 18 rai for somewhere around B600,000 which means it was about 35,000 per rai. I never enter into the discussions about what anything is worth or what the land title is. What I do is tell her its her money and if she trusts the Thai system its up to her. She reckoned its the best land she's bought so far.

As for the rice 1/3 is the standard for letting someone use your land, how much is needed to feed the family is determined by the size of the extended family being fed. The size of the land needed depends on the yield. Last year was the first time my wife has actually sold any rice at that was to stop it being eaten by too many of the family after they had sold all of theirs.

Of all the advice I have read on this forum the best is don't spend or invest anymore than you are willing to walk away from, saying that though I love the place (whenever I manage to get to spend some time there) and hope fully will move there to live permanently one day soon.

Whats the current buying and selling price in thai baht of thai gold in the shops in Thailand, per baht of gold ?

Take a look at post #7 that site gives the latest prices.

However you need to take into account the other information included in some of the previous posts about purity etc.

Gold on the world market is usually quoted in US dollars and is for 1 Troy ounce.

So you will need the excahnage rate to convert dollars to Thai baht.

Then 1 troy ounce = 31.1034768 grams

I Thai BAHT of gold = 15.2 grams so 1 BAHT is not 1/2 an ounce of gold!

Then there's the purity 96.5% for Thai gold as opposed to 99.9% for gold quoted on the world market.

So I use this formula to get an equivalent guide to the price of 1Thai BAHT of gold.

Price in US$'s x Exchange Rate x 0.47158715

Then there is the mark up or down depending on whether you are buying or selling applied by the gold shop.

Complicated, bloody oath. Best solution ask your other half how much she wants and buy it in six months it'll be worth more than it is today.

Firstly congratulations acron45, on a speedy result back in 2001 it took us 11months to get the fiancee visa granted, took that long that my wife(now) came out on a tourist visa for a holiday while we waited.

I'm just a little confused as you and another poster both refer to a "spouse visa". My understanding and it is mentioned by a previous responder that the next step , after the wedding is a "temporay resident visa" for your spouse, he also mentions the critical bit and that is that you have 9 months to get married from ther date of issue of the fiancee visa. Once you're married, you then apply for the temporary residency and then 2 years later for permanent residency and then (in our case) an extension of the permanent residency. The next 2 steps will require just as much paperwork as the one you have just finished.

From my experience when applying for the temporay residency the immigration department here in Australia mainly wanted us to prove we were in a genuine relationship and that we lived at the same address. I/we made the mistake of not keeping letters with post stamps addressed to both of us at the same address during the 8 months we took to get married.

The person who responded and suggested you keep everything you can was spot on the money. The only step in the whole process that didn't involve and onerous amount of documentation was the last bit i.e. extending the permanent residency.

Good luck for the future and hope it goes as well as it has up until now.

I suppose there had to come a time when I could no longer resist the urge to respond to the post on this forum. I have been reading here for a couple of months now and this is my first post, please be gentle with me.

Why did we/I get married? Don't really know. I met my wife in Thailand 9 years ago and we seemed to get along very well with each other. I then returned home and we organised for her to come and visit in Australia. We decided to get married probably because we each offered the other an opportunity to get some of the things we both wanted. We have now been married for over 7 years and I am still discovering things about her that confirm I made the right choice.

When we first met I had no Thai (still don't) and her English was at best marginal and while it did and still does cause some angst and confusion it provides stimulus to our relationship. How did we solve the problem? She learn English and speaks it with an Aussie accent ( surprises a lot of people).

Probably the main difference (to most on TV) was that we developed our relationship here in Aussie. She is the best cook going around, she hates doing the laundry and it doesn't bother me so guess who does it, in other words we compromise.

I know she's smart because she has basically taught herself to read English, she has taught me how to save for a future when before I spent as I earned. She managed the business we owned (while I worked fulltime) it employed up to 15 people and turned over more than one and a quarter of a million dollars per annum. Lastly she married me which absolutely confirms her "smartness".

What did I get? As a widower of many years, my first wife died aged 21, I got a fantastic companion and as a result of the linguistic and cultural differences an interesting and stimulating life. I now look forward to the future whereas before I had given up on it.

I have always tried to point out to my wife that for a relationship to work it needs to be based on trust. She says, "I'm Thai I trust no-one". I initially responded by giving her an example of how much I trusted her, it went like this.

Darling if you had a million dollars in your hands and someone had a gun at my head saying "give me the money or I'll shoot him" I know you would give them the money, she laughed!!

Yes, at times life can get difficult but if it didn't it would get boring.