pnustedt

I have three TV systems: A static satellite system which cost about Bt3k which purports to offer a hundred channels, but apart from the usual Thai channels, nothing else gets watched. I also have a Dynasat system with a large swivel dish which gets over 500 channels but most of them also not worth watching, although there a few English language channels, cost about Bt30K. Both these systems do not require monthly payments. I also have the UBC Gold package - I find this is the only channel worth watching for live sports events, e.g. Football, tennis, F1 etc. and at Bt1,550 a month is not too bad pricewise.

I too download torrents for movies and stuff but don't consider them a substitute for live TV.

G'day Jim, Just as a matter of interest, do you know what the average rainfall in that Lao/Cambodian border area.

The prob is that from Jan to Apr there is next to no rain, then we get a deluge. However, there is plenty of water about, it just takes a bit of effort and ingenuity (not a common resource for Isaan farmers!) to get it onto the plants. I dug a pond on my palm orchard and pump water twice a week during the dry season. However, the pond is drying up this year, so I bought a tank and truck water in from a nearby river.

There was a topic on this subject a few years ago. I think that it contains what you need to know:

I posted about an irrigation system I installed last year:

It will certainly pump further than 250m but not sure about the height of 14m. All the equipment was purchased from Ubon Pasadon {sp.)

The system is working well and is enabling me to grow a second crop of rice at the moment.

@Pnustedt

Those garmins you got, can you get the DGPS module for them?

I don't know, but it does have a microSD card. Suggest you ask Eagle GPS in Chang Mai.

Just one question though, the rice that was harvested by these DC95's seemed to me to be very "dirty" as in they had a lot of what I would call trash in amongst the rice. Is there any way that this can be minimised? In this case the "trash" was a combination of weed matter and rice straw. From what I observed (and this is the first time I have watched rice being harvested) the guys operating the harvetsors were driving too fast whever they had a straight run of 20m or so. I know that they get paid by the rai so it is their best interest to go as fast as possible but to me it would result in the feed into the "thresher" part of the harvestor would be too great for it to get cleaned well.

Do you know if it is possible to purchase a machine that will clean the trash out of the rice? Hopefully something that will not cost me the other arm as I lost the first one when I married my Thai wife, if I lost the other one then I would be "armless" and I don't want that.

I thought I posted an answer to this but it seems to have disappeared!

Anyway, the basic principle of combine harvesting is that the grain is separated from the chaff by agitation and filtration and the chaff is blown out the back of the machine and the grain transported to sacks or silo.

Problems occur when the chaff is too heavy, or the fans to weak, to cope. The chaff then gets transported with the grain. This can happen in wet conditions, especially when the rice is lying on the ground amongst all sorts of soil and debris.

The Kuboto machines have short tracks and there is a tendency for the reaper to buck upwards if the track hits a bump, the driver compensates by lowering the reaper, then it comes over the other side of the bump and hits the ground, bringing up soil and debris which goes into the thresher. They should be driven very slowly in poor conditions. They are also lower on the ground than full sized machines and less able to cope in deep water. In my experience, you get what you pay for.

I use a Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx. It involves walking around the area you need to measure with the device.

Suppliers in Thailand are Eagle GPS from Chang Mai (sponsors of the map forum). However you will find it much cheaper to buy abroad - I bought mine in Hong Kong for less than half the Thai price.

It is reliable and solves many disputes.

Id be interested to know what type of Rice Combine Harvester machine cost 2.5 million baht?

This type

BTW - I see the DC95 is equipped to offload rice into a lorry, does it also have a sacking facility?

Harvest started 2 or 3 weeks ago, will finish mid Dec. Some farmers sell straight away, some keep the crop in anticipation of better prices.

I wonder if you could explain what do they use if the don't use a tractor in the process of harvest ?

A combine harvester or a sickle then through a static thresher or hand thresh.

I have a couple of harvesters which are working flat out at the moment. One of my machines is breaking records and achieving 80 rai/day on ideal fields, the other making half that due to breakdowns but should pick up. Prices charged: Bt650/rai. Cost of machines Bt2.5mill each from Pom Generli in Ban Leng. I make money.

The flood waters have subsided on our rice fields now and, surprisingly, there is not that much damage. The rice is still upright, albeit some leaves look somewhat muddy, after about a week underwater. We did plant from new seed by hand this year and the rice is supposed to be a "flood resistant" strain, the crop is also a little late and rice ears only now forming so I guess this all contributed.

Would it be possible to post a picture of your trees and a leaf close up.

I am curious what type is it.

Thank you

Certainly, here you are

oops, double post

Sisaket Agricultural College grow olive trees and I obtained a couple of saplings from them a 2 or 3 years ago, which are growing in our garden, tho of course no fruit yet. I don't think that the college commercially sell the saplings but my wife can be particularly persuasive. They have an area where they demonstrate their products and a jar of their olives is on show.

I'm a flood victim, having seen all my rice go under 2m of water. Good news is I can accept cheques, bankers drafts or cash! Looking forward to receiving your donations.

Pnustedt, maybe you can claim compensation from the government, for the flooding. It won't cover the full cost, but it's something. Our Spring corn crop was badly affected by the early drought. ( ) We applied through our local Togasor (?) bank and got 1200 Baht per Rai compensation.

Yes, interestingly we applied for the compensation last year (it was only a few hundred/rai tho) only to find that my wife's niece had beat us to it - she justified her actions because the compensation "was intended to feed the poor Thais, not for wealthy farangs".

In my area the rain has been quite light and there was no real damage this year - that was until yesterday when they decided to open the levies to allow water from other areas onto the land around us. The result is that my rice farm is now under 2 meters of water and we will probably lose our crop, worth about Bt80K - my neighbours are pulling up their chillie plants etc in the hope of replanting, but I regret it will be a forlorn hope.

The same thing happened last year, with the added tragedy of a young man's drowned body being washed up onto our land.

The management of the water flow is carried out by incompetent idiots who have no regard for the disaster they cause and give little or no warning.

My local supplier told me a few weeks ago that they had stopped manufacturing, I bought a few extra bottles, but find too that supplies have now dried up. There's not really a Thai alternative that I have tasted. I'll have to do a bit more research. My guess is they'll relaunch it as something more exotic at a higher price.

You make 1 million bht+ per year out of tractor work??

I find that very hard to believe.

My wifes family own tractors/harvesters etc and they work very hard.

MAX income is 200k/year.

There is a lot of competition out there, every second Thai owns some kind of tractor in Issan.

Maybe I'm missing something here, could you give us a breakdown of where your income is derived?

I have already told you that I harvest over 2k rai/pa, at Bt600/650/rai the income is in excess of Bt1.2m, plus tractor work (plough, rotavate, baling, land management, etc), income from 40 rai (mainly rice and chillies). I don't really care if you believe or not - you obviously miss quite a lot.

The Mon at Ubon can be very fast flowing and its depth varies enormously - I would have thought it a dangerous place to moor. I would go to the east near Chong Mek and inquire at the resort near Si Rin Thorn Dam, they have a restaurant and good facilities.

Now, the new questions for those that are in the business are:

OK, you have a rice harvestor, wife said they will rent a trailor to transport the rice harvestor to jobs. Anybody else do that and is it feasable? The family says they know someone that has a trailor and will use him. Trailor's seem to cost over 600K baht for a used one. The family doesn't have truck to offload the rice to, but say that who ever's field they are going to work on will supply their own. Is that your experience? Last one, when a farmer says they have 100 rai to harvest, how do you verify that or do you just take his word for it?

These are some questions I asked, but the family doesn't seem too concerned, which makes me wonder.

How is the rice crop doing this year in the Buriram, Surin area? Is it on time to start harvesting in Novemeber or later?

A lot depends on your location. If your depot is in the middle of the paddies you plan to harvest you should be OK renting for the first year. Have a look at the truck rebuilders at Rassi Sala for next year.

Sounds like you (ur family) are planning to not use sacks? Can be a problem when moving from one customer to another and expect delays - advantage is only one person on the combine.

For verification of paddy size get a Garmin GPS60 or similar.

The rice crop seems OK at the moment, maybe a bit behind. Hope for no storms when the weight of the grain develops.

I make most of my money out of contract work - tractor work, harvesting (about 2k rai/pa and increasing) and baling. Most of my work is done over 6 weeks and I make in excess of Bt1mill. The cost of living here (Sisaket) is very low so I am able to reinvest most of the returns.

Can I ask what the capital invested was, for a 1 mill+ p/a.

I might find myself living in Sisaket myself one day as the missus is from Kantharalak.

About 5 or 6 mill bt has been spent on equipment and facilities, much of that came from re-investment of earnings though. I started the venture over 4 yrs ago with the purchase of a harvester for Bt2mill.

Except for personal consumption, stay away from rice paddies. You will loose money.

Money in Isaan is based on the rice industry. Any money spent here comes from rice - that is where the money is. I make good money from rice paddies.

Well I suppose the term "good money" is relative.

To satisfy my curiosity, can you please let me know how much profit you make per rai per year from rice paddies?

Lets throw some figures around to give us an insight as to what good money actually is, 6,000, 8,000, 10,000 or 10,000+ per year per rai profit.

I do not own a lot of land - about 40 rai. I make most of my money out of contract work - tractor work, harvesting (about 2k rai/pa and increasing) and baling. Most of my work is done over 6 weeks and I make in excess of Bt1mill. The cost of living here (Sisaket) is very low so I am able to reinvest most of the returns.

Except for personal consumption, stay away from rice paddies. You will loose money.

Money in Isaan is based on the rice industry. Any money spent here comes from rice - that is where the money is. I make good money from rice paddies.