FJ that is a serious piece of soil building. Nice looking young guy too.

I didn't know whether to post this here or the electrical forum.

 

Yesterday we had one more day until the completion of the grow-out cycle (flight) for our broilers. At 3pm we had an electrical fire in the fan controller unit resulting in the loss of all ventilation. We dropped the side curtains but the smell of ammonia started to become pungent. I put the fire out and we managed to re-start 6 fans initially and put the side curtains back up. If we hadn't got the fans going we'd have lost 19,000 birds I'm sure....and on the final day toboot.

 

The fire was a result of an overheated 3 phase electrical contactor which eventually tripped its' breaker but not before catching fire. Maybe Crossy (anyone) can help here? Anyway, a friend came round, changed the one damaged contactor and got the remaining 6 fans going again but we arranged collection that same night. Good result, although stressed, no birds died and we have had a successful catch into this morning.

 

I suppose the point is this: If you have any electrical controllers at all, farm, pool, irrigation, whatever, keep a DRY POWDER fire extinguisher to hand. It saved us B2,000,000

 

We are all now going on the pi$$.

 

 

Your got the luck of the Irish it seem!  I would expect you will be getting a thank you letter from KFC sometime soon. ????????????????

A few pictures from one of our farm lots, taken over the past 2 years. We've expanded our fish pool to now include canals that run the depth of the property to just behind our house (currently under construction)... The little boy is my nephew.

Modern  technology has landed -literally- in Pattananikom ,this drone is spraying a fungicide ,and what they call around here a  hormone ,which is basically  liquid mineral mix .the drone  control box has GPS and CCTV .

The guy is charging 100 baht/rie for spraying ,which I thought was not to bad ,until Mrs KS said rice farmer son-in-law  charges 40 baht/rie for his  knapsack  sprayer ,which I said this guy  spraying is not  inhaling the spray/fumes while walking /wading across the field waving the boom of his sprayer.

This field for the past 3 years has been sugar cane ,the owner said with low yields and a low selling price he was not making a lot ,the land drys out quickly ,hence the low yields ,or more likely land not suited for growing sugar cane  so he is  giving  rice a go ,water  sauce is a river 500 yards away. 

13 hours ago, kickstart said:

Modern  technology has landed -literally- in Pattananikom ,this drone is spraying a fungicide ,and what they call around here a  hormone ,which is basically  liquid mineral mix .the drone  control box has GPS and CCTV .

The guy is charging 100 baht/rie for spraying ,which I thought was not to bad ,until Mrs KS said rice farmer son-in-law  charges 40 baht/rie for his  knapsack  sprayer ,which I said this guy  spraying is not  inhaling the spray/fumes while walking /wading across the field waving the boom of his sprayer.

This field for the past 3 years has been sugar cane ,the owner said with low yields and a low selling price he was not making a lot ,the land drys out quickly ,hence the low yields ,or more likely land not suited for growing sugar cane  so he is  giving  rice a go ,water  sauce is a river 500 yards away. 

I'm impressed!

Nice to see someone thinking outside the box.

On 10/25/2019 at 9:07 PM, kickstart said:

Modern  technology has landed -literally- in Pattananikom ,this drone is spraying a fungicide ,and what they call around here a  hormone ,which is basically  liquid mineral mix .the drone  control box has GPS and CCTV .

The guy is charging 100 baht/rie for spraying ,which I thought was not to bad ,until Mrs KS said rice farmer son-in-law  charges 40 baht/rie for his  knapsack  sprayer ,which I said this guy  spraying is not  inhaling the spray/fumes while walking /wading across the field waving the boom of his sprayer.

This field for the past 3 years has been sugar cane ,the owner said with low yields and a low selling price he was not making a lot ,the land drys out quickly ,hence the low yields ,or more likely land not suited for growing sugar cane  so he is  giving  rice a go ,water  sauce is a river 500 yards away. 

What I don't get is why anyone would go from sugar cane to rice when there is a river 500 Metres away???  You get 12 To 15 ton of cane per rai (so the wife reckons) and you get 700 to 900kg of paddie/rai.  Someone needs to explain that to me! 

The reason he is growing rice he did not make any money on cane as for 12-15 ton/rie on that land no way ,more like 8-9 ton ,and the cost of growing cane ,it is normally a 3 year crop 1st year's crop pays back the planting investment ,2nd year normally brake even ,might  make a profit ,3 ed year he should make a profit. 

He rents the land another cost  ,it is very light land and not over fertile ,and yes water is near by ,his pump is a 4 cylinder engine coupled to a pump and it will use a lot of fuel ,all right pumping water but is it cost effective  .

He has all his own equipment including a 10 wheel truck to haul the cane last year he bunt his cane and cut it by hand ,this year with the anti burning league  who knows, his cutters will not be happy cutting un burnt cane ,they can not make the money ,with a machine charging 350  baht/ton to cut and haul cane to the mill and he was getting 850-900 baht/ton  the government/mill was helping out with a sub of 50 baht/ton I think this year will be the same ,and so they say sugar containt of cane will be low again this year ,no rain so he will get a reduced price for his cane. 

With growing rice ,he did all the work himself ,his fields use to be rice fields but with the demand for sugar cane he try growing cane ,the land is not sugar cane land , you see the cane crop opposite his rice fields ,it will be lucky to yield 6-7 ton rie .

 Fertility of the land could be increased ,at a cost ,then the lands owner ups the rent ,or someone else rents the land ,then this guy will lose out .

You have to look at the bottom line ,the profit might be a bit less ,so are the headaches  cane is not an easy crop and with the government  still subbing rice  farmers ,he might even make more money .

Wife grand daughters boy friend works at our local sugar mill ,he said last year they received 4 million tons of cane ,this year it will be a lot,lot less ,no money in cane, a lot more cassava,maize and rice is being grown ,and a lot of mung beans as a second crop . 

On 10/29/2019 at 9:20 PM, kickstart said:

The reason he is growing rice he did not make any money on cane as for 12-15 ton/rie on that land no way ,more like 8-9 ton ,and the cost of growing cane ,it is normally a 3 year crop 1st year's crop pays back the planting investment ,2nd year normally brake even ,might  make a profit ,3 ed year he should make a profit. 

He rents the land another cost  ,it is very light land and not over fertile ,and yes water is near by ,his pump is a 4 cylinder engine coupled to a pump and it will use a lot of fuel ,all right pumping water but is it cost effective  .

He has all his own equipment including a 10 wheel truck to haul the cane last year he bunt his cane and cut it by hand ,this year with the anti burning league  who knows, his cutters will not be happy cutting un burnt cane ,they can not make the money ,with a machine charging 350  baht/ton to cut and haul cane to the mill and he was getting 850-900 baht/ton  the government/mill was helping out with a sub of 50 baht/ton I think this year will be the same ,and so they say sugar containt of cane will be low again this year ,no rain so he will get a reduced price for his cane. 

With growing rice ,he did all the work himself ,his fields use to be rice fields but with the demand for sugar cane he try growing cane ,the land is not sugar cane land , you see the cane crop opposite his rice fields ,it will be lucky to yield 6-7 ton rie .

 Fertility of the land could be increased ,at a cost ,then the lands owner ups the rent ,or someone else rents the land ,then this guy will lose out .

You have to look at the bottom line ,the profit might be a bit less ,so are the headaches  cane is not an easy crop and with the government  still subbing rice  farmers ,he might even make more money .

Wife grand daughters boy friend works at our local sugar mill ,he said last year they received 4 million tons of cane ,this year it will be a lot,lot less ,no money in cane, a lot more cassava,maize and rice is being grown ,and a lot of mung beans as a second crop . 

Thanks for the detailed reply.  If they are only getting 8-9 ton/rai I can see the problem.  I was told they get 1.75 baht a kilogram for cane....which was an average price I assumed.  Less than one baht is krap! I am sure glad I didn't marry a sugar cane farming girl! 

Our Angus cross cow calved a set of twins ,I had to calve the fist calf ,was clearing up ,the wife shouted ,she is having another calf ,which she calved herself ,one calf is a bull the other  is a heifer .

Back in March TV's slugs 11's Angus cow calved twins ,two bull calves (see past photos).

Now, somewhere in there is lottery number Mrs KS says 248 , 2 cows ,4 calves, 8 calves legs .

I will only take 20% commission on any winning tickets.  

My newest project: growbeds! Finally got a start on building growbeds. 3 rows x 30m/row. At the moment am busy filling up the beds with organic matter and soil. The soil is a mix of clay from a dredged pond (as described in a previous post), very fine almost sandy soil and the earth from around the growbeds (1:1:1). Finger limes growing in the bed on the right, figs in the middle and the one on the left is empty at the moment, but plan on planting more figs in it asap. 

In another two or three months will continue having a few more rows of growbeds built and a trellis connecting two of them so I can grow tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. 

What a great way to spend the holidays! 

 

My dear mother in law producing silk..........( and wifey of course.....)

 That's my final destination. 

Construction update:

 

We finally have the roof on and the concrete pad is being poured today.

 

Mother in Law says the whole village has been stopping by to check out the progress. 

On 12/29/2019 at 2:21 PM, Isaanbiker said:

 That's my final destination. 

Have you made a booking yes?

It was harvest time so time to get the toys out shown from the front

 

and from the back

 

Of course they had to be blessed

 

and loaded up ready to go

 

trying to make some money

 

was going well until just after this when it snapped a track in half, there went 29,000 baht for a new one

 

just when you're in a hurry to get a new track you come face to face with a roadblock

 

39 minutes ago, OOTAI said:

was going well until just after this when it snapped a track in half, there went 29,000 baht for a new one

Good looking setup you have there.

Was the price for a set of tracks and was fitting included.

Would be a pain in the preverbial if the track snaps in a boggy field.

1 hour ago, farmerjo said:

Good looking setup you have there.

Was the price for a set of tracks and was fitting included.

Would be a pain in the preverbial if the track snaps in a boggy field.

farmerjo

The price was for just 1 track and it was fitted by the guy who operates it with help from the truck driver.

It was done insitu luckily there had been no rain for a while so the ground was not really muddy but it is still a pain in the butt job.

The missus has all that gear but I told her she will never get all the money spent back so just forget what has gone and take easy on the equipment and make a bit of cash each year.

If you flog it trying to make a killing like I see with contractors then the harvester is wrecked in a few years and maintenance costs are high.

The idea of her buying it was so we didn't have to wait in line each time for our rice to be cut. They say "we'll be there tomorrow and eventually a week later they turn up.

My missus and the guy who operates the harvester share the money made after taking out the costs.

Her brother drives the truck.

So they offer a total package of cut and deliver.

The problem is the Govt is their wisdom have frozen harvester charges for the past 3 years since they started paying a subsidy for it.

2 hours ago, OOTAI said:

farmerjo

The price was for just 1 track and it was fitted by the guy who operates it with help from the truck driver.

It was done insitu luckily there had been no rain for a while so the ground was not really muddy but it is still a pain in the butt job.

The missus has all that gear but I told her she will never get all the money spent back so just forget what has gone and take easy on the equipment and make a bit of cash each year.

If you flog it trying to make a killing like I see with contractors then the harvester is wrecked in a few years and maintenance costs are high.

The idea of her buying it was so we didn't have to wait in line each time for our rice to be cut. They say "we'll be there tomorrow and eventually a week later they turn up.

My missus and the guy who operates the harvester share the money made after taking out the costs.

Her brother drives the truck.

So they offer a total package of cut and deliver.

The problem is the Govt is their wisdom have frozen harvester charges for the past 3 years since they started paying a subsidy for it.

 I have been driving around  here and  seen  track repairs done in fields before ,a week point with    Kubota combines?

Around here it is 300 baht/rie harvest costs have been same as for a few years ,only good thing fuel prices have not gone up that much .

Like the Tri -Axle trailer, around here combines are often  hauled on Tandem axle trailers ,puled by a pick up ,welcome to Thailand .  

kickstart

I don't know where "here" is but the price here (Buriram) has been 600 per rai for the past 3 years and we have been doing harvesting for the last 6 years.

39 minutes ago, kickstart said:

 I have been driving around  here and  seen  track repairs done in fields before ,a week point with    Kubota combines?

Around here it is 300 baht/rie harvest costs have been same as for a few years ,only good thing fuel prices have not gone up that much .

Like the Tri -Axle trailer, around here combines are often  hauled on Tandem axle trailers ,puled by a pick up ,welcome to Thailand .  

Sorry, engage brain before hitting send ,that should of been 600 baht /rie ,I am in Lopburi province. 

On 1/9/2020 at 4:50 PM, kickstart said:

Like the Tri -Axle trailer, around here combines are often  hauled on Tandem axle trailers ,puled by a pick up ,welcome to Thailand .  

I do not know how much this type of trailer weighs but certainly much more than a dead donkey;
plus the weight of the vehicle to be transported; and of course no brake neither active nor passive;
I would not like to be the owner of the pickup that will pull all this;
moreover if we respect the road regulations, the driver of the pickup must have the truck license because it happily exceeds 3t5

This type of trailer without brakes nor lights would expose its driver to heavy fines and certainly imprisonment in any civilized country; but we are in Thailand, the country of very big anything.

Mango trees around here (lamphun)  have flowers galore this year.   Our trees not bad for 3 plus years since planting.   All with nice flowers and small fruit starting to show.  Variety shown is 

maha chanoke .   we also have  R2  and  tong dam varieties

On 1/18/2020 at 2:47 PM, rumak said:

Mango trees around here (lamphun)  have flowers galore this year.   Our trees not bad for 3 plus years since planting.   All with nice flowers and small fruit starting to show.  Variety shown is 

maha chanoke .   we also have  R2  and  tong dam varieties

Looks like they have been pruned properly.  The orchard my wife inherited is.....not sure what the correct word is.....I'll say untidy to be nice.....is producing plenty of mangoes but not early enough. We  need mangoes ready to pick early to mid December to GE the best price. Any particular reason to  grow tong dam?

1 hour ago, Grumpy John said:

Looks like they have been pruned properly.  The orchard my wife inherited is.....not sure what the correct word is.....I'll say untidy to be nice.....is producing plenty of mangoes but not early enough. We  need mangoes ready to pick early to mid December to GE the best price. Any particular reason to  grow tong dam?

We did a little pruning, but remember the trees are only a little more than 3 years old, so not much required.   We will prune each year as the trees grow.

The tong dam variety is very popular around here with people starting new orchards (average orchard owned by locals not that large. Anywhere from a few rai to maybe 20 .  Tong dam variety

needs little care , has a lot of fruit, and can be left on trees for longer than others such as maha chanoke .  The tong dam are usually the last to be picked , people waiting for end of season .

Not the tastiest variety but easy to grow.... and sell .  

 

BTW:  my SARCASTIC post on the burning of sugar cane thread was taken quite seriously by some that don't know my style.   I am waiting for a bit to see how many tell me what a jerk i am

5555       I am suffering like everyone !

On 1/20/2020 at 9:31 PM, rumak said:

We did a little pruning, but remember the trees are only a little more than 3 years old, so not much required.   We will prune each year as the trees grow.

The tong dam variety is very popular around here with people starting new orchards (average orchard owned by locals not that large. Anywhere from a few rai to maybe 20 .  Tong dam variety

needs little care , has a lot of fruit, and can be left on trees for longer than others such as maha chanoke .  The tong dam are usually the last to be picked , people waiting for end of season .

Not the tastiest variety but easy to grow.... and sell .  

 

BTW:  my SARCASTIC post on the burning of sugar cane thread was taken quite seriously by some that don't know my style.   I am waiting for a bit to see how many tell me what a jerk i am

5555       I am suffering like everyone !

Sarcasm! People in Australia think I am quite the barsteed Because of my propensity to use sarcasm so frequently.......but I do try my best to keep it in check.  Anyhow it's really wasted on my wife and the few other English speaking Thais that I  know.  Gems of sarcasm have been wasted time and time again because they just don't get it. 

^ had a maco in this week, dug a hole 40x20m,2/2.5m deep and then stacked all the dirt around the hole... how many bahts do you think?

plan was to go down 2.5m but land is full of large rock under ground...

6 hours ago, thoongfoned said:

^ had a maco in this week, dug a hole 40x20m,2/2.5m deep and then stacked all the dirt around the hole... how many bahts do you think?

plan was to go down 2.5m but land is full of large rock under ground...

Let me have a stab in the dark.

90,000 baht.

 

1 hour ago, farmerjo said:

Let me have a stab in the dark.

90,000 baht.

 

What did that take 3 days ?a 360 @ 1500 baht hour? 40, 000 baht????