On 7/3/2020 at 4:49 PM, ArickChaiyaphum said:

 

I drilled 66 metres deeps  for 13,000 baht total price. 196 baht/metre 

That is cheap ,must  have been a standered   4" boar, around here a 4" boar is 500 baht /meter.

On 6/16/2020 at 9:06 PM, kickstart said:

This think drove past my house this afternoon ,found it this evening at the end  of our soi with that other big JD.

This thing is a JD 8360RT rated at 360hp, you could ask ,what is it doing in Thailand, IMO way over powered for Thailand's needs, had that set of discs on the back ,from that Ford 

As I got they the driver of the other JD was leaving ,I asked who do they belong  to he said a company.

A lot has been written over the past few years about the demise of the family farm in Thailand, and the rise of the big  company farm, with they big machinery, is this about to happen ?.

I know a lot of land in this area is rented by local farmers, landowners living in Bangkok, the land being an investment for them ,are the company ('s)  going to rent the land instead and start farming,.......we shall see.

The sticker in the windows is from an American auction house lot number ?, come from there,  to LOS ?.  Cost of thing so the guy said 5-6 million baht .

They have been shopping again ,and brought this drill ?, the tractor is ridging up to plant some maize ,why they are ridging before planting corn I do not know.

This was last week still not drilled the maize, no rain  

A different way of irrigating, they were another sip law with a tank  full of water waiting on the headland, the crop is cassava they rent the field and are big cane growers ,this year trying they luck with cassava, with the amount of cassava grown around here this year it will be a low price next year. 

13 hours ago, kickstart said:

That is cheap ,must  have been a standered   4" boar, around here a 4" boar is 500 baht /meter.

Yes standard I think or 6inch  we bought the PVC pipes the expensive bit was buying a new pump that can pump that deep. 

The battle against the fall army worm ,the tractor with the narrow high  row wheels spraying a crop of maize, this guy is busy ,have seen this tractor a good few miles away from here  working ,the wheels are 40 000 baht /set, will soon pay for them self, this is the forth time this crop has been sprayed.

I posted some drone pictures a while ago ,of  a rice crop, this is corn crop , a 25 rie block, the guy said the tank holds 10 litres ,it will take 10-12 tanks to do this crop he charges 70 baht /rie which I thought cheap ,a tractor is about 120 baht/rie ,and no crop damage with tractor wheels.

He changes the battery every time he fills up ,it takes 90 minutes to fully charge a battery ,so he has a lot of battery's and rotates them, most are about 60-70% full when used and uses  2 chargers.

The drone and batteries where 260 000 baht,  would say the geney was extra 

On 7/19/2020 at 10:19 PM, kickstart said:

 

I posted some drone pictures a while ago ,of  a rice crop, this is corn crop , a 25 rie block, the guy said the tank holds 10 litres ,it will take 10-12 tanks to do this crop he charges 70 baht /rie which I thought cheap ,a tractor is about 120 baht/rie ,and no crop damage with tractor wheels.

 

 

 

 

 

Great info and pics, thanks Kickstart. ???? ???? 

 

Those prices don't include the chemicals, right? 

 

Do you know what chemicals they are using for Fall Army Worm? 

 

 

Hi JB

        You are right, price dose not include chemicals ,I did not ask but I would say the crop's owner would have brought the chemicals .

These are the chemicals used, I got box etc  from the fields, what I can gather  Emamectin is the popular one ,first time I have seen the Petroleum oil, but I am no expert on chemicals ,the Thai above Petroleum Oil ,is the same word but in Thai. 

2 hours ago, kickstart said:

Hi JB

        You are right, price dose not include chemicals ,I did not ask but I would say the crop's owner would have brought the chemicals .

These are the chemicals used, I got box etc  from the fields, what I can gather  Emamectin is the popular one ,first time I have seen the Petroleum oil, but I am no expert on chemicals ,the Thai above Petroleum Oil ,is the same word but in Thai. 

 

 

 

Thanks KS! 

 

What is it ? That has bothered me for the past 2 weeks ,a look at Google confirmed what I thought ,and last evening a chat with the guy growing it ,it is Millet /Pearl Millet ,first I have seen in this area ,but it has been grown before ,so I was told today 

The tall plants are the male's and the short ones the female ,grown like this for pollination, he will just harvest the female plants. 

The guy said the seed come from India the seed company Pioneer imported the seed, they will buy the seed back and export it back to India 

Growing it is easy drill the seed ,the male seed first ,then a week latter the female seed ,the only fertilizer was urea ,no problem with drought and Fall Army Worm , no chemicals applied at all, unlike corn,

Like corn, 100 day to harvest ,just hope the combine guy can set the combine up properly ,without the seed going out the back of the combine.

His main problem now is birds ,note bird scarers ,a bit like sunflowers .

The seed company is paying him 25 baht/kg ,see how it goes ,if it goes well we will see a lot more grown , can not do any worse than corn this year. 

I planted millet (sorghum) a few times now on micro scale. I bought my seeds on lazada, paid 300 Baht for a kilo of a mixed cultivar. I grow mine in a rotation with sweet corn in the dry season. They are a bit slower on growth rate but has similar pest control and watering schedule on my patch.

A teaspoon of 15-15-15 fertilizer at the base of the plant when they are between knee and hip size and continues 1.8L of water per sq meter daily before sunset makes my crop grow rapidly even in the warm and dry conditions. Most common pests for me is the red pumpkin beetle and a brownish species of earworm witch eats the inner leaves before they come out. Bees sometimes drop Aphids but ants and ladybugs sort them out fast. I stop watering around day 70 before the birds start to tend the field, and I cut the dry heads off around 80 to 85 days in. It is perfect chicken and duck feed as is, and bulk more than corn grown on the same field. The trunks leaves and all go to the cattle, it is sweet and has a lot of fiber. We chop it up with Machete's about 100mm chunks.

I grew up eating sorghum grain porridge before school, never thought I'd farm it in a foreign country.????

One of few crops of corn being harvested  ,this crop was still to wet, moisture about 35%,the guy said the cobs are not full ,no rain ,so a low yield ,a big problem all round this year. 

The price was 6 baht/kg with the high moisture he will get about 5.90baht/kg ,not a lot especially this year with the Fall Amy Worm ,if he was like most farmers around here it was sprayed 4-5 times, cost of that, seed, fertilizer, harvest at 600 baht/rie, that would about use all the profits ,if they was any to start with.

Harvesting the millet to day ,they were 2 of these Kubota combines ,

Filling the cloth bags ,a novel way ,opening the bottom auger door.

The sampel wife said  looked the same as sorgume ,which I suppose millet is ,one guy calls it Khow-Farng-Ki-Mog in Thai .sorgime in Thai is Khow- Farng

The grain was about 25-30% moisture ,I thought a clean sample, combine set up well ,or to do with the Axal-Flow on the Kubota combine ?,one for Farmerjo , a normal JD or Class combine would not produce a sample like this .

The guy on the left is from the seed company ,they are using cloth bags as the seed is going to India for Millet flour , where the original  seed for growing come from, the guy in the orange shirt is the crop owner ,he is getting 25baht/kg 

9 hours ago, kickstart said:

Harvesting the millet to day ,they were 2 of these Kubota combines ,

Filling the cloth bags ,a novel way ,opening the bottom auger door.

The sampel wife said  looked the same as sorgume ,which I suppose millet is ,one guy calls it Khow-Farng-Ki-Mog in Thai .sorgime in Thai is Khow- Farng

The grain was about 25-30% moisture ,I thought a clean sample, combine set up well ,or to do with the Axal-Flow on the Kubota combine ?,one for Farmerjo , a normal JD or Class combine would not produce a sample like this .

The guy on the left is from the seed company ,they are using cloth bags as the seed is going to India for Millet flour , where the original  seed for growing come from, the guy in the orange shirt is the crop owner ,he is getting 25baht/kg 

Being done since 2014 in Surin

3 hours ago, khwaibah said:

Being done since 2014 in Surin

What do they do with the grain ?not part of the Thai diet ,have brought some Thai multigrain bread with Millet in ,Thai millet or imported like the other grains .

Any one going to start rearing birds .

One of our cows and her calf ,she is a first calving heifer,a Thai Native x Brahman the calf is from a  Beefmaster bull .3 months old now.

Last rice straw bale being loaded into the shed. Total 273 bales, should last the yr ???????? Have still a little more to bale, however will store that next to cow house

Following Slugs11's big bale photos ,I come across this balling sugarcane straw  with a high density baler ,each bale weighs about 300 kg ,as far as I know it is it will be used for biofuel.

Slugs 11 uses a rake to put 2 rows of straw into one ,less running about for the baler ,and a more even swath to pick up  ,this one is pto driven ,looking at the label on the machine it was made in Thailand ,same principal  puts 2 to rows in to 1 ,but looking at the field this  could well be 4 rows going in to 1.

On 12/29/2020 at 11:43 AM, kickstart said:

Following Slugs11's big bale photos ,I come across this balling sugarcane straw  with a high density baler ,each bale weighs about 300 kg ,as far as I know it is it will be used for biofuel.

Slugs 11 uses a rake to put 2 rows of straw into one ,less running about for the baler ,and a more even swath to pick up  ,this one is pto driven ,looking at the label on the machine it was made in Thailand ,same principal  puts 2 to rows in to 1 ,but looking at the field this  could well be 4 rows going in to 1.

This Thai made rake looks identical to the model I have which was imported in from Italy, and both the same being PTO driven. Most likely half the cost I paid ???????? still a very good piece of equipment, and as Kickstart quote save less time in the field with the bailer. Also the straw is a lot cleaner after being raked, the effect of the rake knock the dirt/dust off the straw. 

FYI, the link for the company shown on the sticker on above hay rake is http://www.siamimplement.co.th/ 

Thailand's  biggest combine? 30 foot cut ,imported from Canada ,only has 1200 hours on the clock ,owned by a Thai-Farang farming company.

The crop was planted back in July ,moisture must be 6-8%,they said they were waiting for this combine ,before cutting, but a 50 rie block nearby two Thai combines did that.   

A few beehives I found near here ,with some sunflowers in the background.

The owner said the bees are Pung-Farang...... Foreign  bees?,  he got them from the south of Thailand .

 

20 hours ago, kickstart said:

A few beehives I found near here ,with some sunflowers in the background.

The owner said the bees are Pung-Farang...... Foreign  bees?,  he got them from the south of Thailand .

 

Thanks for this, I will send it to a friend in Oz that is seriously into bee keeping. I would love to get him up here to set it up. 

You know temperatures have dropped when they try selling stoves and radiators in a tropical country! ????????????????

 

 

20 minutes ago, djayz said:

You know temperatures have dropped when they try selling stoves and radiators in a tropical country! ????????????????

 

 

I have herd you can buy nearly every thing you what in Bangkok ,so I thought ,how about a 2 bar electric fire ,then I thought ,no way this is a tropical country ,looking at this photo I could be wrong . 

5 hours ago, kickstart said:

I have herd you can buy nearly every thing you what in Bangkok ,so I thought ,how about a 2 bar electric fire ,then I thought ,no way this is a tropical country ,looking at this photo I could be wrong . 

This was in Chokchai, Nakhon Ratchisma. LOL. I couldn't believe my eyes. 

20 hours ago, djayz said:

You know temperatures have dropped when they try selling stoves and radiators in a tropical country! ????????????????

 

 

Those radiators are <deleted>. Takes ages to heat up and then with the non-existing insulation or air tightness of Thai houses not efficient.

Heating fans would be nice, tough.

On 1/9/2021 at 9:47 PM, kickstart said:

Thailand's  biggest combine? 30 foot cut ,imported from Canada ,only has 1200 hours on the clock ,owned by a Thai-Farang farming company.

The crop was planted back in July ,moisture must be 6-8%,they said they were waiting for this combine ,before cutting, but a 50 rie block nearby two Thai combines did that.   

You'd need quite a large plot size for this machine

On 1/20/2021 at 5:13 PM, CLW said:

You'd need quite a large plot size for this machine

 

On 1/20/2021 at 5:13 PM, CLW said:

You'd need quite a large plot size for this machine

The combine ,plus the other big tractors I posted on here a while ago belong to a farming company ,they have rented a lot of land in this area ,this is their first year the owner is an American guy ,who, so I have been told sold a 20 000 cow herd in China ,and now is investing in Thailand .

They hope to start a dairy farm in this area ,so they say it will be state-of-the-art  job ,I just hope they staff   will be the same .

Our local Thai /Farang farming company have been shopping again .

That subsoiler has 7 legs ,in a V formation ,so they say it  needs less HP than a multi leg subsoiler with one or two rows of tines .

But that JD is 370 HP should walk away with that 7 led subsoiler ,will do the land a lot of good opening up a treat.

But, the block of land they rent very near me was not farmed for 8-10 years full of trees most 10 15 foot high, about 6 yeras ago  a 360 cleared the trees but left a lot of tree roots ,this subsoiler working at full depth will probably bring them to the surface 

I would like to play with it for an hour or so. That would be enough for me.