The Official Maize and Rotational Crops Thread

[farmerjo]

3 hours ago, CLW said:

cane straw probably too high in lignin content, but a good mix of straw and cassava waste could probably work.

I'm having also one professor from my uni that works on a research using fast growing tree plantations to feed biomass power plants. Here in Thailand he is using Katinn (Leuceana) trees. I don't know if they are using the dried biomass to fire the power plant or digest it to biogas. Huge benefit of Leuceana being a legume tree is that it doesn't require nitrogen fertilizer. Besides that I could also see other legume crops/grasses or even hemp biomass being suitable for bioenergy in Thailand

I will let you know the feedback from the sunn hemp trial  around end of April.

Hemp would be similar.

The guy wants it green,not harvested stalks as i presume it will break down quicker

as a fresh plant.

So i will grow until it starts to flower 45-60 days.I don't have a forage harvester so was just going to run it though my rice harvester to smash it up a bit and get a 20 kilo sample.

[kickstart]

7 hours ago, CLW said:

cane straw probably too high in lignin content, but a good mix of straw and cassava waste could probably work.

I'm having also one professor from my uni that works on a research using fast growing tree plantations to feed biomass power plants. Here in Thailand he is using Katinn (Leuceana) trees. I don't know if they are using the dried biomass to fire the power plant or digest it to biogas. Huge benefit of Leuceana being a legume tree is that it doesn't require nitrogen fertilizer. Besides that I could also see other legume crops/grasses or even hemp biomass being suitable for bioenergy in Thailand

Your professor's research using Leucaena leucoleph,or Gratin, the tree legume is interesting, the photo is from near me one of the many goat farms that feed Gratin to their goats,for most goat farms it is they only feed, all cut from our area, we also cut and feed it to our cattle.

As you say it is a tree legume, fast growing drought tolerant.

In this area we have many soil types, it seems to like our black land more than our light land, it is drought restraint but even on our light land in the dry season it does not grow so well.

I can remember TV's grass Goure Michal Hare saying it does not grow well in Issan, soil to light? dries out to quickly in the dry season. 

The other side of the coin it does not like water logging, as I said we feed it, seed's drop on the floor we put all our cow muck on our Nappier grass, needless to say the Gratin grows well, then last year and the year before we had some floods Nappier grass under water for a couple of weeks, about all the gratin, 90% died, but I would say once it gets going  about year old water logging should not be a problem.

The reason I said that if rice farmers are looking for some diversification, growing Gratin on their rice fields for biomass they will have to get rid of the water first, with some major subsoiling, and that might not be cheap. 

[farmerjo]

The sugar price at weighbridges around here is up to 1550 baht/ton.

 

[farmerjo]

On 2/24/2023 at 7:10 PM, farmerjo said:

The sugar price at weighbridges around here is up to 1550 baht/ton.

 

Came back from golf yesterday and price up to 1700 baht at most weigh stations,prices going crazy as the season winds up.

[kickstart]

23 hours ago, farmerjo said:

Came back from golf yesterday and price up to 1700 baht at most weigh stations,prices going crazy as the season winds up.

That is your weigh stations, how much is the mill paying them?

Around here our mill is paying about 1100 baht depending on sugar containt  friend of mine got 14% sugar from 2 fields well happy and they yielded  10-12 ton/ rie ,good for around here, but after a wet rainy season last year a lot of other farmers are doing the same.

We have said bout this before price discrepancy between areas, our mill is one of seven about the country, part of the TRR Group, Thai Roong Ruang Sugar Group.

As they buy direct from the farmers, they price will be lower, but that is 5-600 baht/ton, that's a lot, makes you think if they do that so they make more money which they will, when they could pay more, and they have a monopoly only mill in the area two others about 50 km up the road. but with haulage cost it would not be economical   

[farmerjo]

Hi KS

Not sure on the Mitr Phol factory price here.

I will ask next time i venture out.

It could be to do with the weighbridges and quota's,having a contract to forfill but seems unlikely to me that the penalty would be so high.

Another senario is the sugar factory paying the weighbridges a premium price as they all transport truck/trailer or semi trailer loads to the factory cutting the congestion of traffic which used to spill out onto the main highway here.

Will get a definitive answer for you next week.

 

Meanwhile i feel rain around the corner,flying ants out last night and again tonight.

Storms have been forecast so let's hope we get the rain without the destructive winds.

I'm sure everyone will be happy to get a few drops.

 

[kickstart]

1 hour ago, farmerjo said:

Meanwhile i feel rain around the corner,flying ants out last night and again tonight.

Storms have been forecast so let's hope we get the rain without the destructive winds.

I'm sure everyone will be happy to get a few drops.

 

Weather forecast is for Monday for the storms, been getting warm around here, but the wind breeze is starting to come from the south, meaning hot season is on its way.

Will test my new rain gauge, we had a 360 backhoe in doing some work widening our driveway, he swung round .............exit rain gauge, got a new one from Shopee.

We would like some rain, but sugarcane harvesters would not like a lot, still a fair bit to cut.

Any rain, someone will try drilling some corn, last year it worked, drilling early and they got a full crop, some years, gets to two-foot-high no rain, local cows are happy they get the plants, makes a change from rice straw.

One thing, cassava price around here is now 3.40baht/kg the highest I have known, it is almost the end of the season, and the market is short, one local buyer is getting 4 baht/kg, he sends it to a factory that makes cassava flour. 

[farmerjo]

On 3/11/2023 at 9:13 PM, kickstart said:

Weather forecast is for Monday for the storms, been getting warm around here, but the wind breeze is starting to come from the south, meaning hot season is on its way.

Will test my new rain gauge, we had a 360 backhoe in doing some work widening our driveway, he swung round .............exit rain gauge, got a new one from Shopee.

We would like some rain, but sugarcane harvesters would not like a lot, still a fair bit to cut.

Any rain, someone will try drilling some corn, last year it worked, drilling early and they got a full crop, some years, gets to two-foot-high no rain, local cows are happy they get the plants, makes a change from rice straw.

One thing, cassava price around here is now 3.40baht/kg the highest I have known, it is almost the end of the season, and the market is short, one local buyer is getting 4 baht/kg, he sends it to a factory that makes cassava flour. 

Hi KS

Haven't talked to anyone about the huge difference in sugar prices yet.

Still waiting for rain here to get seeding,the grass is back to a foot high and starting to set seed so need rain soon.

Called into a couple of smaller farm shops to get some glyphosate to spray the fence lines,both only had one litre bottles in stock at 250 and 300 baht a bottle so left it.

My Nylex rain gauge is 19 years old but now getting harder to read,will get another year out of it then upgrade.

Had to go to the Amphur the other day and noticed a lot of corn and soya beans planted.

More soya beans than i've seen in years,sunn hemp is still not catching on around here.

Not sure if it's seed supply or price.

Could also be the fact that the beans will most likely be harvested by hand and thresher whereas the sunn hemp would require a harvester.

That side of the district suffers badly from flooding in the wet years like last so taking advantage of the sub soil moisture and working out well for them.

 

 

[kickstart]

On 3/17/2023 at 11:02 AM, farmerjo said:

Hi KS

Haven't talked to anyone about the huge difference in sugar prices yet.

Still waiting for rain here to get seeding,the grass is back to a foot high and starting to set seed so need rain soon.

Called into a couple of smaller farm shops to get some glyphosate to spray the fence lines,both only had one litre bottles in stock at 250 and 300 baht a bottle so left it.

My Nylex rain gauge is 19 years old but now getting harder to read,will get another year out of it then upgrade.

Had to go to the Amphur the other day and noticed a lot of corn and soya beans planted.

More soya beans than i've seen in years,sunn hemp is still not catching on around here.

Not sure if it's seed supply or price.

Could also be the fact that the beans will most likely be harvested by hand and thresher whereas the sunn hemp would require a harvester.

That side of the district suffers badly from flooding in the wet years like last so taking advantage of the sub soil moisture and working out well for them.

 

 

Surprised that your farmers are planting corn, would have thought it was to early no reliable rain.

We have a guy, end of our soi who plants Soya like you he gets gangs in and harvests when still green they bundle them up and load them on to a pick up, and away where to I have yet to found out ,will find out one day.

Never seen them dried and harvested, weather they are dried and harvested in other parts of the country I would not know, I asked as  thay are a main ingredient in livestock feed especially pig and poultry, is that imported for them?

We are like you Sun Hemp has not caught on around here, I would say it is not a main cash crop like corn, I know it can be crushed for oil, but finding a buyer for it no one seems to want to take the risk.

Could be a specialist market for someone willing to take the risk, especially the heath food market.  

Same as I posted what 2 years ago now, one guy growing millet seems an easy crop to grow seems drought tolerant a combinable crop, no one else tried to grow it again problem is finding a buyer, not a crop used in Thailand as it is used in Africa. 

One thing, our Soya guy has a special drill for drilling Soya, narrower row spacings, do your farmers use one, or use a corn drill up the field then back down the middle for anther row, a dairy farmer near here did that to drill grass seed did well too.

[farmerjo]

11 hours ago, kickstart said:

One thing, our Soya guy has a special drill for drilling Soya, narrower row spacings, do your farmers use one, or use a corn drill up the field then back down the middle for anther row, a dairy farmer near here did that to drill grass seed did well too.

Hi KS

The soya beans planted around here are done with rice seeders on 10 inch spacings.they usually come with a couple of sets of internal plates for different seeds.

All the land being utilized is rice fields and irrigated to get germination of seed.

Not sure what price they will get but most years it is up around 16-18 baht/kilo.

Harvesting once bundled is then put through a rice thresher with different screens fitted for sizing.

 

The thunderstorms are teasing us here,last two days i have seen the rain get to the mountain ranges 800 metres away then slide on by.

Still it is pretty common this time of year for the area if a normal to average season.

 

Still a bit of sugar around,i would say most of what's left is for seed setts to be cut and planted next month.

 

A neighbour here has been stocking up his cow herd,must be taking advantage of the lower prices at the moment,his brother has the local beef butcher shop in the village so minimal risk to increase the numbers.

I saw on Aussie news prices were down 40% this year but don't expect a cheap steak on the plate. 

 

 

[kickstart]

10 hours ago, farmerjo said:

Hi KS

The soya beans planted around here are done with rice seeders on 10 inch spacings.they usually come with a couple of sets of internal plates for different seeds.

All the land being utilized is rice fields and irrigated to get germination of seed.

Not sure what price they will get but most years it is up around 16-18 baht/kilo.

Harvesting once bundled is then put through a rice thresher with different screens fitted for sizing.

 

The thunderstorms are teasing us here,last two days i have seen the rain get to the mountain ranges 800 metres away then slide on by.

Still it is pretty common this time of year for the area if a normal to average season.

 

Still a bit of sugar around,i would say most of what's left is for seed setts to be cut and planted next month.

 

A neighbour here has been stocking up his cow herd,must be taking advantage of the lower prices at the moment,his brother has the local beef butcher shop in the village so minimal risk to increase the numbers.

I saw on Aussie news prices were down 40% this year but don't expect a cheap steak on the plate. 

 

 

Hi FJ 

       I forgot rice seeders, something I have not seen around here, still done the old way here.

Sounds if your Soya beans are almost a catch crop before rice planting, a few years ago some rice farmers tried sesame seed this time of year, a fairly drought resistant crop, some crops did well others did not, these crops I put down to poor soil, the soil was very light as I have said before known as  Kee Pet ,so called as when it gets wet go's like duck <deleted> 

Nom rain around here yet wind coming from the Southwest which often means rain but our whether forecast says no rain, looking at Thai TV this morning hail storms up n CM made a mess of some house roofs.

Since the UK has left the EU they are trying to negotiate a trade agreement with Auss and NZ, I wonder if some Australian exporters are looking at the UK market for, they beef, for as far as I know UK prices are still the same, or with inflation prices are only going up .

One thing I often listen to the UK farming program on the radio ,since the UK left the EU no more EU farming subsidies ,now The UK government is giving  suberizes but it seems most of it is based on the environment the better you are looking after hedge rows providing areas for wild life ect  the better off you will be and the environment lobby is quite a strong one ,it almost seems that growing food for the masses is almost taking a back burner, the UK shopper might soon see more Aussi beef on their shelves than UK beef .

[CLW]

On 3/18/2023 at 8:59 PM, kickstart said:

We have a guy, end of our soi who plants Soya like you he gets gangs in and harvests when still green they bundle them up and load them on to a pick up, and away where to I have yet to found out ,will find out one day.

Never seen them dried and harvested, weather they are dried and harvested in other parts of the country I would not know, I asked as  thay are a main ingredient in livestock feed especially pig and poultry, is that imported for them?

For green soybean or edamame. It's a snack similar to boiled peanut.

There's a whole industry in Chiang Mai with one company dominating the business.

They have the finest equipment from seeders to sprayers and even harvesters for the green soybeans. Plus the factory for processing and deep-freezing. They're exporting worldwide with Japan and EU being the biggest market.

 

To your feed ingredient, I would guess most of the Thai feed mills trying to mix their formulations with local grown corn and cassava. Maybe fishmeal. Soybean most likely imported from Brazil or South America.

[kickstart]

8 hours ago, CLW said:

To your feed ingredient, I would guess most of the Thai feed mills trying to mix their formulations with local grown corn and cassava. Maybe fishmeal. Soybean most likely imported from Brazil or South America

 

My cattle feed has maize, cassava, palm meal ,coconut meal, soya, rice bran meal, and some rice husks, if you look at a bag of feed it will list all the ingredients and they is a lot ,with a and or after each ingredient, they will use what is available and more importantly what is cost effective 

I have a big Betagro feed mill near here pre Covid they use to be a long queue of truck s waiting to tip they loads thay  have come up from the port their loads coming from ships.

Now I see very few now weather it is the war in Ukraine, inflation making imported feed stuff expensive,  they must be using from local suppliers  one guy I know is only 20 km down the road he sells them corn and cassava ,as you say soya must come from South America, someone did tell me that some comes from China, can not see that ,with the Chinese taste for pork you would have thought they would import most of their soya. 

[thoongfoned]

13 hours ago, kickstart said:

 

My cattle feed has maize, cassava, palm meal ,coconut meal, soya, rice bran meal, and some rice husks, if you look at a bag of feed it will list all the ingredients and they is a lot ,with a and or after each ingredient, they will use what is available and more importantly what is cost effective 

I have a big Betagro feed mill near here pre Covid they use to be a long queue of truck s waiting to tip they loads thay  have come up from the port their loads coming from ships.

Now I see very few now weather it is the war in Ukraine, inflation making imported feed stuff expensive,  they must be using from local suppliers  one guy I know is only 20 km down the road he sells them corn and cassava ,as you say soya must come from South America, someone did tell me that some comes from China, can not see that ,with the Chinese taste for pork you would have thought they would import most of their soya. 

lovely betagro have (from what i can  see) been running low on feed stock for a couple of years now, used to get 1 lorry delivery per farm  550/600 bag. for some time now its 1 lorry for 3 or 4 farms... bag date stamp  produced 2 or 3 days before.  before the feed would be 1 or 2 week old by the time we received it...

nearly all areas/provinces are now delivered in silo format, we are one of the last to change over, can not get a clear answer on when we change, but i think its down to lack of silo lorry and drag units...

feed cost increased by around 20% last year  until november, then it started to come back down by about 5/10 baht a bag (2ish %)... higher protein feed increased by about 30% inside same time line.

baht for owner driver lorry stayed the same for past 1.5 years

[kickstart]

9 hours ago, thoongfoned said:

lovely betagro have (from what i can  see) been running low on feed stock for a couple of years now, used to get 1 lorry delivery per farm  550/600 bag. for some time now its 1 lorry for 3 or 4 farms... bag date stamp  produced 2 or 3 days before.  before the feed would be 1 or 2 week old by the time we received it...

nearly all areas/provinces are now delivered in silo format, we are one of the last to change over, can not get a clear answer on when we change, but i think its down to lack of silo lorry and drag units...

feed cost increased by around 20% last year  until november, then it started to come back down by about 5/10 baht a bag (2ish %)... higher protein feed increased by about 30% inside same time line.

baht for owner driver lorry stayed the same for past 1.5 years

Driving past our Betagro mill I see a lot of blower tucks a lot with a trailer a lot of the big poultry farmers use 18 wheel artics.

We have a few local shops that sell pig feed in bags for the small farms I would say they will continue for a while yet.

As you know we rear a few cattle, we feed brewers grains we have 3 local suppliers we buy grains in 40kg bags ,the bags are nearly all 30 kg old pig feed bags, the grains are delivered by truck and trailer or by 18 wheel artics ,you think about it 30 tons of grains going in to feed sacks that is a lot of feed sacks ,and most a new straight from the farm, not been around the mill .and as I said we have 3 suppliers  in this area 

So somewhere they are still a lot of pig farms buying they feed in sacks.

Like you our feed has gone up by 20% ,I would say the price will not come down ,if it does that will be first.

A lot of dairy farmers have given up the margins are getting tighter all the time and rice straw is at a record price, not even thinking of their bank borrowings.   

Question might be dumb, if you have to change over to silos will you have to pay for them or will Betagro help, would it make more work no bags to take to the pig pens ,you will have to barrow it  from the silo?, install an auger system expensive. 

[thoongfoned]

14 hours ago, kickstart said:

Driving past our Betagro mill I see a lot of blower tucks a lot with a trailer a lot of the big poultry farmers use 18 wheel artics.

We have a few local shops that sell pig feed in bags for the small farms I would say they will continue for a while yet.

As you know we rear a few cattle, we feed brewers grains we have 3 local suppliers we buy grains in 40kg bags ,the bags are nearly all 30 kg old pig feed bags, the grains are delivered by truck and trailer or by 18 wheel artics ,you think about it 30 tons of grains going in to feed sacks that is a lot of feed sacks ,and most a new straight from the farm, not been around the mill .and as I said we have 3 suppliers  in this area 

So somewhere they are still a lot of pig farms buying they feed in sacks.

Like you our feed has gone up by 20% ,I would say the price will not come down ,if it does that will be first.

A lot of dairy farmers have given up the margins are getting tighter all the time and rice straw is at a record price, not even thinking of their bank borrowings.   

Question might be dumb, if you have to change over to silos will you have to pay for them or will Betagro help, would it make more work no bags to take to the pig pens ,you will have to barrow it  from the silo?, install an auger system expensive. 

the only reason we are changing to silo feed is the cost saving for the company. we have had the silo all ready to go/set up for over 1 year already. all the finisher farms moved over to silo feed around 3 or 4 years ago. a couple of years ago i was told sow farms under 300 head will not be going to silo as too small.... but now all change...555

farmer gets the silo "free" but we have to buy the scales. scales around 100,000 baht..... if we finish contract inside 5 years we have to pay for the silo to be removed. around 50,000 baht up...

silo is connected to our main feed store by auger system, we then fill feed carts - then into farm. all up cost 2x14 ton silo plus augers and scales not much change out of 600,000 baht.....  i can buy online alot cheaper but was told have to have company ones.  betagro have a "brother" company called b inter they deal in farm equipment and contract builds.. so basically sell to themselves at an inflated price, same principle as the contract farm model - feed/animal/phamacy sales all in house....

we will still receive some bagged feed (same with finsher farms) because of power cuts ect...

yes bagged feed will still be main for shops ect...

yes like you say i think feed costs have to come down, same with the buying/selling rate for pig meat ect..

@ the mo the company is expanding its pig business as much as poss (last 2 or 3 years) loads of new farms coming online now, basic build for 250 head sow farm 5.5 - 6,000,000 baht ... i hear of people taking loans @ 20 years now...... all i would say is dont.5555

[CLW]

33 minutes ago, thoongfoned said:

@ the mo the company is expanding its pig business as much as poss (last 2 or 3 years) loads of new farms coming online now, basic build for 250 head sow farm 5.5 - 6,000,000 baht ... i hear of people taking loans @ 20 years now...... all i would say is dont.5555

Loan probably also provided by the contractor... My mind boggles. No wonder Thai farmers always stay poor

[thoongfoned]

1 hour ago, CLW said:

Loan probably also provided by the contractor... My mind boggles. No wonder Thai farmers always stay poor

no the loan will come from one of the banks.

in the past (like us) you will try to borrow from say scb or kk bank ect... its a long and difficult process.... will need money in bank (history) and also money going in from say job every month. in our case a betagro rep (guy that got us the contract) smoothed the way with the bank by saying what was pos to earn/garentee of work ect.... 100% will need this.

i was talking to the SME guy at scb about 4 yeas ago and he was saying that they will not lend for betagro contract farms now. why? poeple cannot repay loans.....

i know the guy that is trying to get new people to sign up in the contarct sow farms in our area, he says the only bank that will lend now is the baac.

you can do well working in the contact farming if your work is to a high standard... but many farmers do have problems meeting production targets. so far for us its been good.

[farmerjo]

8 hours ago, thoongfoned said:

@ the mo the company is expanding its pig business as much as poss (last 2 or 3 years) loads of new farms coming online now, basic build for 250 head sow farm 5.5 - 6,000,000 baht .

Do you have a union of growers in Betagrow to help control the amount of contracts and prices?

 

[kickstart]

9 hours ago, thoongfoned said:

the only reason we are changing to silo feed is the cost saving for the company. we have had the silo all ready to go/set up for over 1 year already. all the finisher farms moved over to silo feed around 3 or 4 years ago. a couple of years ago i was told sow farms under 300 head will not be going to silo as too small.... but now all change...555

farmer gets the silo "free" but we have to buy the scales. scales around 100,000 baht..... if we finish contract inside 5 years we have to pay for the silo to be removed. around 50,000 baht up...

silo is connected to our main feed store by auger system, we then fill feed carts - then into farm. all up cost 2x14 ton silo plus augers and scales not much change out of 600,000 baht.....  i can buy online alot cheaper but was told have to have company ones.  betagro have a "brother" company called b inter they deal in farm equipment and contract builds.. so basically sell to themselves at an inflated price, same principle as the contract farm model - feed/animal/phamacy sales all in house....

we will still receive some bagged feed (same with finsher farms) because of power cuts ect...

yes bagged feed will still be main for shops ect...

yes like you say i think feed costs have to come down, same with the buying/selling rate for pig meat ect..

@ the mo the company is expanding its pig business as much as poss (last 2 or 3 years) loads of new farms coming online now, basic build for 250 head sow farm 5.5 - 6,000,000 baht ... i hear of people taking loans @ 20 years now...... all i would say is dont.5555

Thanks

[kickstart]

7 hours ago, thoongfoned said:

no the loan will come from one of the banks.

in the past (like us) you will try to borrow from say scb or kk bank ect... its a long and difficult process.... will need money in bank (history) and also money going in from say job every month. in our case a betagro rep (guy that got us the contract) smoothed the way with the bank by saying what was pos to earn/garentee of work ect.... 100% will need this.

i was talking to the SME guy at scb about 4 yeas ago and he was saying that they will not lend for betagro contract farms now. why? poeple cannot repay loans.....

i know the guy that is trying to get new people to sign up in the contarct sow farms in our area, he says the only bank that will lend now is the baac.

you can do well working in the contact farming if your work is to a high standard... but many farmers do have problems meeting production targets. so far for us its been good.

I would have thought that loans would have come from BAAC,  or Om-Sin ,Government Savings Bank, but do they have a limit I have posted that our dairy farmers have borrowed up too 1 million baht from BAAC ,but you are talking about a lot more than that.

In this area we have an area that is full of poultry farms, the area is way out of town not so many  house etc. ,not so many objections to it all soil not good for framing soil very light . so land a bit cheaper,  than better quality land in the area 

Most are independent farms suppling the big boys on contract they are funding it all them self's, like you XX million baht investment money must come from somewhere.

Note ,a local dairy co-op who I use to work decided to build large dairy farm they borrowed 150 million baht from the Government Savings bank buying land, buildings, stock act they lasted 6 years then gave up with a loss of 50 million baht.

As  I said at the time they can manage 30 cows but not 300, they aim, I think they never got they, no management, they gave up who will repay that loan, not herd who as of yet. 

 

[kickstart]

7 hours ago, thoongfoned said:

no the loan will come from one of the banks.

in the past (like us) you will try to borrow from say scb or kk bank ect... its a long and difficult process.... will need money in bank (history) and also money going in from say job every month. in our case a betagro rep (guy that got us the contract) smoothed the way with the bank by saying what was pos to earn/garentee of work ect.... 100% will need this.

i was talking to the SME guy at scb about 4 yeas ago and he was saying that they will not lend for betagro contract farms now. why? poeple cannot repay loans.....

i know the guy that is trying to get new people to sign up in the contarct sow farms in our area, he says the only bank that will lend now is the baac.

you can do well working in the contact farming if your work is to a high standard... but many farmers do have problems meeting production targets. so far for us its been good.

I would have thought that loans would have come from BAAC,  or Om-Sin, Government Savings Bank, but do the have a limit I have posted that our dairy farmers have borrowed up too 1 million baht from BAAC ,but you are talking about a lot more than that .

In this area we have an area that is full of poultry farms, the area is way out of town not so many  house etc. ,not so many objections soil not good for framing soil very light. a bit cheaper land than better quality land in the area 

Most are independent farms suppling the big boys on contract they are funding it all of them self's, like you XX million baht investment money must come from somewhere.

Note, a local dairy co-op who I use to work decided to build large dairy farm they borrowed 150 million baht from the Government Savings bank buying land. buildings stock etc. they lasted 6 years then gave up with a loss of 50 million baht.

Did they pay any of the money back, do not know but they have a history of losing money bad management and corruption 

 

 

[thoongfoned]

13 hours ago, farmerjo said:

Do you have a union of growers in Betagrow to help control the amount of contracts and prices?

 

555. no, will not happen with the local peoples mindset. i have spoken many times over the years of the need of forming some kind of union.

[thoongfoned]

12 hours ago, kickstart said:

I would have thought that loans would have come from BAAC,  or Om-Sin ,Government Savings Bank, but do they have a limit I have posted that our dairy farmers have borrowed up too 1 million baht from BAAC ,but you are talking about a lot more than that.

In this area we have an area that is full of poultry farms, the area is way out of town not so many  house etc. ,not so many objections to it all soil not good for framing soil very light . so land a bit cheaper,  than better quality land in the area 

Most are independent farms suppling the big boys on contract they are funding it all them self's, like you XX million baht investment money must come from somewhere.

Note ,a local dairy co-op who I use to work decided to build large dairy farm they borrowed 150 million baht from the Government Savings bank buying land, buildings, stock act they lasted 6 years then gave up with a loss of 50 million baht.

As  I said at the time they can manage 30 cows but not 300, they aim, I think they never got they, no management, they gave up who will repay that loan, not herd who as of yet. 

 

the baac bank in my mind is the better option to borrow from then say scb or kk ect.. i think (not sure coz have not done it) if you have enough land to borrow xx amount the baac will let you borrow coz they will only let you have 40 or 50 (max) % of appraised land value, plus you will be borrowing in the group/team format so all the other people in your team will have to counter sign/guarantee your loan... the wife team has around 10 people in it.  i do know 1 local couple who borrowed 3,000,000 to do  finisher farm some years ago, took some time to sort out but been up and running now for 3 plus years....

our area now is full of finisher farm and sow farms (betagro)  plus some thaifoods group and cp all within 10km of us. its very difficult to getting planning permission now to build.

example. wife was selling some land last year, but before the change over of title the new owner wanted the planning permission in pace to build finisher farm. by the time the wife had got all the paperwork ect ready to go to the local vote five other land owners in same area also tried to get permission at same time... 555 all got rejected... no land sale, but she managed to sell said land a few months latter for more baht. new owner bought because he wants to build a finisher farm when he can.......

alot of farmers around us that built a finisher farm 10 plus years now have 3 or 4 on same site (4 is the max the company allow) most would have used the baac to finace.... if we were to borrow again the baac would be my 1st choice.

basic cost of 700/750 head finisher 3,000,000 plus plus

[farmerjo]

4 hours ago, thoongfoned said:

555. no, will not happen with the local peoples mindset. i have spoken many times over the years of the need of forming some kind of union.

Didn't think they would,but should.

When an ex boss of mine leased his broad acre farm out he bought a chicken farm.

How it worked was say 30 farms contracted to the supplier with each grower having equal input.

The deal was it was driven by standards so over a period of time the bottom four producers were vunerable to losing contracts to new sheds but the amount of growers stayed the same.

 

 

[thoongfoned]

On 3/23/2023 at 2:07 PM, farmerjo said:

Didn't think they would,but should.

When an ex boss of mine leased his broad acre farm out he bought a chicken farm.

How it worked was say 30 farms contracted to the supplier with each grower having equal input.

The deal was it was driven by standards so over a period of time the bottom four producers were vunerable to losing contracts to new sheds but the amount of growers stayed the same.

 

 

boiler farming from what i hear and read sounds a lot harder to get paided ok if you run an average farm/production.

alot of the contracting farm models come from the usa. the tournament model is popular in the usa, like you mention benifits the top end farms but kills mid to low end farms....

i like the idea (used in usa) that the farmer get paided per animal/space in each farm (sort of regardless to production targets.)   like this would help if you go delivered weak chicks or infertile gilts... alot of time the supply chains of these big companies does not match up to their own standards....

[farmerjo]

Bit the bullet on Monday and dry seeded about 30 rai of sunn hemp.

Got a few more modifications to do to the offset disc and seeder towed in tandem to make it more user friendly.

This is the 1st year i decided to seed round and round the field rather than the standard up and back.

Well Clarkson's farm has nothing on this years 1st effort.

Where's Caleb when i need him.????

Seeded at 3 times the rate for 1st 6 laps before cutting the rate back.

Electric blower i use to distribute the seed died so strip number one somewhere.

Generator powering blower ran out of fuel so strip number two.

Then 3 more lots of blockages at seeder till i realised a disc's bearings had collapsed.

Back to shed and fixed bearings and parked up.

Too bloody hot.

Mrs is stressed at how it is going to look with nothing planted on the inner section of the field and the strips,i have assured her it can be given a haircut with the slasher in area's that need addressing or reseeded where the strips are,it was so dry going to need a couple of inches of rain to get it germinated.

No pictures as i was the only fool out working in those temperatures.

 

 

[kickstart]

10 hours ago, farmerjo said:

Bit the bullet on Monday and dry seeded about 30 rai of sunn hemp.

Got a few more modifications to do to the offset disc and seeder towed in tandem to make it more user friendly.

This is the 1st year i decided to seed round and round the field rather than the standard up and back.

Well Clarkson's farm has nothing on this years 1st effort.

Where's Caleb when i need him.????

Seeded at 3 times the rate for 1st 6 laps before cutting the rate back.

Electric blower i use to distribute the seed died so strip number one somewhere.

Generator powering blower ran out of fuel so strip number two.

Then 3 more lots of blockages at seeder till i realised a disc's bearings had collapsed.

Back to shed and fixed bearings and parked up.

Too bloody hot.

Mrs is stressed at how it is going to look with nothing planted on the inner section of the field and the strips,i have assured her it can be given a haircut with the slasher in area's that need addressing or reseeded where the strips are,it was so dry going to need a couple of inches of rain to get it germinated.

No pictures as i was the only fool out working in those temperatures.

 

 

I was also out yesterday spreading some cattle muck on our Nappier grass, I load it up with a rear end loader, then shovel it out on to the grass with the misses driving the tractor up the field, and yes it was hot.

To quote Nole Coward "Only mad dogs and English men (and now Aussies) go out in the mid-day sun".

The reason I was doing it now rain is due this weekend ?? while the muck was nice and dry easy to handle, a good rain on it will help to wash it into the land, the wife looked at the Nappier grass and said is it dead? I said no just the dry season, but normally it still grows, abet slowly in the dry season, this year no grow at all.

[farmerjo]

Here's hoping for the rain KS.

If not for the grasses and seeds than to clear the air up here will do.

Pic taken this morning.

 

 

 

[CLW]

22 hours ago, farmerjo said:

Bit the bullet on Monday and dry seeded about 30 rai of sunn hemp.

Got a few more modifications to do to the offset disc and seeder towed in tandem to make it more user friendly.

This is the 1st year i decided to seed round and round the field rather than the standard up and back.

Well Clarkson's farm has nothing on this years 1st effort.

Where's Caleb when i need him.????

Seeded at 3 times the rate for 1st 6 laps before cutting the rate back.

Electric blower i use to distribute the seed died so strip number one somewhere.

Generator powering blower ran out of fuel so strip number two.

Then 3 more lots of blockages at seeder till i realised a disc's bearings had collapsed.

Back to shed and fixed bearings and parked up.

Too bloody hot.

Mrs is stressed at how it is going to look with nothing planted on the inner section of the field and the strips,i have assured her it can be given a haircut with the slasher in area's that need addressing or reseeded where the strips are,it was so dry going to need a couple of inches of rain to get it germinated.

No pictures as i was the only fool out working in those temperatures.

 

 

Let's hope for some rain. Or do you have irrigation?