Ploughing Jobs For Neighbours

[xerostar]

My BIL drives the Kubota and does frequent ploughing jobs for neighbouring farmers.

I have asked the TW how much the BIL is charging and she said 350 Baht per Rai for

deep ploughing and 200 Baht for shallow ploughing.

Evidently there are some different charges depending on other factors that were not clear.

The BIL uses a watch to time how long each job takes, but I'm not sure how that can be used fairly.

I would have thought engine hours and actual fuel usage would be a better standard to work from,

and knowing the exact area to be ploughed.

i.e. a tractor ploughing heavy wet clay in low gear is going to use a lot more fuel than

one ploughing dry sand in a higher gear.

I've noticed we are going through a sh1tload of diesel lately which as you know

is not that cheap.

Plus we have to bring it in 200 Litre drums from 25Km away (another expense).

I've had to chastise family members using the rotary hand-pump when they transfer it

to drums on the shed floor because of frequent sloppiness and spills.

I asked the TW on what basis do they calculate the charges?

Apparently it's based on "the going local rate".

I asked her how she can be sure that we were making a profit?

She didn't have an answer!

OK this family are new to farming but they're doing a marvellous job in

their second year now. They were builders and grano workers on

wages before the TW and myself established the farm.

I think they just look at the bundle of cash after the job and think:

"Wow look at the money I made!"

- without giving a thought to the cost of diesel, cost of tractor repairs,

spare parts, grease and oil changes or even the initial purchase costs of the tractor..

I told the TW we had better start running this like a business or else we may go broke!

She agreed, but whether anything actually happens is another matter.

I will keep harping on it, so I live in hope!

Has any TV member got a spreadsheet (in Thai) that I might be able to put in front

of their noses and say "This is how it should be done!"

[gotlost]

I take my hat off to you. Your doing a great job with your adopted family. You, I and a few thousand other farangs are in the same boat. The rates they are charging are defiantly in the ball park. Even if you showed them that they are losing money they will not go above their going rate. You and I turn out to be the spreadsheet.

[Benjie]

I thought it was 250 baht an hour.

[gotlost]

I thought it was 250 baht an hour.

In my part of the woods, Kap Choeng, its 250 to 350 per rai. Back when fuel was at 48 baht per lit. it went to 450 per rai.

[dave_boo]

Good luck getting them to understand that planning for the next crop takes precedence over getting a new satellite dish/phone/motocyc.

Best you can do is make THEM pay for all expenses one rotation and not contribute even one satang during the time....even if that means the land lays fallow for that time. If the family's income is derived solely from farming, that will quickly open their eyes; blowing all 'profits' without consideration of the coming expenses is not something that your inlaws have a monopoly on. From what I read into your post you add money into the pot so perhaps this won't affect your direct family that badly and be good for everyone in the long run.

There's a spreadsheet floating around covering earnings from mansapalang...perhaps someone's significant other could translate it for the good of the forum? Or even drop it into the language forum and ask them for help.

[finner]

B250 for tyee (discing or tilling) in the Surin area.

Same problem though, who pays for repairs and maintenance (filters @ B500 per month, engine oil, transmission fluid, tires, batteries, cleaning, brakes, water and electric etc)? Bet I know who! Same guy who pays for it at our place. And who does the maintenance? Bet I know who or it wouldn't be done.

And then there is the small problem of collecting the cash. Seems it's always a little slow if at all.

I just turn the whole thing over to the family and let them sort it out. It's kind of like supporting them without actually giving them money directly. Luckily I like working on tractors.

Don't ever expect to make a profit from this, Xerostar, or even break even. The only ones I see that possibly make a profit are the guys with the big Ford tractors that go from farm to farm in plowing season and do a hundred rai a day.

finner

[pnustedt]

We do a fair bit of contract ploughing. For pricing I (or my wife) calculate how much we want per rai for use of the machines, provision of diesel, etc., and the worker (family member) decides how much he wants to charge the customer, the difference is his. That way we make money and the worker has an incentive.

[Somrak]

"Don't ever expect to make a profit from this..."

Sorry, i do not belife too, that you can make (any) money in the long run anymore in this business, if you make a

real calculation.

The time in wich you can work is to short and as you see the expenses are very high!?

Look that you and your TW do not loose to much and you can make her and her familie happy.

[finner]

We do a fair bit of contract ploughing. For pricing I (or my wife) calculate how much we want per rai for use of the machines, provision of diesel, etc., and the worker (family member) decides how much he wants to charge the customer, the difference is his. That way we make money and the worker has an incentive.

Excellent idea, pneusted, I'll give it a try. In theory it should work

What do you think Xerostar?

Edited January 25, 2010 by finner

[xerostar]

Thanks for the replies and useful suggestions.

I've done some searching on the net and came up with two helpful spreadsheets

from The Canadian ministry of agriculture food and rural affairs.

http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/busdev...lc_farmwork.htm

http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/busdev...alc_machine.htm

They are very detailed and include every aspect one could think of in business terms

but for Thailand I think something simple would suffice so I made up a much simpler,

lighthearted spreadsheet that you can download form here:

http://majik-journey.com/thailand/Ploughin...tCalculator.xls

If everyone can contribute practical figures to place on the spreadsheet, we may come up with something useful

and informative that will benefit others in LOS.

Once that's done it may be worth asking the Thai language forum to have a go at translating as suggested.

[mailman]

My Thai wifes family just started doing some ploughing for others with a Kubota tractor They are only charging 200 baht per rai in the Buriram area. Don't know what the difference is between deep ploughing and regular and not making the ground smooth, which seems to be another thing they can do?

The season seemed to be short 1 1/2 months or so and they needed to wait until conditions were right.. softer ground, not too wet, tried to avoid real tough slipery clay farms.

I don't think they have a real good handle on the expense side, like how much diesel they used per rai and not sure how they pay themselves. How much does diesel cost per liter these days? I would think that workers (family) should get paid per rai ploughed, something like 40 baht per rai, how are others doing it? Anyway, the TW is fundng this with her hard earned money, just trying to get a handle on it to help her. She has other ideas to get a rice harveter soon, but that is another topic!