Kubota Dc-60 Rice Harvester

[vcu33]

I thought i was ready to buy the Kubota MC-60 rice harvester. My wife and i went to the dealer and got all the info and showed it to her parents. I was shocked to hear that they did not like it and they did not think it would be able to find work. I have read what other people on this forum have said and it is a total opposite to what i have found out from talking to people from around her village. Here is what they said and the questions i have now: " When the machine cuts the rice it is not clean rice. There are to many other grass seeds and things in the rice." I went to the mill when her family took some rice to sell and talked to the mill owners son who spoke very good english. He told me they pay 14 baht/kilo for hand picked rice and 10 baht/kilo for machine picked rice. They took a sample from about 10 bags we had on the truck and said they could tell this was hand picked rice because it was clean. He told me they didn't like to buy machine picked rice. This mill is in Kut Chum about 40 km north of Yasothorn. It is the only time i have been to a mill so i only have that info to go by. We also talked to a lady who told us that her and several other people used a machine to pick last year and would not do it again because the rice was full of grass seeds. Today i saw a DC-60 working close to the road so my wife and i got a chance to look at the rice from this machine. I was suprised to see all the different grass seeds mixed in with the rice like the people in her village described. Her family hand picks the rice and a light blue drum shaped truck comes and seperates the rice from the straw. I have helped do this and the rice that comes out does not seem to be that much cleaner but there are less grass seeds. We also walked thru the fields that the machine just picked and my wife said the machine left to much rice unpicked. I know when we hand pick the rice some of it falls off from the time we pick it till it gets fed into the blue seperating machine so to me that part looks about the same.

My questions now are 1) Is there always that much of a price difference between hand picked rice and machine picked rice? 2) Dosen't the mill still have to run it thru another machine to take off the outter husk and dosen't that clean up the rice? 3) The people around her village don't like the machine and it looks like that is going to last a long time so where does all the work to cut rice come from?

When we talked to the men working the DC-60 machine today they said they stay busy and work between Kut Chum and Yasothorn. Her brother owns land in another village and he has been waiting 2 weeks now for a machine to come and pick his rice. We drove 2 hours south of Ubon Ratchathani from her village ( 10 hours driving round trip) and only saw a hand full of machines picking rice the whole trip so there doesn't seem to be alot of them around. The Kubota dealer said he knows these machines stay busy and could even get us work if we needed it. I was all set to buy a machine last week but since talking to her family and people in the village i want to get more info before i go any father.

My wife has been slowly working on her parents and they are starting to come around to the idea of a machine picking their rice. We are going on 4 weeks of picking by hand and it's not done yet so we hope to get a machine for next year. The only rice left to pick is the rice that fell down. It is hard enough to hire someone to help pick but nobody wants to pick flat rice when there are so many places that still have to be picked they can choose where they want to work. I was told by the dealer this machine will pick flat rice, can anyone tell me how good it works on flat rice?

We are not looking to make a fortune. I would be happy just to pick the family rice and get what we paid for the machine back in 4 or 5 years while paying her brothers to run it. Can anyone who owns a DC-60 tell me what their experiences are? For anyone who lives near Yasothorn, i would be happy to buy you lunch/dinner and beers and be able to pick your brain as to weather this would be a good idea or not. Thanks for any info.

[thaimite]

My family bought a machine last year and this is the 2nd year of operation. They are using as a business to harvest rice for others and at the moment it is very busy and has been for the past month, often working through the night.

I am not in Thailand now so I cannot answer your questions directly but from from what I have been told there will be no problems in it making the payments to pay it off over the 3 years. (not my problem anyway!)

I know that the rice that is machine picked does not pay as well, but by how much I would have to check. As we also have dealings with the rice mills because our trucks deliver rice from Ubon to BKK I am sure a lot of the price difference is just an excuse for the mill owners to drive down farm prices and increase their cut.

[vcu33]

Thaimite,

It sounds like your family had no problems converting to the machine. You have confirmed what a few other people have told me about paying for the machine. I am going to have to drag her family into the 21st century kicking and screaming. They arn't getting any younger and their sons and daughters don't seem to have any interest in rice farmimg so i don't know what they are going to do in say ten years from now when they will be to old to pick and there willl be less people to pick for them. Right now they are watching the CD i got from Kubota about the rice planters. I would buy one for next year if i thought they would use it. I can't wait to hear they comments on the planter. I sure does look alot more easy than what they do now. I haven't been here to plant the rice yet but it looks like back breaking work and my wife tells me they have to pay people 170 baht/day to help them plant or they have to throw the rice to plant what they can't do by hand. Thanks for the reply'

[thaimite]

Thaimite,

It sounds like your family had no problems converting to the machine. You have confirmed what a few other people have told me about paying for the machine. I am going to have to drag her family into the 21st century kicking and screaming. They arn't getting any younger and their sons and daughters don't seem to have any interest in rice farmimg so i don't know what they are going to do in say ten years from now when they will be to old to pick and there willl be less people to pick for them. Right now they are watching the CD i got from Kubota about the rice planters. I would buy one for next year if i thought they would use it. I can't wait to hear they comments on the planter. I sure does look alot more easy than what they do now. I haven't been here to plant the rice yet but it looks like back breaking work and my wife tells me they have to pay people 170 baht/day to help them plant or they have to throw the rice to plant what they can't do by hand. Thanks for the reply'

The harvesters were introduced in to our area about 3 years ago. We bought ours last year and by this year everybody seems to be having the rice gathered by one. It is much quicker so less chance of a late rain damaging the crop and it works out cheaper than paying labour

Don't forget to budget for a trailer to tow the thing around. We had our trailer made in Ubon.

If you care to PM me I may be able to get you more info if required when I am home in a few weeks time for Christmas

[vcu33]

I had the Kubota dealer quote me a price of 40,000 baht in Amnot and 55,000 baht in Ubon. Both trailers looked heavy duty and they both told me my Toytoa pick up would haul it ok. What do you use to pull yours?

[thaimite]

I had the Kubota dealer quote me a price of 40,000 baht in Amnot and 55,000 baht in Ubon. Both trailers looked heavy duty and they both told me my Toytoa pick up would haul it ok. What do you use to pull yours?

The family just use a standard pickup to tow their trailer.

If I remember correctly 40,000 is about the right price for a trailer. The one they bought is quite sturdy but has no brakes or lights and I was told I was stupid for even suggesting such a thing was needed.

I did try to buy a set of lights but could not find a supplier for them or even a trailer plug. Since then I have discovered that the lorries that tow trailers have the standard 7 pin plug used in Britain for trailers and caravans, so one of the big truck suppliers in Ubon should hold spares. last time I saw, our trailer was running around in the middle of the night with battery powered bicycle lights taped to it!!

[scotbeve]

Hi all,

A while back I was saying in another thread.... you'll have to search for it.... that the DC-60's are a pretty source of income. We now have 3 and had bought one per year. If possible try to pay the Kubota agent off within 6 months as there won't be any interest - you'll have to haggle this! The quality of the rice??? My managers and I haven't had any complaints at all. If anything, they praise the fact that they save money. People that harvest by hand do not - I repeat - do not take the time to separate any other weed or grass prior to laying on the stalks to dry out before threshing. And yes, we used to have a few hand-fed barrel threshing machines as well. Someone is or could be afraid of their job I would imagine.

[IsaanAussie]

I had the Kubota dealer quote me a price of 40,000 baht in Amnot and 55,000 baht in Ubon. Both trailers looked heavy duty and they both told me my Toytoa pick up would haul it ok. What do you use to pull yours?

The family just use a standard pickup to tow their trailer.

If I remember correctly 40,000 is about the right price for a trailer. The one they bought is quite sturdy but has no brakes or lights and I was told I was stupid for even suggesting such a thing was needed.

I did try to buy a set of lights but could not find a supplier for them or even a trailer plug. Since then I have discovered that the lorries that tow trailers have the standard 7 pin plug used in Britain for trailers and caravans, so one of the big truck suppliers in Ubon should hold spares. last time I saw, our trailer was running around in the middle of the night with battery powered bicycle lights taped to it!!

The manufacturer you are looking for is Winchein Dynamic who are located in Nonthaburi. They make lamps, lamps and mirrors for use with trailers.

[scotbeve]

There's also a company in Udon Thani named Viking that use all foreign parts, warranty for a year (or more), all the lights and bits, and the license plate / registration, and finally delivery to anywhere in Thailand

[vcu33]

Great information. Thanks to everyone, but it is really as easy to get work as i have read on a different thread? Just buy using the machine you will get people asking you to come do their rice, is that how the majority of the work get found?

[mixedbreed]

Great information. Thanks to everyone, but it is really as easy to get work as i have read on a different thread? Just buy using the machine you will get people asking you to come do their rice, is that how the majority of the work get found?

Hi vcu33

Before you want to put down your money, you might want to ask if anybody who has owned a Kubota DC 60 for at least 3 seasons would be willing to have you for a visit. There is a lot to discuss, the operating costs of these machines rise considerably each season. Not really a problem, as long as you realize it is coming and have prepared for it in your finances.

As to the question, is it that easy to get customers.

The first year was reasonable, a few locals signed up and we did 150 rai of our own Paddy. We were the first to have and use a harvester in our area. We get 1 crop per year. The second and third years our order books were full.

And now, after 5 years of operating rice harvesters, this year we had fights in our yard, along with insults to the family. All about who was to get the machines next.

In our area there is approx 6000 rai of rice paddies, all individually too small to attract the bigger machines that come from out of area. We have a DC60 that can do approx 20 rai/day and a slightly larger 120hp Thai made machine that does approx 30 rai/day. Our season lasts from 20 days last year (not a good year for rice farmers) to probably 35 days this year, (good year for rice farmers) in our area anyway. These are small rice paddies, involves lots of unproductive turning.

These days there are only a couple of other machines, a DC60 and a DC95, so it can be seen that most people are cutting by hand, they all complain of labor shortages. We probably hear a dozen times a day, when will we buy more machines???

I highly recommend a visit to people who are operating the machines and as crude as the Thai made machines appear, in our case they actually have a better operating record than a 3 year old or more Kubota. Also as the forum started out, regarding trash in the rice, the Thai made machines, or ours anyway, have a different process path than the Kubota DC60. This seems to eliminate the trash that we get in the Kubota rice but not in the Thai manufactured machine.

A person asked in another topic, was there really money to be made with a harvester, Yes absolutely. Just like in any business, there is an expensive learning curve early on, all you need to do is survive it.

This is just a few opinions from 5 seasons of rice harvesting.

Cheers.

[scotbeve]

Great information. Thanks to everyone, but it is really as easy to get work as i have read on a different thread? Just buy using the machine you will get people asking you to come do their rice, is that how the majority of the work get found?

Hi vcu33

Before you want to put down your money, you might want to ask if anybody who has owned a Kubota DC 60 for at least 3 seasons would be willing to have you for a visit. There is a lot to discuss, the operating costs of these machines rise considerably each season. Not really a problem, as long as you realize it is coming and have prepared for it in your finances.

As to the question, is it that easy to get customers.

The first year was reasonable, a few locals signed up and we did 150 rai of our own Paddy. We were the first to have and use a harvester in our area. We get 1 crop per year. The second and third years our order books were full.

And now, after 5 years of operating rice harvesters, this year we had fights in our yard, along with insults to the family. All about who was to get the machines next.

In our area there is approx 6000 rai of rice paddies, all individually too small to attract the bigger machines that come from out of area. We have a DC60 that can do approx 20 rai/day and a slightly larger 120hp Thai made machine that does approx 30 rai/day. Our season lasts from 20 days last year (not a good year for rice farmers) to probably 35 days this year, (good year for rice farmers) in our area anyway. These are small rice paddies, involves lots of unproductive turning.

These days there are only a couple of other machines, a DC60 and a DC95, so it can be seen that most people are cutting by hand, they all complain of labor shortages. We probably hear a dozen times a day, when will we buy more machines???

I highly recommend a visit to people who are operating the machines and as crude as the Thai made machines appear, in our case they actually have a better operating record than a 3 year old or more Kubota. Also as the forum started out, regarding trash in the rice, the Thai made machines, or ours anyway, have a different process path than the Kubota DC60. This seems to eliminate the trash that we get in the Kubota rice but not in the Thai manufactured machine.

A person asked in another topic, was there really money to be made with a harvester, Yes absolutely. Just like in any business, there is an expensive learning curve early on, all you need to do is survive it.

This is just a few opinions from 5 seasons of rice harvesting.

Cheers.

Mixed breed,

There's also a big issue of spare parts... Use the Kubota originals for one important aspect... Another being order WAY AHEAD of time... Some items are long-lead (long time) items. The tracks are now being made in Thailand for not much less than the imported versions last year - AND the (TH made) tracks aren't very good. Make sure that you have a good mechanic around instead of the grassroots upcountry version that uses only a flat screwdriver and hammer for everything....

[Shipwreck]

Before you want to put down your money, you might want to ask if anybody who has owned a Kubota DC 60 for at least 3 seasons would be willing to have you for a visit. There is a lot to discuss, the operating costs of these machines rise considerably each season. Not really a problem, as long as you realize it is coming and have prepared for it in your finances.

Hi mixedbreed,

Thank you for your very informative post. I have a few follow up questions if you don't mind.

What is the name and approximate cost of the Thai made machine? (I think the DC-60 is 1.4 mil)

What would you estimate the running costs of a DC-60 are per year? (In my case, we would have two harvests a year - I'm hoping harvesting about 1000 rai a year total. My wife's extended family has 300 rai alone so I would expect word of mouth should at least double that.)

What are the drawbacks of owning a machine like this?

I mentioned the idea to my father in law and he thought it was fantastic. The machine the farmers use in their area comes from two provinces away and there is a waiting list to use it. Queue jumping is also causing fights amongst neighbors.

Thanks for your help!

Edited November 29, 2010 by Shipwreck

[mixedbreed]

Before you want to put down your money, you might want to ask if anybody who has owned a Kubota DC 60 for at least 3 seasons would be willing to have you for a visit. There is a lot to discuss, the operating costs of these machines rise considerably each season. Not really a problem, as long as you realize it is coming and have prepared for it in your finances.

Hi mixedbreed,

Thank you for your very informative post. I have a few follow up questions if you don't mind.

What is the name and approximate cost of the Thai made machine? (I think the DC-60 is 1.4 mil)

What would you estimate the running costs of a DC-60 are per year? (In my case, we would have two harvests a year - I'm hoping harvesting about 1000 rai a year total. My wife's extended family has 300 rai alone so I would expect word of mouth should at least double that.)

What are the drawbacks of owning a machine like this?

I mentioned the idea to my father in law and he thought it was fantastic. The machine the farmers use in their area comes from two provinces away and there is a waiting list to use it. Queue jumping is also causing fights amongst neighbors.

Thanks for your help!

Hi Shipwreck

The Thai machine we have is a KPH 16, manufactured in Phitsanulok, sold in Isaan as a Tamco.

http://www.kpn.co.th/

http://www.thaicombine.com/

It was the only small machine we could find and we had to order it. It appears the Thai manufacturers like to manufacture the median and large size machines. Ours is a bagging machine. We paid 814,000 baht for it 5 years ago. In our area, all our customers request the rice in bags, so we have bagging machines. There are several Thai manufactures and it is worth visiting their manufacturing facilities, it is quite the eye opener. A couple are professional facilities, some are real backyard places just on a larger scale.

The Kubota is a DC60, also a bagging machine, cost was 880,000 baht 3 years ago. The costs have been new rubber tracks after approx 1000 rai, though we had an incident where getting it unstuck by jamming wood under the track caused it to tear, that was a 19,000 baht learning. This year the throat that carries the rice from the cutter bar to the thresher has worn a hole through it and will need rebuilding. I am hearing rumors that the new (cheaper) made in Thailand rubber tracks are not getting even the short life the Japanese tracks are giving. Bear in mind that in our area the rice paddies are small, lots of turning involved. After this season we will need to change both tracks again as well as need to change drive sprockets and track guide rollers as well.

This year has been a good year for rice farmers but a bit of a financial disaster for rice harvesters. The rice is bountiful and just before harvest we had strong wind storms that laid it all down, the bountiful rice was caused by water still in the paddies, this has caused very sticky conditions, we have gotten stuck often, So fuel costs are way up from normal, repair costs are way up because the machines are moving much slower due to picking up the laid down rice, cutter bars, spring tines are getting broken regularly, engines are running under heavy load as we are cutting the whole wet stem and not just the tops as normal, so belts are being changed regular, all is downtime, so yields are down for us this year. We get paid by Rai, not by sacks. Some years are great, some not, just take it and get on with it, the Thai’s who have a much tighter budget are going to suffer this year, The guy with the DC 60 near us just took his machine and parked it for this season, he reckoned he would lose money if he continued operating, it was his 3rd year and his costs had escalated beyond what he could afford.

Just another item, our customers are not always instant payers, they want to dry their rice and some want to wait awhile and see if the price goes up before selling, so we foot the diesel bill for almost the whole season, that comes to over 100,000 baht for the 2 machines this season, add onto that the repairs and parts, it pays to go into the season with some money in the bank.

It horses for courses, we have bagging machines because our customers want it that way, but possibly many area’s will want it in bins and dumped into transport to take to sell. If that is the case then you will want to look at either the DC68 or DC95 both bin machines from Kubota. (incidentally they are also cheaper than the Thai machines) It is just my opinion but looking at the Thai manufactured machine at 5 seasons old and the Kubota at 3 seasons old, the Thai manufactured machine is Looking less worn in its moving parts, has had less downtime due to repairs and I suspect as time goes by, is going to be the better machine economically.

Just some thoughts towards the end of a very busy season, maybe I’ll feel different next month, right now we have still a few weeks of baling to get done.

Just re-reading this, just thought I better mention, YES we will make money this year.

mixedbreed

[Kered]

I have just had the rice on my property harvested using a Kobota DC95GM and the quality is perfect there is no grass or other debris, if you hunt for it you may come across a grass seed or a small blade of grass but it is 99.9% perfect and I would say much cleaner, faster and cheaper than hand cutting and using the old threshing machine. I am told that there is no price differentiation, price depends more on the degree of moisture in the rice.

[Shipwreck]

Thank you so much mixedbreed for that very detailed and thoughtful response! There certainly is a lot to think about here and you've given me a great start as I head off to do a little research. I might have to pick your brain a little more if this dream comes closer to reality.

Hope your harvesting season continues to be profitable.

[Loyhaasip]

Hi VCU33

I bought a DC68G two seasons ago, after realising that there was not a single unit in our area, the local farmers having to wait for the "big boys" to turn up after finishing the more profitable stuff, or hand cut - long time and more expensive!

I am pretty happy with it so far, but it is a very steep learning curve even after researching for a year or two prior to purchase!

This has the option of bin or bagging - all of our customers go for the bin option, only ever used the bagging feature when the Kubota technician was training my people following delivery!

We get one crop per year in this area (we are between Buriram and Korat), but a few of the farmers manage to get a second crop some years. For the main crop, the machine works every day for about 8 weeks and then is put to sleep until next October/November! During the first year we decided to cut the rice for the second crop farmers to try to keep the machine working for a little longer.

This earned a bit more cash, but put so much wear on the rubber tracks, due to the hard ground, that we ended up replacing them before the main season started. So lesson learned there - no more second crop cutting for us!

We have never had to deal with agents, which is a blessing, as all of our customers have come to us. We do not travel outside of a radius of 30km there is more work than we can handle locally, to the point were I am seriously considering buying another unit this year.

This machine claims to have very little wastage - less than 3% according to the salesmen, (who would say that wouldn't they!) but our customers all seem to be very pleased and agree with this statement. It does not seem to each excessive amounts of fuel and we have only ever managed to get it bogged down once in all the time we have owned it!

The DC68G cost us 1.1M baht 2 years ago and has managed to pay back roughly 40% of that, after taking all operating/repair costs into account.

The two guys I have operating it - brother in law and a friend from the village, tell me it is a very easy machine to operate and it could easily work 24hrs a day to increase our profits, but we only work it for maximum 14hrs a day. I see this as less stress on the guys and the machine and it still gives us a good return each season.

Basically, to buy or not to buy is not something I would like to give advice on - there are so many factors to consider that, when I finally made the call to buy mine, it was more a case of "Roll the dice lad and see what happens, if you win, then good luck to you, if you lose, well at least you tried! Has turned out pretty good for me so far.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck to you and let us know how you got on! There is a lot of excellent advice on this board from some very experienced people - one of my main sources during my research.

Cheers

Loy

[scotbeve]

UPDATE:

We have now had our three DC-60's working for 4 yrs, 3 yrs, and 2 yrs respectively. 2 of the machines have paid themselves off (including spare parts costs and trailer purchase).

We are now finding that due to the lack of interest of younger people not wanting to work as rice laborers with their families that there is indeed a shortage of workers even for the machines. We are now looking into selling 2 x DC-60's with their trailers and "some" spares. With that money, and a bit of my subsidizing, we'll purchase a DC-70 harvester. The 70 does not need a "bagger" on the back and can hold 1 metric ton of rice in it's hopper. I will most likely opt for the DC-70 as it is a bit lighter than a DC-95gm - less damage to the farmers rice land. Plus the fact that if I buy a DC-95gm, I would also need to buy a 6 wheeler truck (lorry) with a hydraulic ramp.

At the moment, the Kubota people are in a (understable) tizzy due to the major flooding. They had to move their entire warehouse from Rangsit to (????) in 40' containers. We don't expect any more spares to be available for 3 to 5 weeks. Fortunately, we have enough extra spares to see this harvest through. On this note, I started another thread see here>>>>

Happy harvesting to all!