Rice Harvester

[riceman09]

I've been reading few topics about harvesting rice by using a machine. I will appreciate if anyone can tell about thr initial investments, how long would it take to payback the machine and how much is the charge per rai when harvesting by machine, or any usefull info( by the way, I'm talking about a small machine as the paddies are small ). Thank you all ever so much.

Riceman09

[scotbeve]

Riceman,

Lots of variables on the questions you asked.... What type of rice? What type of terrain? What actual size of machine are you talking about? Etc....

[slapout]

The rice farmers are experiencing a shortage of labor for the manual harvest in many areas. Thus the self propelled machines are being used (rented) even though very few farmers have ample rice acreage to pay for one themselves. The threshing of the grain when hand cut does not require that many laborers and can many times be done at a more leisurely pace. I am surprised that no one has introduced a binder machine which could be pulled by the iron buffalo and shocks of straw with grain could be thrashed manually.This would be ideal for the small rice paddy and would only require a 3 man harvest team.

With the migration of potential farm help to the cities, the 10 to 20 rai farmer would appear to be eventually doomed in Thailand, unless an affordable semi mechanized system can be established. Otherwise the custom harvestors will be the norm within the next generation or so.

[scotbeve]

The rice farmers are experiencing a shortage of labor for the manual harvest in many areas. Thus the self propelled machines are being used (rented) even though very few farmers have ample rice acreage to pay for one themselves. The threshing of the grain when hand cut does not require that many laborers and can many times be done at a more leisurely pace. I am surprised that no one has introduced a binder machine which could be pulled by the iron buffalo and shocks of straw with grain could be thrashed manually.This would be ideal for the small rice paddy and would only require a 3 man harvest team.

With the migration of potential farm help to the cities, the 10 to 20 rai farmer would appear to be eventually doomed in Thailand, unless an affordable semi mechanized system can be established. Otherwise the custom harvestors will be the norm within the next generation or so.

Slapout,

This is a Kubota DC-60 rice harvester. I have 3 of them. These have been sold in Thailand since 2007 and there are varying sizes for different sized fields.

[riceman09]

First of all I would like to thank you all for the feedback. As I'm not an expert in this field, could you please tell me the pros and cons about this type of machine. I want to get it for my in-laws who are working extremely hard in their farm( 30 rai ) and when time comes for labour is difficult to come by. If I can find the right sixe machine they could rent it out increasing their income.

Thank you all again,

riceman09

[scotbeve]

First of all I would like to thank you all for the feedback. As I'm not an expert in this field, could you please tell me the pros and cons about this type of machine. I want to get it for my in-laws who are working extremely hard in their farm( 30 rai ) and when time comes for labour is difficult to come by. If I can find the right sixe machine they could rent it out increasing their income.

Thank you all again,

riceman09

With 3 machines, we make nett profit twice a year of approx. 300,000 baht (x2 = 600,000/year). Be assured that you will need Kubota trained mechanics and a good supply/stock of spares as well as tools. Spares are difficult to get sometimes and the lead time is long in some instances. Prior to a harvest season I have approx. 180,000 baht worth of spares standing by (that's 2 1/2 times more spares than I need or use....see what I mean?) and this is for the 3 machines.

Scott

[IsaanAussie]

The rice farmers are experiencing a shortage of labor for the manual harvest in many areas. Thus the self propelled machines are being used (rented) even though very few farmers have ample rice acreage to pay for one themselves. The threshing of the grain when hand cut does not require that many laborers and can many times be done at a more leisurely pace. I am surprised that no one has introduced a binder machine which could be pulled by the iron buffalo and shocks of straw with grain could be thrashed manually.This would be ideal for the small rice paddy and would only require a 3 man harvest team.

With the migration of potential farm help to the cities, the 10 to 20 rai farmer would appear to be eventually doomed in Thailand, unless an affordable semi mechanized system can be established. Otherwise the custom harvestors will be the norm within the next generation or so.

There are reaper/binder attachments for the iron buffalos here that cut and tie bundles of rice. I cant remember the pricing other than it seemed reasonable at the time. There is also a range of smaller dedicated machines from Japan that do the same thing at considerable higher prices.

I agree completely that this form of harvesting for the small land holder is a practical alternative for the future. If not for the amount of water left in our low lying rice paddies at harvest and problems of lodging we have each year as a result, this is the way I would go. After looking at the amount of rubbish in the rice cut by machine near us, I decided to go manual and hired a team of people.

I doubt it will take a generation as the change to mechanisation is rapid. It is already must cheaper than manual harvesting and the number of machines around increasing. As the skill level of the operators improves no doubt so will the quality of the rice and the current price penalty for machine cut rice will decrease.

I have a metal gathering frame which attachs to the cutting head on my brush cutter. I used it last year to good effect. With a little practice you can sweep up a bundle of rice and lay it out on top of the stubble so it is easy to gather up. As a newbie against skilled hand cutters I managed to cut about twice the amount they did. Whilst I would think about using this cheap level of technology it is almost impossible to use on lodged rice.

One thought for the future is to develop some alternative for drying rice other than the blue nets used today. If farm wastes could be used for heat, such as gasifiers burning rice hulls or coconut husk then a drum drier would be good taking less time and considerable less space.

Isaan Aussie

[OOTAI]

The rice farmers are experiencing a shortage of labor for the manual harvest in many areas. Thus the self propelled machines are being used (rented) even though very few farmers have ample rice acreage to pay for one themselves. The threshing of the grain when hand cut does not require that many laborers and can many times be done at a more leisurely pace. I am surprised that no one has introduced a binder machine which could be pulled by the iron buffalo and shocks of straw with grain could be thrashed manually.This would be ideal for the small rice paddy and would only require a 3 man harvest team.

With the migration of potential farm help to the cities, the 10 to 20 rai farmer would appear to be eventually doomed in Thailand, unless an affordable semi mechanized system can be established. Otherwise the custom harvestors will be the norm within the next generation or so.

There are reaper/binder attachments for the iron buffalos here that cut and tie bundles of rice. I cant remember the pricing other than it seemed reasonable at the time. There is also a range of smaller dedicated machines from Japan that do the same thing at considerable higher prices.

I agree completely that this form of harvesting for the small land holder is a practical alternative for the future. If not for the amount of water left in our low lying rice paddies at harvest and problems of lodging we have each year as a result, this is the way I would go. After looking at the amount of rubbish in the rice cut by machine near us, I decided to go manual and hired a team of people.

I doubt it will take a generation as the change to mechanisation is rapid. It is already must cheaper than manual harvesting and the number of machines around increasing. As the skill level of the operators improves no doubt so will the quality of the rice and the current price penalty for machine cut rice will decrease.

I have a metal gathering frame which attachs to the cutting head on my brush cutter. I used it last year to good effect. With a little practice you can sweep up a bundle of rice and lay it out on top of the stubble so it is easy to gather up. As a newbie against skilled hand cutters I managed to cut about twice the amount they did. Whilst I would think about using this cheap level of technology it is almost impossible to use on lodged rice.

One thought for the future is to develop some alternative for drying rice other than the blue nets used today. If farm wastes could be used for heat, such as gasifiers burning rice hulls or coconut husk then a drum drier would be good taking less time and considerable less space.

Isaan Aussie

[OOTAI]

Isaanaussie

I didn't want to quote your last post but I seemed to have stuffed that up by hitting the wrong button.

My question to you, as someone who seems to do a lot of research on what is available and coming up with innovative ways to use same, is whether you know of any machine that just cleans rice. I posed this question in another post and pnusted replied but didn't really answer that bit specifically. As I see it hand cutting eliminates most of the weed material that the harvestors pick up but then you still get some straw when the handcut rice is put through the threshing machine. I am of the opinion that if the thresher part could be taken of then rice cut by harvestor could be fed through the cleaning section that is left behind. I hope that what I have written makes sense but I remember years ago in Australia Hannaford used to have "graders" travelling around the country cleaning and grading the wheat. Do you know what the people who buy the paddy rice do/use to clean the "trash" out of the rice?

As for drying the rice I "like" the nets especially when they spread all over the roads.

[IsaanAussie]

Isaanaussie

I didn't want to quote your last post but I seemed to have stuffed that up by hitting the wrong button.

My question to you, as someone who seems to do a lot of research on what is available and coming up with innovative ways to use same, is whether you know of any machine that just cleans rice. I posed this question in another post and pnusted replied but didn't really answer that bit specifically. As I see it hand cutting eliminates most of the weed material that the harvestors pick up but then you still get some straw when the handcut rice is put through the threshing machine. I am of the opinion that if the thresher part could be taken of then rice cut by harvestor could be fed through the cleaning section that is left behind. I hope that what I have written makes sense but I remember years ago in Australia Hannaford used to have "graders" travelling around the country cleaning and grading the wheat. Do you know what the people who buy the paddy rice do/use to clean the "trash" out of the rice?

As for drying the rice I "like" the nets especially when they spread all over the roads.

At a local level, most of the remaining trash in sun dried rice is taken out in the first part of the rice mill, basically a shaker bin with various size screens in it. The rice is emptied into this bin and the larger trash bits are caught on the first screen. On a more primative level the rice is winnowed, or tossed in the air on a windy day and the light weight materials are simply blown away, you may have seen photos of women with large cane trays tossing rice so it seperates from the trash and any loose husk. Many merchants simply do not buy wet or dirty rice.

On a commercial scale there are many different methods used but basically screens or other methods which separate by size and weight differences between good rice and other stuff.

Answer your question?

IA

Edit addition: Rice is priced based on moisture content, no-one likes to buy dirty trash with the rice because the weight is calculated by weighing the vehicle loaded and then again after unloading. Your are paying for the trash too.

Edited December 7, 2010 by IsaanAussie

[riceman09]

[

With 3 machines, we make nett profit twice a year of approx. 300,000 baht (x2 = 600,000/year). Be assured that you will need Kubota trained mechanics and a good supply/stock of spares as well as tools. Spares are difficult to get sometimes and the lead time is long in some instances. Prior to a harvest season I have approx. 180,000 baht worth of spares standing by (that's 2 1/2 times more spares than I need or use....see what I mean?) and this is for the 3 machines.

Scott

Dear Scott,

thank you very much for the great feedback( and IsaanAussie as well!!). How do you deal, if at all, whit what few people call dirty rice because of the harvester pcking up other compounds together with rice?. I have seen and heard this comments many times. Can you advise on this? I would like to get this machine for my girlfriend' brother who has been growing in rice farms and,provided that I get the machine, is there a way( before getting the harvester) for him to get trained and familiar with the harvester?

Thanks a million to everyone

riceman09

[scotbeve]

Hi Riceman,

You're welcome. Debris in rice is a fact of life here. As Issan Aussie stated the millers clean and size-sort accordingly. It's not really an issue. What is and has been a major issue is the amount of rice wasted or dropped on the ground by hand-cut, and some machines. I've had a lot of praise from customers saying that our machines work very well with the minimal amount of droppage / wastage as compared to larger machines and hand-cut (harvested) rice. Go around the different fields after a harvest and see it for yourself. Compare the different machines and also hand-cut fields.

[IsaanAussie]

Hi Riceman,

You're welcome. Debris in rice is a fact of life here. As Issan Aussie stated the millers clean and size-sort accordingly. It's not really an issue. What is and has been a major issue is the amount of rice wasted or dropped on the ground by hand-cut, and some machines. I've had a lot of praise from customers saying that our machines work very well with the minimal amount of droppage / wastage as compared to larger machines and hand-cut (harvested) rice. Go around the different fields after a harvest and see it for yourself. Compare the different machines and also hand-cut fields.

SB,

Congratulations, as your customers are happy with your machines efficiency, the bamboo telegraph will do the rest for the balance of this harvest and those to follow. The future for your operation looks bright.

To me debris in the rice is an issue, or perhaps I could call it a decision to be made. Do you tolerate a potential drop in return for the large reduction in cost and time that machine cutting offers? Ultimately, with a reducing manual labour workforce there will be no choice. Whilst our rice in the bag looked much cleaner than the mechanised product, the cost was undoubtedly higher.

You are correct about the wastage issue. For hand cut rice, as careful as the labourers are, waste occurs simply through the number of times the rice is handled, cut and bundled, laid out to dry, turned over, collected and transported from the paddy, stacked for threshing, threshed and bagged. As small as the losses can be at each step, they accumulate and are probably above the reported 1 to 3% loss when machine cut.

I have walked around and observed whats left as you suggest. If I could find a machine that can cut lodged rice without the high levels of waste I've seen, I'd be as we say in OZ, "Up it like a rat up a drainpipe."

IsaanAussie

PS. It is a shame that the traditions and communal spirit of the rice harvest is being eroded. Amid all the petty jealousy around the village, it is one time when, for a few weeks people pull together.

[harrry]

Hi Riceman,

You're welcome. Debris in rice is a fact of life here. As Issan Aussie stated the millers clean and size-sort accordingly. It's not really an issue. What is and has been a major issue is the amount of rice wasted or dropped on the ground by hand-cut, and some machines. I've had a lot of praise from customers saying that our machines work very well with the minimal amount of droppage / wastage as compared to larger machines and hand-cut (harvested) rice. Go around the different fields after a harvest and see it for yourself. Compare the different machines and also hand-cut fields.

SB,

Congratulations, as your customers are happy with your machines efficiency, the bamboo telegraph will do the rest for the balance of this harvest and those to follow. The future for your operation looks bright.

To me debris in the rice is an issue, or perhaps I could call it a decision to be made. Do you tolerate a potential drop in return for the large reduction in cost and time that machine cutting offers? Ultimately, with a reducing manual labour workforce there will be no choice. Whilst our rice in the bag looked much cleaner than the mechanised product, the cost was undoubtedly higher.

You are correct about the wastage issue. For hand cut rice, as careful as the labourers are, waste occurs simply through the number of times the rice is handled, cut and bundled, laid out to dry, turned over, collected and transported from the paddy, stacked for threshing, threshed and bagged. As small as the losses can be at each step, they accumulate and are probably above the reported 1 to 3% loss when machine cut.

I have walked around and observed whats left as you suggest. If I could find a machine that can cut lodged rice without the high levels of waste I've seen, I'd be as we say in OZ, "Up it like a rat up a drainpipe."

IsaanAussie

PS. It is a shame that the traditions and communal spirit of the rice harvest is being eroded. Amid all the petty jealousy around the village, it is one time when, for a few weeks people pull together.

The Kubota website says that it can be set for a loss of 3% to 10%. My guess is most will set it to 3% and thus maximize harvest at the expense of dirtier rice.

[IsaanAussie]

Well Harry,

I know nothing about the operational settings on Harvesters, but I have read some very different opinions from members with large ans small machines. I will watch the responses from them with interest.

Isaan Aussie

[slapout]

For any grain thresher to work efficiently, little throw over of grain and clean same of chaff and other trash you need a balance between straw walker width, cylinder clearance, sieve size, air flow to clean grain, quantity of straw/grain feeding into the system, speed both ground and machine rpm and a few other variables such as moisture content of grain, weight of grain,air humidity, and straw dryness and do not forget the sing of the moon.

The self propelled machines I have seen here for rice harvest do not have a independent adjustment for air flow other than machine rpm. The ground speed seems to be determined by terrain due to ditches, dryness etc. walker /discharge width is built into the machine. If all conditions are right it helps in the trashing and grain cleaning to have a certain amount of straw cut with the grain. The operator control of this can only take place of straw is standing via header height and ground speed.

scotbev indicated that his machines are are a type that shocks the straw with grain attached and then it is thrashed and cleaned by manual labor. This system if done under good conditions would bring field loss to around 3% or even less. Just my two cents which is not worth much in today's world.

[scotbeve]

For any grain thresher to work efficiently, little throw over of grain and clean same of chaff and other trash you need a balance between straw walker width, cylinder clearance, sieve size, air flow to clean grain, quantity of straw/grain feeding into the system, speed both ground and machine rpm and a few other variables such as moisture content of grain, weight of grain,air humidity, and straw dryness and do not forget the sing of the moon.

The self propelled machines I have seen here for rice harvest do not have a independent adjustment for air flow other than machine rpm. The ground speed seems to be determined by terrain due to ditches, dryness etc. walker /discharge width is built into the machine. If all conditions are right it helps in the trashing and grain cleaning to have a certain amount of straw cut with the grain. The operator control of this can only take place of straw is standing via header height and ground speed.

scotbev indicated that his machines are are a type that shocks the straw with grain attached and then it is thrashed and cleaned by manual labor. This system if done under good conditions would bring field loss to around 3% or even less. Just my two cents which is not worth much in today's world.

Slapout,

You've given me an idea for a few upgraddes that I can suggest to Kubota. Variable speeds as in gearboxes (a minus due to extra weight..), definitely easy to change to variable fans, and a couple of more. Fortunately, it's almost the end of the harvest season and my farm manager is ready to perform a big PMS on one of the units.. It'll give me a good chance to take some measurements and experiment with a few ideas!

[slapout]

The 3% or less grain throw over is a kind of outdated bench mark for loss via the rear of a machine. This can be easily monitored by walking behind the machine and looking for kernels of grain on the ground. Also check the thrashed heads to ensure that grain is being knocked out.

The cleaning of the grain of foreign matter is a separate matter as far as machine adjustment is concerned. When the grain within the head has not fully ripened you will have green kernels thus the moisture content of the grain overall is raised. This is noticed by the berry not being knocked clean (it will have the outer husk still on it. The air adjustment will clean most of the trash, weed/grass seeds out IF their weight is less than the grain being harvested. When you notice a lot of partially thrashed heads with grain in the bin/hopper the crop is probably to immature/green for harvest. Some of the harvested grain that test 18+% moisture is being cut too early and thus the throw over and trash. As Thailand is primary a rice growing country the combine are not used for different crops, thus the setting of the various variables should need only minor adjustment. The operator adjustment is another matter completely.

One Chinese combine manufacture claims to be in partnership with John Deere, thus using their technology and expertise. When I asked for models, size, catalog, etc he did not get back to me. I can think of no company who builds a self propelled grain combine for the typical size Thai rice paddy (20 rai)+_ Even the models made in the 40's and 50's were built to cut half sections of grain crops (1000 rai)

[grobe]

Hi , Im new to rice harvesting, but I do a lot of harvesting in Australia - wheat , canola , lupins , chickpeas etc. My wife's family grow rice in the Sarakham area. I would like to know how much does a rice self-propelled harvester cost, I suppose there is a large range of pricing depending on features each harvester has . In Australia we have just experienced massive floods and rain which has destroyed a lot of crops including some of mine . Maybe I should have grown rice :-)