Need Tractor?

[teerak68]

Hey guys,

I'll plant cassaba on 100rai.

Do i need to buy tractor or rent it?

If buy tractor, which one is good for cassaba farm?

thank you

[WatersEdge]

There was recently a discussion of a similar topic which will have a lot of your answers.

Cassava is a 9 month crop

requiring ridges plowed up with furrows between,

which does need a tractor and ridge plow.

The ridge plow has two large disk blades facing each other

For 100 rai it is best to rent a tractor.

As you will have only around 75 hours of tractor time in preparation and planting

Then maybe that much again at harvest time.

The most common tractor in Thailand is the Ford 6610 at 85hp.

There are a lot of Kubota sold now as well,

so that over the course of time they will probably outnumber the Fords.

They are sold in a range of sizes up to 105 hp

The tractor rates vary somewhat by region,

depending largely on how many tractors compete for the work required in that area.

I paid B600 per hour for a Ford 6610 with disk plow and dozer blade to build a fish pond in 90 hours

The amount of work in addition to the high skill of the operator made that job a complete bargain,

so that if he was doing all my work I'd never think of buying my own tractor.

[teerak68]

thank you WatersEdge ^^

[andy2010]

thank you WatersEdge ^^

i have a kubota L4508 with a load of attachments including the one you want

its 2yr old and a bargain at 510,000

email me if your interested

or i think its now listed on the classifieds here

thanks

andy

[gotlost]

At 400 baht per rai to till and build rows that's 40,000 baht per year. How can you justify an investment of 500,000 baht and up.for a tractor?

[andy2010]

At 400 baht per rai to till and build rows that's 40,000 baht per year. How can you justify an investment of 500,000 baht and up.for a tractor?

i wasn't trying to justify it but as i know myself things change,maybe you get more land etc etc maybe you will start a little business hiring out the tractor,its amazing what jobs you find to do to keep you occupied when you own a tractor,but that may just be my opinion.

the reason im selling is we bought it to give the family an alternative income and hopefully make them self supportive but my brother in law(the driver) has gone out of the country to work now and im not here full time to make good use of it,also,i have noticed the thai's don't have the same attitude towards business as english and they treat it as a nice garden feature and dont like it getting too dirty,instead of what it is built for.

just a thought,don't shoot the messenger

[gotlost]

At 400 baht per rai to till and build rows that's 40,000 baht per year. How can you justify an investment of 500,000 baht and up.for a tractor?

i wasn't trying to justify it but as i know myself things change,maybe you get more land etc etc maybe you will start a little business hiring out the tractor,its amazing what jobs you find to do to keep you occupied when you own a tractor,but that may just be my opinion.

the reason im selling is we bought it to give the family an alternative income and hopefully make them self supportive but my brother in law(the driver) has gone out of the country to work now and im not here full time to make good use of it,also,i have noticed the thai's don't have the same attitude towards business as english and they treat it as a nice garden feature and dont like it getting too dirty,instead of what it is built for.

just a thought,don't shoot the messenger

Not shooting the messenger. I have been toying with the idea and your selling quot is in the ball park but I find it hard to justify that amount for this kind of operation.

Edited March 8, 2011 by gotlost

[Foreverford]

At 400 baht per rai to till and build rows that's 40,000 baht per year. How can you justify an investment of 500,000 baht and up.for a tractor?

i wasn't trying to justify it but as i know myself things change,maybe you get more land etc etc maybe you will start a little business hiring out the tractor,its amazing what jobs you find to do to keep you occupied when you own a tractor,but that may just be my opinion.

the reason im selling is we bought it to give the family an alternative income and hopefully make them self supportive but my brother in law(the driver) has gone out of the country to work now and im not here full time to make good use of it,also,i have noticed the thai's don't have the same attitude towards business as english and they treat it as a nice garden feature and dont like it getting too dirty,instead of what it is built for.

just a thought,don't shoot the messenger

I was thinking towards lotsa gots way because you aren't giving the tractor man 400 a rai because a 6610 can burn nearly 2000 baht a day in fuel, there is other maintenance costs and....etc etc. But I wondered if yours was 4wd and does it have a roto-tiller (rotovator is the correct term). Kubotas are very expensive to maintain but if you don't hire it out and have some other uses for it with your 100 rai now or in the future it will be an option for someone who is going to do a ton of tractor work. Otherwise paying someone else to severe a couple of fingers or put in Casava, rice or whatever for few years until you change ideas or continue is generally always the best bet unless you are a good operator/mechanic. Fords Forever but thanks for that Kubota that pulled me out of the klong the other day

[andy2010]

At 400 baht per rai to till and build rows that's 40,000 baht per year. How can you justify an investment of 500,000 baht and up.for a tractor?

i wasn't trying to justify it but as i know myself things change,maybe you get more land etc etc maybe you will start a little business hiring out the tractor,its amazing what jobs you find to do to keep you occupied when you own a tractor,but that may just be my opinion.

the reason im selling is we bought it to give the family an alternative income and hopefully make them self supportive but my brother in law(the driver) has gone out of the country to work now and im not here full time to make good use of it,also,i have noticed the thai's don't have the same attitude towards business as english and they treat it as a nice garden feature and dont like it getting too dirty,instead of what it is built for.

just a thought,don't shoot the messenger

Not shooting the messenger. I have been toying with the idea and your selling quot is in the ball park but I find it hard to justify that amount for this kind of operation.

i see where your coming from but a pretty new tractor with only 740 hours on the clock for half price and 4wd with a rotorvator with it by the way, answering foreverfords question

thai's love fords also because they are big but they cant go where a kubota goes and working in smaller areas is a real pain,hence why we bought the kubota,its a mid sized powerful tractor and nicely engineered

[andy2010]

At 400 baht per rai to till and build rows that's 40,000 baht per year. How can you justify an investment of 500,000 baht and up.for a tractor?

i wasn't trying to justify it but as i know myself things change,maybe you get more land etc etc maybe you will start a little business hiring out the tractor,its amazing what jobs you find to do to keep you occupied when you own a tractor,but that may just be my opinion.

the reason im selling is we bought it to give the family an alternative income and hopefully make them self supportive but my brother in law(the driver) has gone out of the country to work now and im not here full time to make good use of it,also,i have noticed the thai's don't have the same attitude towards business as english and they treat it as a nice garden feature and dont like it getting too dirty,instead of what it is built for.

just a thought,don't shoot the messenger

I was thinking towards lotsa gots way because you aren't giving the tractor man 400 a rai because a 6610 can burn nearly 2000 baht a day in fuel, there is other maintenance costs and....etc etc. But I wondered if yours was 4wd and does it have a roto-tiller (rotovator is the correct term). Kubotas are very expensive to maintain but if you don't hire it out and have some other uses for it with your 100 rai now or in the future it will be an option for someone who is going to do a ton of tractor work. Otherwise paying someone else to severe a couple of fingers or put in Casava, rice or whatever for few years until you change ideas or continue is generally always the best bet unless you are a good operator/mechanic. Fords Forever but thanks for that Kubota that pulled me out of the klong the other day

yes it is 4wd and it does have a rotovator and it pulls anything

[hawaiiman]

If you are talking dryland tillage, the choice between a ford and a kubota is like deciding between death and taxes. not sure which one is which, but neither very attractive. a john deere is a real tillage tractor. fords are expensive on fuel, and made to be a general purpose or dairy tractor. kubotas aren't expensive to operate. you can't "justify" the cost of a tractor on that size of operation based on field use alone, it's true, but if you must hire the work, you're at the mercy of somebody else's sched. and if they can't show up when you need them, that can cost. you could hire the tillage and get a smaller general purpose tractor, say 35hp 4wd, and get a rotovator for a market/personal garden, a spray rig and rotary mower for weed control, a front loader bucket ( no end to what you can do with that, pull an engine, pound in fence posts, dig a pond, etc.), and a back blade for smoothing out farm roads. of course a hilling attachment for the back so you an hill your own crop. this way you can get a lot of hours of useful work out of a cheaper tractor. maybe pick up a used kubota for a 200,000b or so at auction with a tiller and add the implements you need. ohh, i recommend buying a tiller with a changeable gear box. most of the tillers sold in thailand are for paddy cultivation and run the tines at too slow a speed relative to tractor ground speed, even in first gear, to do a good job on dryland jobs. the deere dealers sell an italian made tiller that has a slow or a fast tine speed.

btw, i've owned operated:kubota, john deere, massey fergeson, international, case, and mineapolis moline. that old 35hp gas case that sat out in the cow shit would always pull the ford 5000 out of the mud, even with a fully loaded green chop wagon full of wet grass.

[andy2010]

At 400 baht per rai to till and build rows that's 40,000 baht per year. How can you justify an investment of 500,000 baht and up.for a tractor?

i wasn't trying to justify it but as i know myself things change,maybe you get more land etc etc maybe you will start a little business hiring out the tractor,its amazing what jobs you find to do to keep you occupied when you own a tractor,but that may just be my opinion.

the reason im selling is we bought it to give the family an alternative income and hopefully make them self supportive but my brother in law(the driver) has gone out of the country to work now and im not here full time to make good use of it,also,i have noticed the thai's don't have the same attitude towards business as english and they treat it as a nice garden feature and dont like it getting too dirty,instead of what it is built for.

just a thought,don't shoot the messenger

Not shooting the messenger. I have been toying with the idea and your selling quot is in the ball park but I find it hard to justify that amount for this kind of operation.

why don,t you come and have a look?

[andy2010]

If you are talking dryland tillage, the choice between a ford and a kubota is like deciding between death and taxes. not sure which one is which, but neither very attractive. a john deere is a real tillage tractor. fords are expensive on fuel, and made to be a general purpose or dairy tractor. kubotas aren't expensive to operate. you can't "justify" the cost of a tractor on that size of operation based on field use alone, it's true, but if you must hire the work, you're at the mercy of somebody else's sched. and if they can't show up when you need them, that can cost. you could hire the tillage and get a smaller general purpose tractor, say 35hp 4wd, and get a rotovator for a market/personal garden, a spray rig and rotary mower for weed control, a front loader bucket ( no end to what you can do with that, pull an engine, pound in fence posts, dig a pond, etc.), and a back blade for smoothing out farm roads. of course a hilling attachment for the back so you an hill your own crop. this way you can get a lot of hours of useful work out of a cheaper tractor. maybe pick up a used kubota for a 200,000b or so at auction with a tiller and add the implements you need. ohh, i recommend buying a tiller with a changeable gear box. most of the tillers sold in thailand are for paddy cultivation and run the tines at too slow a speed relative to tractor ground speed, even in first gear, to do a good job on dryland jobs. the deere dealers sell an italian made tiller that has a slow or a fast tine speed.

btw, i've owned operated:kubota, john deere, massey fergeson, international, case, and mineapolis moline. that old 35hp gas case that sat out in the cow shit would always pull the ford 5000 out of the mud, even with a fully loaded green chop wagon full of wet grass.

the kubota has two speeds on the pto box,i know its relative to ground speed but i made pretty short work of some really lumpy hard soil the other day and i was running in second gear low box

and i agree there is always better tractors but i have a kubota and its only 2yrs old

we also use it for getting into properties in the village to bring up the land and level it out under the houses

[Foreverford]

If you are talking dryland tillage, the choice between a ford and a kubota is like deciding between death and taxes. not sure which one is which, but neither very attractive. a john deere is a real tillage tractor. fords are expensive on fuel, and made to be a general purpose or dairy tractor. kubotas aren't expensive to operate. you can't "justify" the cost of a tractor on that size of operation based on field use alone, it's true, but if you must hire the work, you're at the mercy of somebody else's sched. and if they can't show up when you need them, that can cost. you could hire the tillage and get a smaller general purpose tractor, say 35hp 4wd, and get a rotovator for a market/personal garden, a spray rig and rotary mower for weed control, a front loader bucket ( no end to what you can do with that, pull an engine, pound in fence posts, dig a pond, etc.), and a back blade for smoothing out farm roads. of course a hilling attachment for the back so you an hill your own crop. this way you can get a lot of hours of useful work out of a cheaper tractor. maybe pick up a used kubota for a 200,000b or so at auction with a tiller and add the implements you need. ohh, i recommend buying a tiller with a changeable gear box. most of the tillers sold in thailand are for paddy cultivation and run the tines at too slow a speed relative to tractor ground speed, even in first gear, to do a good job on dryland jobs. the deere dealers sell an italian made tiller that has a slow or a fast tine speed.

btw, i've owned operated:kubota, john deere, massey fergeson, international, case, and mineapolis moline. that old 35hp gas case that sat out in the cow shit would always pull the ford 5000 out of the mud, even with a fully loaded green chop wagon full of wet grass.

Well kum wanna wanna lei scoop em bra and whatever other hawaiian gibberish I can manage, welcome the case for Case by a man of many tractors. John Deere has to be the only choice for a new purchases as I see it. I think it came out to about 300,000 baht ($10,000 US) each for about a half dozen 60 HP 2WD stripped down tractors that were bought new about a little over 8 years ago in California. I'm In the market for a big (2.3+ meter) rotary mower for the Ford if you find any in your journeys (where are you located) and I've got a new "seven" that I'd like to be rid of. From Fords in Front & Behind Cases Away

Edited March 8, 2011 by Foreverford

[hawaiiman]

i'm originally from northwest washington state in usa. custom hay business, dairy work, and a 40 acre truck farm. 20 years on the island of hawaii about 20k from where the lava is spurting out now. been coming to thailand for 3-4 months at a time for 10 years. second marriage to khon thai. settling in happily east of kalasin. wife has a small farm north of kalasin in her home village. retired now. if i had the money, i'd have hard time choosing between a tractor and a sport bike. sadly, had to leave my bmw k1100rs in hawaii.

currently trying to get a decent walk behind tiller. i got spoiled running a bcs for many years. they are made in india now, but the price is still very high. there is a chinese clone of a bcs 718 that looks sweet, but so far no response from them.

[hawaiiman]

If you are talking dryland tillage, the choice between a ford and a kubota is like deciding between death and taxes. not sure which one is which, but neither very attractive. a john deere is a real tillage tractor. fords are expensive on fuel, and made to be a general purpose or dairy tractor. kubotas aren't expensive to operate. you can't "justify" the cost of a tractor on that size of operation based on field use alone, it's true, but if you must hire the work, you're at the mercy of somebody else's sched. and if they can't show up when you need them, that can cost. you could hire the tillage and get a smaller general purpose tractor, say 35hp 4wd, and get a rotovator for a market/personal garden, a spray rig and rotary mower for weed control, a front loader bucket ( no end to what you can do with that, pull an engine, pound in fence posts, dig a pond, etc.), and a back blade for smoothing out farm roads. of course a hilling attachment for the back so you an hill your own crop. this way you can get a lot of hours of useful work out of a cheaper tractor. maybe pick up a used kubota for a 200,000b or so at auction with a tiller and add the implements you need. ohh, i recommend buying a tiller with a changeable gear box. most of the tillers sold in thailand are for paddy cultivation and run the tines at too slow a speed relative to tractor ground speed, even in first gear, to do a good job on dryland jobs. the deere dealers sell an italian made tiller that has a slow or a fast tine speed.

btw, i've owned operated:kubota, john deere, massey fergeson, international, case, and mineapolis moline. that old 35hp gas case that sat out in the cow shit would always pull the ford 5000 out of the mud, even with a fully loaded green chop wagon full of wet grass.

the kubota has two speeds on the pto box,i know its relative to ground speed but i made pretty short work of some really lumpy hard soil the other day and i was running in second gear low box

and i agree there is always better tractors but i have a kubota and its only 2yrs old

we also use it for getting into properties in the village to bring up the land and level it out under the houses

hey, i like kubotas! correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't the faster speed on the pto about a 25% increase? what i was referring to amounts to a full doubling of tine speed at the same shaft input speed. that makes it possible to go to full depth in dry soil in a single pass if you use bottom gear. if you haven't already bought a tiller, it's well worth the extra money/effort to get one with changeable ratios. the one i had just had a cover plate that one removed then exchange the positions of the larger and smaller gear.

[andy2010]

If you are talking dryland tillage, the choice between a ford and a kubota is like deciding between death and taxes. not sure which one is which, but neither very attractive. a john deere is a real tillage tractor. fords are expensive on fuel, and made to be a general purpose or dairy tractor. kubotas aren't expensive to operate. you can't "justify" the cost of a tractor on that size of operation based on field use alone, it's true, but if you must hire the work, you're at the mercy of somebody else's sched. and if they can't show up when you need them, that can cost. you could hire the tillage and get a smaller general purpose tractor, say 35hp 4wd, and get a rotovator for a market/personal garden, a spray rig and rotary mower for weed control, a front loader bucket ( no end to what you can do with that, pull an engine, pound in fence posts, dig a pond, etc.), and a back blade for smoothing out farm roads. of course a hilling attachment for the back so you an hill your own crop. this way you can get a lot of hours of useful work out of a cheaper tractor. maybe pick up a used kubota for a 200,000b or so at auction with a tiller and add the implements you need. ohh, i recommend buying a tiller with a changeable gear box. most of the tillers sold in thailand are for paddy cultivation and run the tines at too slow a speed relative to tractor ground speed, even in first gear, to do a good job on dryland jobs. the deere dealers sell an italian made tiller that has a slow or a fast tine speed.

btw, i've owned operated:kubota, john deere, massey fergeson, international, case, and mineapolis moline. that old 35hp gas case that sat out in the cow shit would always pull the ford 5000 out of the mud, even with a fully loaded green chop wagon full of wet grass.

the kubota has two speeds on the pto box,i know its relative to ground speed but i made pretty short work of some really lumpy hard soil the other day and i was running in second gear low box

and i agree there is always better tractors but i have a kubota and its only 2yrs old

we also use it for getting into properties in the village to bring up the land and level it out under the houses

hey, i like kubotas! correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't the faster speed on the pto about a 25% increase? what i was referring to amounts to a full doubling of tine speed at the same shaft input speed. that makes it possible to go to full depth in dry soil in a single pass if you use bottom gear. if you haven't already bought a tiller, it's well worth the extra money/effort to get one with changeable ratios. the one i had just had a cover plate that one removed then exchange the positions of the larger and smaller gear.

yes the box if 540 and 750 speed

[Foreverford]

If you are talking dryland tillage, the choice between a ford and a kubota is like deciding between death and taxes. not sure which one is which, but neither very attractive. a john deere is a real tillage tractor. fords are expensive on fuel, and made to be a general purpose or dairy tractor. kubotas aren't expensive to operate. you can't "justify" the cost of a tractor on that size of operation based on field use alone, it's true, but if you must hire the work, you're at the mercy of somebody else's sched. and if they can't show up when you need them, that can cost. you could hire the tillage and get a smaller general purpose tractor, say 35hp 4wd, and get a rotovator for a market/personal garden, a spray rig and rotary mower for weed control, a front loader bucket ( no end to what you can do with that, pull an engine, pound in fence posts, dig a pond, etc.), and a back blade for smoothing out farm roads. of course a hilling attachment for the back so you an hill your own crop. this way you can get a lot of hours of useful work out of a cheaper tractor. maybe pick up a used kubota for a 200,000b or so at auction with a tiller and add the implements you need. ohh, i recommend buying a tiller with a changeable gear box. most of the tillers sold in thailand are for paddy cultivation and run the tines at too slow a speed relative to tractor ground speed, even in first gear, to do a good job on dryland jobs. the deere dealers sell an italian made tiller that has a slow or a fast tine speed.

btw, i've owned operated:kubota, john deere, massey fergeson, international, case, and mineapolis moline. that old 35hp gas case that sat out in the cow shit would always pull the ford 5000 out of the mud, even with a fully loaded green chop wagon full of wet grass.

the kubota has two speeds on the pto box,i know its relative to ground speed but i made pretty short work of some really lumpy hard soil the other day and i was running in second gear low box

and i agree there is always better tractors but i have a kubota and its only 2yrs old

we also use it for getting into properties in the village to bring up the land and level it out under the houses

hey, i like kubotas! correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't the faster speed on the pto about a 25% increase? what i was referring to amounts to a full doubling of tine speed at the same shaft input speed. that makes it possible to go to full depth in dry soil in a single pass if you use bottom gear. if you haven't already bought a tiller, it's well worth the extra money/effort to get one with changeable ratios. the one i had just had a cover plate that one removed then exchange the positions of the larger and smaller gear.

yes the box if 540 and 750 speed

Now you guys is shakin me up. Especially when talking about rear tined "walk behinds". I'm the big fan of "no-Plough" farming and like to keep hearing those highway sounds and keep moving in sixth (maybe a proof of your belief island man that Fords fly (and still keep you in the seat) but drop down a gear or two and the Deere's can move tectonic plates). I had some sweet soil in Monterey and could get that Ford and an Italian Gearmore (a Howard knock-off) to make the ground fluff up like whipped cream; dam_n near too soft ( I was limited because the tiller was only a one speed) for some things, a two speed is the only way to go. Rotovator coined by Howard of Australia is in fact the longest woid you can spell the same forward and backward. I have a 2.3 meter that was made in Malaysia under Howard Australia subsidiary or such with no Howard markings and opted for the "Buffalo" model which is the beefed up "Thai" model that I think they feel they needed to build to deal with the Thai philosophy towards the operation of "disposable equipment". Haven't been fortunate enough to use it much as I'm trying to envigorate some rough shod clay on the main farm and have been discing crop after crop of sun hemp into it between rice and constant grading, but it is some tough stuff on the tiller, you've got to get the moisture just right to work it right. Same method of gearing with these models as your Kubotas (obviously they would copy Howard as most smart and good manufacturers would) you change the configuration of the four gears in the box above the differential. Soil and moisture are critical in deciding your gearing as you'll never move my thing in sixth gear (well now I haven't actually done that ...and what if you are going downhill and it's Aromas Sand soil that has 3 week old rotted fava bean green manure discd deep and it's just rained 2" in the last 5 days and 85 horse Ford and a 2 meter "buffalo? ...nah not with a rotovator. I always get the funny feeling that if somwbody has never spun one of those for a few days and got some experience they could end up stickin the dern thing in the ground and all you would see until his tractor run out of fuel is the tractor pointing straight up in the air and spinnning around like a sprinkler with the operator singing Glory Hallelouyah, Wow the things the mind can conjure when your 14 hours on a tractor with the lights still working and fuel in the tank) but get it in third or even fourth with high rev's and you will make sandy soil possibly too soft to be able to use properly in some applications. Moisture and a bunch of 6th gear discing will definitely take a load off of all the equipment and allow you to easier dial in your gearing on both. Well surfer bra and Andy twenty and a dime, good luck with all. Hey soif buddy why not start up a new thread in regards to what is the current state of the availability of walk behinds in Southeast Asia. Choke Dee and some Power Grading with a Ford and a Rodeeeo Tiller

[hawaiiman]

i am sure i would agree if i understood all that (except i've never been a surfer, i retired as a million mile cdl driver btw). Fords (new holland) are certainly ok as general purpose tractors. that's why dairies all over the world love them for loader work, scraping the slab, and chopping feed. i just mentioned the walk behind tiller to illustrate that my humble circumstances don't justify any tractor right now. howards are great. the guys that manufacture the stuff available here would have been wise to copy them. what these (chinese, or thai) engineers actually did, i have no idea. i am fairly confident that most businesses target their market. the market in thailand is largely rice farmers for smaller equipment, and it seems the gearing of the bulk of these tillers is appropriate for wet paddy cultivation rather than dryland seedbed preparation. when i was doing that, i used an international mouldboard plow followed by a jd offset disc harrow and then a brillion pulvi mucher or culti-packer, pulled by an old jd. later on the land of an ex-wife (guess why my means are humble...) i re-claimed some poor rice land by using a chisel plow followed by a rotovator (behind a jd) with the gears set to high tine speed. at the time the ground was a little dry, but the combination worked well.