Paddy Cutter

[anthoma]

Anybody tried to cut rice like this? Will it work?

[IsaanAussie]

Yes, I have. I bought a wire framed guide and multi toothed blade locally. It works very well and as shown in the video you can windrow the crop as you cut it. One issue is weight distribution as the head is heavy compared with just a blade. Our land is quite low and has water in the paddies most years at harvest. That is not a problem as you can cut a few inches above the water and the rice will dry sitting on the stubble.

Another issue is lodged rice, you can cut it with the machine but it is hard work. I usually will tackle the easier of the lodged areas and leave the rest to be cut by hand.

Overall, about 5 to 10 to 1 advantage over cutting manually.

[anthoma]

Thank you for interesting reply IsaanAussie. I will try to get this wire framed guide and give it a go. Our harvestingcosts are way to high compare to what we get from the rice so i have to try everything that can reduce the costs.

[IsaanAussie]

Thank you for interesting reply IsaanAussie. I will try to get this wire framed guide and give it a go. Our harvestingcosts are way to high compare to what we get from the rice so i have to try everything that can reduce the costs.

I agree that with either paid labour or harvester involvement, the returns on single crop rain fed rice growing are poor considering the area that it occupies. However the cutter is only one part of the manual process and will not directly reduce the cost much. The rice still has to be bundled, threshed and dried. The one advantage they have is in reducing the number of people needed to cut the crop.

From the few comparisoms I have done, harvesters are now the cheapest way to go and as labour availability reduces furtherm that advantage will increase.

[tingtong]

IssanAussie, could you please give an estimate about your mashine's cost to buy such?

Also if you can give some avarage number on the productivity, ie. how long is to cut 1 rai for example.

We have a smaller rice field ( 7 rai) so, maybe harvester isnt much an option, as the field is small, but finding labourers not always easy neither.

[anthoma]

IssanAussie, could you please give an estimate about your mashine's cost to buy such?

Also if you can give some avarage number on the productivity, ie. how long is to cut 1 rai for example.

We have a smaller rice field ( 7 rai) so, maybe harvester isnt much an option, as the field is small, but finding labourers not always easy neither.

I already bought this brush cutter, a Honda 4 stroke and payd approx 7500 baht for it. You can get cheap chinese machines for about 3500-4000 baht but my experience is that they have very bad quality.

Since i already have the machine the investment will only be the attachement to put on top of the blade to collect the rice.

Last year we had 20 rai with rice. Hired 25 people to cut, bundle and carry to the tractor. 20 people cut (150 baht each pr day) and 5 people bundle and carry (200 baht each). I think the people we had was very slow. They used 2 days and that meens that each worker cut about half rai pr day. We only got about 150 kg pr rai last year because of drought and deseese (spelling?) so the harvestingcost inkl. separating the rice was more than 30%.

Another thing is that its getting more and more difficult to get people to work.

[IsaanAussie]

IssanAussie, could you please give an estimate about your mashine's cost to buy such?

Also if you can give some avarage number on the productivity, ie. how long is to cut 1 rai for example.

We have a smaller rice field ( 7 rai) so, maybe harvester isnt much an option, as the field is small, but finding labourers not always easy neither.

I have a cheap Chinese type brushcutter (3,500 baht) the blade and rice guide were cheap at less than 1,000 baht from memory. The only real issue is the 2 stroke is hard to start. If you can afford it, buy a 4 stroke Honda or Stihl.

Take another look at the video to see the productivity gain. If you cut rice by hand or even watched others do it, you will see the potential gain. But note, the crop being cut is not rice and the ground is dry not water logged paddy.

I'm no spring chicken but working in our paddies in ankle to knee deep water, I can cut 1 to 2 rai per day. On drier ground you could possibly double those numbers.

Edited June 13, 2011 by IsaanAussie

[afarang]

A question or two , if I may. Where did you get the "Guide" I have not seen them in Southern Buriram. Also , which blade are you using ?Is it the standard 3 cutter, which comes with the "weedwacker" for attacking weeds or is it the special blade , they also use for cutting trees?Answers will be much appreciated.

[IsaanAussie]

A question or two , if I may. Where did you get the "Guide" I have not seen them in Southern Buriram. Also , which blade are you using ?Is it the standard 3 cutter, which comes with the "weedwacker" for attacking weeds or is it the special blade , they also use for cutting trees?Answers will be much appreciated.

Feed shop in Khukhan and a multi tooth saw type blade.