Small Scale Farming Near Buriram

[cnxpat]

Dear All,

After just over a month "upcountry" (and having my internet setup properly) I am ready to move from the "Internet and Computers" forum to the "Farming" Forum on Thaivisa.

We (my Thai wife, daughter and me) moved to a small "village" 20 kms outside BuriRam. I like the pace of life here, and they stopped throwing sticks and rocks at me by now :-) Although it has never been my intention to become a full time big scale farmer (I also don't have any budget worth mentioning to start up something big), we have some land available (a few rai that we can use at the moment, 30 rai in the near future). I am still able to generate other forms of income, I am in no hurry, but I would like to start and hopefully develop something sustainable.

We already started and we bought 10 pigs that we are raising and will sell in a few months. I quite like the idea of, instead of buying them young and selling them after 3 months for a small profit, eventually have a few mothers laying around, and sell the newborns. We bought them @ 1,200 THB each, is that a fair price? I am still not sure what they will do in 2 months though. Food was about 500 THB/bag, which will feed one for about 2 months I guess.

What would be the average costs (and likely profit) of raising and taking care of a few mum's?

I am open to any suggestions on what to do with the land, we will have more in another year or so (yet that's all rice at the moment) and we can buy more @ around 20,000/rai. (read about ostriches, wild pigs?, dragonfruit, all seems interesting to me).

Reading through the posts here there are more farang farmers than I imagined! As you all can tell, I am not a farmer by nature, nor do I pretend to be, but I would really like to do something useful with our land.

Also, anyone living and farming in this area (halfway Huay Rat and Krasang, or more global halfway Buriram and Surin) interested in exchanging ideas feel free to PM?

Thanks all,

x-cnxpat

[Crushdepth]

I am open to any suggestions on what to do with the land, we will have more in another year or so (yet that's all rice at the moment) and we can buy more @ around 20,000/rai. (read about ostriches, wild pigs?, dragonfruit, all seems interesting to me).

Do you have any permanent or seasonal ponds on your land? If so you could look into growing fish. They are a lot less smelly than pigs!

[RamdomChances]

Cnxpat

Yes it's supprising the ammount of people with a few rai here and there looking to do something useful with it, most of us I think with a few exceptions had little to do with farming before we came here.

I was just putting the links section together and it's noticible that most of us that are involved here are into cattle, so you as an actual pig owner have just become the resident expert

Most of the little I know about pig farming is about the large scale ones. There's a guy just up the road that keeps them I'll try and find out a bit. 500bhat a bag for food seems a bit steep, what is it?, how much do you give ? Can it be suplemented with any household waste or other farm waste ?

I 've often thought that with just a few rai then going for a "market garden" type thing growing veg would be good as long as you had water, growing "stuff" is'nt really my strong point though.

Edited August 29, 2006 by RamdomChances

[cnxpat]

There is quite a large pond on the farm, yet mainly used for our daily dinner :-) Not sure how it will be during the dry season either.

Gee, if I am the expert now ... poor piggies!

Anyway, "I've been told" that during the first one or two months, you shouldn't feed them anything else but the bagged stuff. And boy, do they grow! Most of the writing on the bags is in Thai, it's from United Feedmill, and "S20" is the only other thing I can work out. Not even a weight (I can read the Koh Kai's for KiloKram) but I guess one bag is about 40 kg.

It's supposed to feed one pig until it's ready to be sold, so add the 500 THB to the price of a pig. (labour is, apart from some daily sh*t-shoveling, quite easy).

So yes, it will all be small scale, yet bearing in mind that the family (mum, dad and 5 daughters) have all been living off the 30 rai for years now, and it's basically rice, some fruit and vegetables, a few cows come and go, and I've started with the pigs now.

What I find amazing (blame my ignorance) is that around here, everyone is doing the same (rice, fruit and vegetables). Though Thai-nised a fair bit, I still think too western style I guess by thinking, there's a larger market for stuff that NOT everyone is doing.

But thanks a lot sofar, keep them ideas and suggestions coming please! And I'll keep an eye on the links section!

[chownah]

Since you have little experience in farming perhaps you should try your hand at all of the different farming activities that are going on around you....sort of get the feel of a lot of different things to see if there is any particular thing you especially like before you narrow yourself to a few specific projects....also you will learn a lot of little facts about a variety things and some of these factoids might be useful in the future when you least expect it. You should learn a bit about the differences between standard farming practices and organic/natural farming practices to see which you want to pursue...or maybe some of each...or maybe you'll decide to just do what everyone else is doing...that would be the Thai way for sure.

I live in the north and up here when people raise pigs like you are doing they might make a few baht on one batch of pigs and then loose a few baht on another batch. I've never done it but those that have say that in the long run you really only just about break even and they look at their pigs like piggy banks....when they've got some spare money they buy pig food and put it into the pig bank......mostly everyone around here has stopped doing it. I think the key to making money with pigs is to produce at least some of your own pig food. Pigs will eat the banana plant stalk (trunk) after you harvest the bananas but my guess is that it is sort of like feeding rice straw to a cow...it is a source of roughage and a few calories but not alot else....banana stalks are free however and widely available.

Keeping a sow or two to raise piglet to sell is do-able. I have an uncle who does this and he consistently makes small income from this but he can't support himself with it.

Chownah

[cnxpat]

Thanks Chownah, very sound advise.

It was the reason I asked on the forum for suggestions, and am glad I receive some!

Sofar, the pigs seems to be making profit, albeit little. Buy @ 1,200 add 500 THB food for 3 months and sell probably for around 4,500 THB, depending on market rates. Volume is key I guess, but it's a start.

I will definitely take the suggestions re. the food at heart and look around. The most important lesson for me trying to make money over the past few years in Thailand, is that when trying to make a profit, the most important thing (more so than in western countries IMO) is keeping your costs and expenses as low as you can, so it is spot on.

Organic farming seems like a good idea to me, yet I am not sure whether Thailand is a marketplace for that, I will need to do some more research. As an environmental conscious westerner, I tend to prefer that, yet without a market ...?

Whilst discussing the farming venture last night, my wife's father generously handed over another 2,5 rai (all actually owned/paid for by my wife), at the moment still rice, but after harvesting for us to use.

For us, little profits are still profits, we live fairly Thai style, earning and spending Thai style as well. Next thing is building a house on the land as well, we're saving for the 50-75K required now.

Sidenote: the funny and interesting thing is that we were the first in the village to start with the pigs, every day now ppl come and have a look at how much they've grown, and I can see at least 5 other farmers (about 10% of the population :-) starting to build stables for pigs now. What in an interesting FAO report is called "Success Case Replication", an approach for small scale business in developing countries/areas (not just farming) but this is completely besides the point! Coming to think of it, OTOP is a poor derivative of the concept I guess.

Thanks, will keep you posted some how and open for more!

[chownah]

Cnxpat,

Thanks for the information about your expenses and income from the pigs. I would say that your expense breakdown would indicate that raising pigs for sale is a very lucrative business by Thai standards...you're making about 600 baht per month per pig. Even allowing for a 15% premature mortality rate (a number which I have simply pulled out of the air) would yield 500 baht per month per pig. This would mean that keeping approximately 10 or 12 pigs (at all stages of maturity) should yield a steady income of about 5,000 baht per month....a very good income given the amount of work needed to keep 10 or 12 pigs. It seems hard to believe that more people aren't doing this given the returns that you describe....or maybe my calculations or understanding have gone wrong somewhere along the line.

I asked my uncle about why when I moved here (in the north) about 5 years ago alot of people were doing pigs and now no one was. I don't understand everything he says (my Thai is underdeveloped) but I gather the gist of it is that when I came 5 years ago the local price for live pigs was about 50 baht per kilogram but it declined to less than 40 baht per kiilogram and so people figured it wasn't worth it. With the problems that the chicken industry has been having lately I'm wondering if the price has gone up again and the locals in my village haven't found out about it yet. I guess one possible lesson from this is that the price for pigs can change relatively quickly and anyone's business model should take this into account before investing too narrowly into pig raising.

Keep us informed about how things develop.

Chownah

[cnxpat]

Collecting all the info and items, so I'll keep you all updated.

One other thing,

In 2 months or so they will start harvesting the rice around here. After that, the land will not be used for a few months.

Any ideas if anything useful can be done (short term) with the land that will not damage the soil for the next rice crop? How do others deal with it?

thanks,

cnxpat

[chownah]

In 2 months or so they will start harvesting the rice around here. After that, the land will not be used for a few months.

Any ideas if anything useful can be done (short term) with the land that will not damage the soil for the next rice crop? How do others deal with it?

Cnxpat,

There are two ways that I can interpret your question: 1. Is there some crop which I can harvest and sell...and 2. Is there some way I can improve the soil.

I'm going to address #2, what can be done to improve the soil. In the dry season there isn't much that can be done without irrigation but there is one option for soil improvement that I am working on implementing up here in the north...growing sunn hemp as a green manure crop.

Sunn hemp (no relationship to true hemp or ganja) is a fast growing legume that is efficient in taking nitrogen from the air and incorporating it into its tissues and the soil. Sunn hemp is not a good host for nematodes (small soil organisms that damage many crops...rice included) and growing sunn hemp suppresses nematode numbers.....some sources say that there is some active agent produced by the sunn hemp that does this and other sources say that by simply not offering a habitat for nematodes there numbers dwindle....regardless...this is seen as a benefit and part of an integrated pest management approach to nematode control.

The big advantage for sunn hemp (they say) is that if you plant it in wet soil it will germinate and grow enough to fix nitrogen even if there is no rain and no irrigation. This seems like it would be a good thing for Isaan with its long dry spells. They say that if you plant it in wet soil it will grow fine all the way until blooming starts and if you irrigate at that time (about 60 days after planting) then no further water is needed for development and maturation of seed.

Another use for sunn hemp is its ability to inhibit weed growth when it is broadcast thickly due to the thick canopy which keeps light from reaching the lower story of weeds. I'm experimenting with using it in my garden whenever a small section is waiting for the next crop to be planted to keep weed growth down and to enrich the soil at the same time.

The gov't gave out some free sunn hemp seeds last year and I got some (5 kg)....I've been learning how to grow them (its very easy really....its just that I'm inexperienced in field cropping) and have planted both for seed production and as a green manure. Right now I'm gearing up to try to raise a bunch of seed (100 kg or more).

Anyway...if you ask around you can probably find some seed there....I get all my info about sunn hemp off of the internet...if there is any interest we can discuss.

Chownah

[bina]

i could conceiveably bring a few pieces of drip irrigation from out fields with me if someone wants to see....

i think netafim (israeli drip sysytems) have an office in thailand, but not sure.... we do almost everything drip except for wheat, cotton,clover and other hay types.

all veggies, all trees get drip irrigated (never noticed spray sprinklers in orange orchards here, but we are in jerusalem and its all apples, kiwis, pears, etc) the oranges are farther towards the west along the shores (less temperature changes, not as cold at night)

[Maizefarmer]

I'll concurr with CHOWNAH on this issue - whatever you decide to do, the objective should be to get the soil into as good condition as is possible for the next rice crop - and if that means running a nitrogen fix programme for a few months then there ain't much around that will beat S/hemp.

However (and I must say right at the start I am NOT a rice expert by any measure - so I stand to be corrected), rotating wet riceland with a dry soil crop can be a double edged sword. Research at KK Uni has shown that "bad managment" of nitrogenous rates (meaning excessive nitrogen) is a catalyst for disease in rice fields - but not nematode types. In summary, any programme to enhance Nitrigen content in rice field soil should ideally be monitered against a method that measures the nitrogern content.

Excessive nitrogen can be as bad as to insufficient nitrogen - on balance though, the chances of a Thai rice field having excessive nitrogen are I think rather slim knowing just how tightly Thai rice farmers are squeezed when it comes to spending money on fertilser i.e. you'd do well to try out rotating S/hemp for 2 or 3 growings before having to worry about excessive nitrogen in the soil.

Tim

In 2 months or so they will start harvesting the rice around here. After that, the land will not be used for a few months.

Any ideas if anything useful can be done (short term) with the land that will not damage the soil for the next rice crop? How do others deal with it?

Cnxpat,

There are two ways that I can interpret your question: 1. Is there some crop which I can harvest and sell...and 2. Is there some way I can improve the soil.

I'm going to address #2, what can be done to improve the soil. In the dry season there isn't much that can be done without irrigation but there is one option for soil improvement that I am working on implementing up here in the north...growing sunn hemp as a green manure crop.

Sunn hemp (no relationship to true hemp or ganja) is a fast growing legume that is efficient in taking nitrogen from the air and incorporating it into its tissues and the soil. Sunn hemp is not a good host for nematodes (small soil organisms that damage many crops...rice included) and growing sunn hemp suppresses nematode numbers.....some sources say that there is some active agent produced by the sunn hemp that does this and other sources say that by simply not offering a habitat for nematodes there numbers dwindle....regardless...this is seen as a benefit and part of an integrated pest management approach to nematode control.

The big advantage for sunn hemp (they say) is that if you plant it in wet soil it will germinate and grow enough to fix nitrogen even if there is no rain and no irrigation. This seems like it would be a good thing for Isaan with its long dry spells. They say that if you plant it in wet soil it will grow fine all the way until blooming starts and if you irrigate at that time (about 60 days after planting) then no further water is needed for development and maturation of seed.

Another use for sunn hemp is its ability to inhibit weed growth when it is broadcast thickly due to the thick canopy which keeps light from reaching the lower story of weeds. I'm experimenting with using it in my garden whenever a small section is waiting for the next crop to be planted to keep weed growth down and to enrich the soil at the same time.

The gov't gave out some free sunn hemp seeds last year and I got some (5 kg)....I've been learning how to grow them (its very easy really....its just that I'm inexperienced in field cropping) and have planted both for seed production and as a green manure. Right now I'm gearing up to try to raise a bunch of seed (100 kg or more).

Anyway...if you ask around you can probably find some seed there....I get all my info about sunn hemp off of the internet...if there is any interest we can discuss.

Chownah

[chownah]

I'll concurr with CHOWNAH on this issue - whatever you decide to do, the objective should be to get the soil into as good condition as is possible for the next rice crop - and if that means running a nitrogen fix programme for a few months then there ain't much around that will beat S/hemp.

However (and I must say right at the start I am NOT a rice expert by any measure - so I stand to be corrected), rotating wet riceland with a dry soil crop can be a double edged sword. Research at KK Uni has shown that "bad managment" of nitrogenous rates (meaning excessive nitrogen) is a catalyst for disease in rice fields - but not nematode types. In summary, any programme to enhance Nitrigen content in rice field soil should ideally be monitered against a method that measures the nitrogern content.

Excessive nitrogen can be as bad as to insufficient nitrogen - on balance though, the chances of a Thai rice field having excessive nitrogen are I think rather slim knowing just how tightly Thai rice farmers are squeezed when it comes to spending money on fertilser i.e. you'd do well to try out rotating S/hemp for 2 or 3 growings before having to worry about excessive nitrogen in the soil.

Tim

I'll concurr with MaizeFarmer that excess nitrogen can be counterproductive in rice cultivation. The real concern is that a farmer will think that a greener rice field is a more productive rice field....which is not necessarily true. Excess nitrogen application will make beautiful lush top growth on the rice plants which attracts pests and provides a readily available and delicious protein and carbohydrate source to fuel the growth of the pests which will decimate your crop.

"Bad management" practices which have been identified in this regard is the over application of chemical fertilizers....I have never heard of an over abundance of nitrogen in the soil as a result of plowing a green manure crop into the soil...even after many many years of incorporating green manure crops into the growing cycle. If ANYONE has ANY information about green manure cropping causing an overabundance of nitrogen in the soil PLEASE let me know about it.....generally speaking when designing a green manure crop as part of a plant rotation one of the main considerations is to find the plant that will add the MOST nitrogen to the soil......I have never heard of anyone ever being concerned about too much nitrogen from a green manure crop.

In the event that I am wrong about this, and sunn hemp actually creates a surplus of nitrogen and you don't want it all, then there are many options....one is to plow it in sooner to limit the nitrogen (again...let me stress that this is a totally theoretic problem and I have never ever heard of getting too much nitrogen from a green manure crop)....or you could cut half of the plants and plow this material into your corn field which can always use some extra nitrogen...or in your vegetable garden. Fact is that it has been part of my plan to skim a small percentage of the sunn hemp plants off of the rice fields (NOT because I'm worried about too much nitrogen) and using it in my vegetable fields. Pound for pound the sunn hemp plants have about the same nitrogen content as manure and the big bonus is that IT DOES NOT CONTAIN WEED SEEDS.....which is a big advantage over manures.

As an organic farmer let me just say that life should be so sweet that by growing one crop of sunn hemp a year I could have too much nitrogen......only in my dreams.

Chownah

P.S. It is my understanding that nematodes do not pose a major threat to a rice field that is continually flooded but if the field dries somewhat when the plants are growing(which almost always happens around here at some point in the cycle) then the nematodes have a better environment and can then cause a problem. This could become a serious issue for farmers who don't have adequate water....a problem that may increase with global warming and the further expansion of farm lands using water intensive practices. If anyone has any information about nematodes in rice fields I would be most appreciative of a heads up on it.....the information I have is minimal and not good enough for me to make firm judgements. Regardless, sunn hemp's nematode suppression (from growing sunn hemp in the plot as part of the rotation)has been shown in scientifically run tests at agriculture research farms to benefit many garden vegetables with known susceptibilities to nematodes.

Chownah

Edited September 18, 2006 by chownah

[Maizefarmer]

Oh hel_l…… what kind of reply is that Chownah!

Read what I wrote – yes, good idea, plant sun hemp, on balance it’s a good choice, nothing wrong with it, and added it will be a good idea at some point to know just how much nitrogen you have in the soil.

Makes sense doesn’t it.

And what do you do – you come back with a whole set of qualifications & challenges to what I contributed. You have often sought to take challenge my contributions. You will selectively look for a point (or points) to isolate them out of the context of what I have said, and take some or other issue with it. What for (?).

Read what CNXPAT said: “in 2 months time they would be harvesting the rice crop around where he lives”.

He made no mention about organic rice farming.

Granted, and I quote from what you said: “As an organic farmer let me just say that life should be so sweet that by growing one crop of sun hemp a year I could have too much nitrogen......only in my dreams”, in your case excessive nitrogen would not be an issue as, as you say yourself that is your “manure crop” (i.e. your methodology of getting nitrogen into the soil). But I doubt that to be the case with the farmers around him – they will be average Thai farmers who use loads of nitrogen based fertilisers (especially in the case of rice in which nitrogen is its primary requirement).

That was the background against which I submitted my contribution – not against your specific circumstances (i.e. organic), and against that background, I am sorry but I must disagree with you - there is a very real chance that both application of commercial fertilisers and green cropping/manure cropping – without instituting a programme to monitor nitrogen levels - has the potential to effect the soil with excessive nitrogen with the result that future rice harvests could be reduced from a whole host of potential problems that are associated with excessive nitrogen.

Tim

[Nawtilus]

pitchforks at 10 paces

[chownah]

I fully agree with MaizeFarmer that a comprehensive program to monitor the uptake of nitrogen in your rice crop is of great benefit and can not only reduce the amount of nitrogen fertilizer need to be purchased for your crop but can also reduce or even eliminate the need for some pesticides.

The IRRI Leaf Color Chart:

http://www.knowledgebank.irri.org/troprice...Chart_(LCC).htm

"Leaf and Color Chart (LCC)

Introduction: Leaf Color Chart (LCC): A simple tool to manage nitrogen fertilizer in tropical rice

Farmers generally use leaf color as a visual and subjective indicator of the rice crop’s nitrogen status (N) and need for N fertilizer application. The leaf color chart (LCC) reinforces the farmer's knowledge and provides a simple, easy-to-use, and inexpensive tool for efficient N management in rice. The LCC contains six gradients of green color from yellowish green (No. 1) to dark green (No. 6) and can guide nitrogen top-dressing in rice crops.

The color chart is an ideal tool to optimize N use in rice cropping, irrespective of the source of nitrogen applied - inorganic, organic, and/or biofertilizers. The successful adaptation and use of the color chart will promote timely and efficient use of N fertilizer in rice and minimize the fertilizer-related pollution of surface and ground water. Moreover, with the need-based N fertilizer application, rice plants will remain healthy, thereby reducing the need for application of pesticides. It is thus an eco-friendly tool in the hands of small farmers.

................."

If you go out and google "irri leaf color chart" you will find alot of other sites with even more information.....these can be purchased very cheaply and if you are a pleasant person you might even be able to talk your local rice growing expert at the gov't office to give you one for free.

Chownah

[chownah]

"...........

In 2 months or so they will start harvesting the rice around here. After that, the land will not be used for a few months.

Any ideas if anything useful can be done (short term) with the land that will not damage the soil for the next rice crop? How do others deal with it?

thanks,

cnxpat

Cnxpat,

It is good to consider whether some crop might damage the soil if grown between rice crops during the dry season. In a previous post I mentioned nematodes and indicated that I didn't have alot of information about them....so I went out and looked on the internet a bit and found this site:

http://www.knowledgebank.irri.org/riceDoct...s/Nematodes.htm

It is from the IRRI which stands for International Rice Research Institute.

What I found is that it pretty much confirmed what I had heard before....that dry conditions in the rice field play an important part in its propogation but they indicate a bunch of other conditions that exacerbate the problem....and one thing they mention is that growing certain crops in the dry season can provide an environment conducive to producing large populations of root knot nematodes which will linger on and cause problems for your rice crop. Growing these crops might damage the soil just as you have asked about. One advantage of growing sunn hemp in the off season is that it does not harbor nematodes and in fact seems to suppress them.

Another method for control of nematodes is to solarize the soil (the link mentions this too). Since sunn hemp should only be grown for about 2 months before plowing in it might be that a good strategy for its use might be to sow it immediately after rice harvest if there is moisture in the soil and then plow it in two months later which would bring you right into the hot dry season which would be great for soil solarization. I've never done any soil solarization practice but intend to try some of it this year or next. Some of the rice farmers around here do this.....I'm a bit hesitant about this since where I grew up wind erosion was sometimes a problem and it seems like leaving the ground rough plowed and bare might cause this sort of problem....but I don't know.

So....it seems like sunn hemp is a possible candidate for you to try....but do remember that there is the time and expense of discing before planting and at plow in time. Some of this expense is offset (at least for people like me who use a two wheeled tractor) in that since the ground is tilled in the dry season it will be really soft and till up really easily for the rice plant and you will save fuel at that time.

Forgot to mention that cows don't seem to like to eat sunn hemp much so you can grow it without a fence...at least around here (north Thailand) where there's almost always something else green to eat....in Isaan it might be another story.

Chownah

[chownah]

pitchforks at 10 paces

Speaking of pitchforks....has anyone seen any for sale in Thailand? I collect alot of rice straw every year and a good pitchfork would be a big help to me. I haven't seen any for sale anywhere. I made one of my own devising which turned out to be moderately useless. If someone throws one at me can I keep it?

Chownah

[RamdomChances]

^ I've got a couple, all bought localy. Either just the head with a wooden shaft or all steel. You should be able to get them around you somewhere

[Maizefarmer]

Contact:

GISS Marketing

1/11-13 Sutthisan Winitchai Road

Huay Kwang

10310

TeL: 02-2777597

www.giss.co.th

- they sell everything a farmer could want.

Their dairy equipment and dairy cattle range of equipment is also good - click on "products" and then select each page to see what they have - about 100 pages of pics/products althogether.... and they speak english. Good bunch of folk.

Tim

pitchforks at 10 paces

Speaking of pitchforks....has anyone seen any for sale in Thailand? I collect alot of rice straw every year and a good pitchfork would be a big help to me. I haven't seen any for sale anywhere. I made one of my own devising which turned out to be moderately useless. If someone throws one at me can I keep it?

Chownah

[RamdomChances]

^There is a link to GISS in the links section, straight to the english part, but they sometimes change it.

[Maizefarmer]

Sorry - missed that.

[RamdomChances]

^ No probs mate, no one reads them anyway, just trying to give the links bit a bit of advertising

[Maizefarmer]

RDC - have you ever deal't with them. I've ordered stuff from them and had it the next day - it was on a truck same day and deleivered the next - and then they phoned to check I had got it and was happy with everything. Good service and reliable. Really nice folk.

Tim

[bannork]

^ No probs mate, no one reads them anyway, just trying to give the links bit a bit of advertising

Thanks for the reference to GISS, I'll check them out soon. I'm going to become one of MaizeFarmer's pupils regarding the eggplants, try on one rai for fun.

RC, thanks for posting all the links, is there any address for buying grass seed, the local shop in Bandung is rather limited in stock?

[RamdomChances]

MF I've only ever dealt with them in some of the shows, they usually have stands in all the argi shows.

Bannork you can some times order them from you nearest DLD (department of livestock Development office)

[bannork]

CNXPAT

Okay - I have attached some pages/diagrams here for you - courtesy of my youngster (good english writing practise for her).

Nope - don't worry about "owing" anything - just make a success of it, and put the effort into doing it properly to start with - you'll reap the reward later in maakua production.

You have a bit of capital outlay here - so you may even wish to start with 1/2 a rai - and then scale up afterwards. Thats fine, the layout is for a 40m x 40m filed (i.e. 1rai = 1600sqaure meters).

So long as you keep the 1.5m x 1.5m spacing between rows and plants, you can go ahead and layout any length and breadth you wish.

Oh yes, and there is enough info here for you to work out if your pump is okay for the job (I'm sure it is - so long as the engine is 3hp or more it should be fine - no harm if it's more, just run the engine slower.

To check how much the drippers are delivering get a 0.5 litre bottle and see how long it takes to fill up - and then adjust the engine rpm accordingly. You shouldn't get more than about 10-15% differance in flow rate from the dripper closest to the pump and the dripper furthest from the pump - as they self regulate (more or less).

I use Naan drippers - so I know they work properly and last - if for some reason you can't get Naan drippers, get any other 8litre per hour dripper (and if its 6 liter or 10 liter per hour - just adjust pump speed accordinglly - but don't exceed th epump delivery volume divided by the amount of drippers - 10 liter per hour maybe to much for the pump.

You may want to check out the Naan website (www. naandan..... something or other).

As for other fittings - dont worry about brand name - just get whats avalible (i.e. tubing ect ect) - but do try to get the Naan drippers - they last for ever.

Rmemebr what I said: take the pump delivery volume per hour and divide it by the number of drippers. If 8 liter per hour is too much, no prob's just select 6 liter per hour drippers

Good luck get back to me if you have questions.

Tim

MF, as you're in Loei, do you know if ATC have a shop in Udon, I'm thinking of the drippers?

BTW, great to see you back on the forum.

[Maizefarmer]

CNXPAT

Okay - I have attached some pages/diagrams here for you - courtesy of my youngster (good english writing practise for her).

Nope - don't worry about "owing" anything - just make a success of it, and put the effort into doing it properly to start with - you'll reap the reward later in maakua production.

You have a bit of capital outlay here - so you may even wish to start with 1/2 a rai - and then scale up afterwards. Thats fine, the layout is for a 40m x 40m filed (i.e. 1rai = 1600sqaure meters).

So long as you keep the 1.5m x 1.5m spacing between rows and plants, you can go ahead and layout any length and breadth you wish.

Oh yes, and there is enough info here for you to work out if your pump is okay for the job (I'm sure it is - so long as the engine is 3hp or more it should be fine - no harm if it's more, just run the engine slower.

To check how much the drippers are delivering get a 0.5 litre bottle and see how long it takes to fill up - and then adjust the engine rpm accordingly. You shouldn't get more than about 10-15% differance in flow rate from the dripper closest to the pump and the dripper furthest from the pump - as they self regulate (more or less).

I use Naan drippers - so I know they work properly and last - if for some reason you can't get Naan drippers, get any other 8litre per hour dripper (and if its 6 liter or 10 liter per hour - just adjust pump speed accordinglly - but don't exceed th epump delivery volume divided by the amount of drippers - 10 liter per hour maybe to much for the pump.

You may want to check out the Naan website (www. naandan..... something or other).

As for other fittings - dont worry about brand name - just get whats avalible (i.e. tubing ect ect) - but do try to get the Naan drippers - they last for ever.

Rmemebr what I said: take the pump delivery volume per hour and divide it by the number of drippers. If 8 liter per hour is too much, no prob's just select 6 liter per hour drippers

Good luck get back to me if you have questions.

Tim

MF, as you're in Loei, do you know if ATC have a shop in Udon, I'm thinking of the drippers?

BTW, great to see you back on the forum.

Yup - you can get up here, I stock Naan drippers on my shelves.

What are wanting and how many litres per hour?

What pressure, what size ect ect.............

I f I cant help myself I will know a man who can.

Tim

[timber]

bina could you post some pictures of the drip irrigation there and equipment. Would appreciate. Thanks

[Maizefarmer]

bina could you post some pictures of the drip irrigation there and equipment. Would appreciate. Thanks

TIMBER - did you actually mean to say MF - post some pictures of the equipment - or were you actually asking BINA?

Thought I'd ask because the post before was mine, not Bina's - willwait for you to confirm before I post anything - but, yes - I can post pictures of the drippers I have in stock. along with there technical info (e.g. flow rates and pressures.

Please confirm

Tim

[bannork]

CNXPAT

Okay - I have attached some pages/diagrams here for you - courtesy of my youngster (good english writing practise for her).

Nope - don't worry about "owing" anything - just make a success of it, and put the effort into doing it properly to start with - you'll reap the reward later in maakua production.

You have a bit of capital outlay here - so you may even wish to start with 1/2 a rai - and then scale up afterwards. Thats fine, the layout is for a 40m x 40m filed (i.e. 1rai = 1600sqaure meters).

So long as you keep the 1.5m x 1.5m spacing between rows and plants, you can go ahead and layout any length and breadth you wish.

Oh yes, and there is enough info here for you to work out if your pump is okay for the job (I'm sure it is - so long as the engine is 3hp or more it should be fine - no harm if it's more, just run the engine slower.

To check how much the drippers are delivering get a 0.5 litre bottle and see how long it takes to fill up - and then adjust the engine rpm accordingly. You shouldn't get more than about 10-15% differance in flow rate from the dripper closest to the pump and the dripper furthest from the pump - as they self regulate (more or less).

I use Naan drippers - so I know they work properly and last - if for some reason you can't get Naan drippers, get any other 8litre per hour dripper (and if its 6 liter or 10 liter per hour - just adjust pump speed accordinglly - but don't exceed th epump delivery volume divided by the amount of drippers - 10 liter per hour maybe to much for the pump.

You may want to check out the Naan website (www. naandan..... something or other).

As for other fittings - dont worry about brand name - just get whats avalible (i.e. tubing ect ect) - but do try to get the Naan drippers - they last for ever.

Rmemebr what I said: take the pump delivery volume per hour and divide it by the number of drippers. If 8 liter per hour is too much, no prob's just select 6 liter per hour drippers

Good luck get back to me if you have questions.

Tim

MF, as you're in Loei, do you know if ATC have a shop in Udon, I'm thinking of the drippers?

BTW, great to see you back on the forum.

Yup - you can get up here, I stock Naan drippers on my shelves.

What are wanting and how many litres per hour?

What pressure, what size ect ect.............

I f I cant help myself I will know a man who can.

Tim

Thanks for the offer MF, but i'll have to wait to the New Year, too busy with the cows at the moment. I have a query about giving salt licks to cows. My brother-in-law says you shouldn't give pregnant cows salt licks as it's makes giving birth difficult!

Have you any views on this?