The village pond is being enlarged and they're selling the dirt for B150 for a 6 wheel truck load. It's in great demand, we waited three months on the list and finally got 7 loads yesterday. It's wet, jet black, and very gummy. It dries to a dark gray and is crumbly. People swear it's great for growing everything but rice. We watched them digging it out of the pond and this layer is just below the local sandy farm dirt.

Anyone have experience with this type of dirt?

Looks like what we call blue clay.

I have alot on my land,great for corn etc.

150 Baht!!! Mate that pond mud is minimum 1000 baht were I am. That's what the missus paid for it but it may have been a 10 wheeler. We are using it with cow poo and soil mixed together as a potting mix.

The army are watching the earthmoving guys here and it's not helping with the prices of things and no-one is allowed to sell soil off their farm to other people.

How many hours you got on the JD? What model? How is it going, any issues?

.

Sorry to be pedantic but but as a ex farmer and a horticulturalist we never call soil " dirt" . We even have fancier names for soil too. Dirt is what you get on your hands when you shake hands with a local politician.

150 Baht!!! Mate that pond mud is minimum 1000 baht were I am. That's what the missus paid for it but it may have been a 10 wheeler. We are using it with cow poo and soil mixed together as a potting mix.

The army are watching the earthmoving guys here and it's not helping with the prices of things and no-one is allowed to sell soil off their farm to other people.

How many hours you got on the JD? What model? How is it going, any issues?

.

Round here in central Lopburi it would 1000 bart load ,a Sip -Law ,10 wheeled truck looks good stuff,if it can be worked down.

Noted your comment about the army, round here they have shut all our stone quarry one has been open for years,one other closed at least 15 years ago opened again 2 years ago ,now shut ,to open it again,it has to be registered,with who? at a cost of 100k, and who gets the money.is being asked.

The other quarry , so they say has gone down to deep,and it will affect the local water course,and the water,but some of the holes are full of water and Bla - Nin farmers pump water out for they crops,and have done for some years,until now.

Earthmoving is a lot slower than before, a few farmers are selling some soil off their farms ,but not for long.

Of course building has almost stopped,no stone to build up the land,before building a house.

They built up our local road last month,had to bring in stone from at least 35 km,70 km round trip away,instead of the usual 5 km 10 km round trip.

I need 1 load of stone to build up my cattle shed ,we have a wet hole in it,plus a few barrow around the house,like to get it down before the rains, think I am going to be our luck.

150 Baht!!! Mate that pond mud is minimum 1000 baht were I am. That's what the missus paid for it but it may have been a 10 wheeler. We are using it with cow poo and soil mixed together as a potting mix.

The army are watching the earthmoving guys here and it's not helping with the prices of things and no-one is allowed to sell soil off their farm to other people.

How many hours you got on the JD? What model? How is it going, any issues?

.

1000 Baht? Do I see a business opportunity for someone with a 10 or 18 wheeler?

The JD 5610 was brand new in December, I haven't looked but I guess around 300 hours. So far it's been great.

Sorry to be pedantic but but as a ex farmer and a horticulturalist we never call soil " dirt" . We even have fancier names for soil too. Dirt is what you get on your hands when you shake hands with a local politician.

Oooops, my bad, but as an ex jeweler all I know about the ground is that in some places it contains pretty baubles. I'll work on my farming nomenclature.

150 Baht!!! Mate that pond mud is minimum 1000 baht were I am. That's what the missus paid for it but it may have been a 10 wheeler. We are using it with cow poo and soil mixed together as a potting mix.

The army are watching the earthmoving guys here and it's not helping with the prices of things and no-one is allowed to sell soil off their farm to other people.

How many hours you got on the JD? What model? How is it going, any issues?

.

Round here in central Lopburi it would 1000 bart load ,a Sip -Law ,10 wheeled truck looks good stuff,if it can be worked down.

Noted your comment about the army, round here they have shut all our stone quarry one has been open for years,one other closed at least 15 years ago opened again 2 years ago ,now shut ,to open it again,it has to be registered,with who? at a cost of 100k, and who gets the money.is being asked.

The other quarry , so they say has gone down to deep,and it will affect the local water course,and the water,but some of the holes are full of water and Bla - Nin farmers pump water out for they crops,and have done for some years,until now.

Earthmoving is a lot slower than before, a few farmers are selling some soil off their farms ,but not for long.

Of course building has almost stopped,no stone to build up the land,before building a house.

They built up our local road last month,had to bring in stone from at least 35 km,70 km round trip away,instead of the usual 5 km 10 km round trip.

I need 1 load of stone to build up my cattle shed ,we have a wet hole in it,plus a few barrow around the house,like to get it down before the rains, think I am going to be our luck.

So the missus didn't pay to much! Well it looks like the army are....'supervising' a large area of the country!

We wanted to build up the little 1 rai block but instead chose rings.....and then the auntie that lives next door and has the mango trees behind us gets an excavator in to clean out the dam and make it bigger. So now there is a huge pile of crap we could have used!

150 Baht!!! Mate that pond mud is minimum 1000 baht were I am. That's what the missus paid for it but it may have been a 10 wheeler. We are using it with cow poo and soil mixed together as a potting mix.

The army are watching the earthmoving guys here and it's not helping with the prices of things and no-one is allowed to sell soil off their farm to other people.

How many hours you got on the JD? What model? How is it going, any issues?

.

1000 Baht? Do I see a business opportunity for someone with a 10 or 18 wheeler?

The JD 5610 was brand new in December, I haven't looked but I guess around 300 hours. So far it's been great.

Hi there, if there was a business opportunity Som Chai would have it organised by now!

I thought you may have had more hours on it! The older JD tractors back home were American made but the ones here are made in Asia...by Iseki I think. Not trying to take them down just a little concerned about product quality. If JD screw up in the states it's a big deal but if they screw up in Thailand no-one in the states will know....or care even if they did know!

Our little Kubota B2420 is OK, if a glorified garden tractor, and we really need a bigger tractor with a front-end loader not a grader blade! I've been using the BIL's 36hp Kubota which has 1700 hours and it seems to be as loose as a goose! They may sell a lot of Kubota's here but I am not impressed with them.

So with Iseki, Kubota, John Deere, New Holland, Yanmar and some Chinese brands we are spoiled for choice in PHitsanulok.