Maize and Rotational Crops

[IsaanAussie]

I hope you are right KS. However the change has happened in our area some years ago, communal plantings and harvests with little cash involved, to tractors and harvesters hired for cash, a scarce commodity within the cost vs return on offer. The age of farmers is increasing and their numbers decreasing. Holding on to the essence of village life is hard to see happening. 

[kickstart]

6 hours ago, IsaanAussie said:

I hope you are right KS. However the change has happened in our area some years ago, communal plantings and harvests with little cash involved, to tractors and harvesters hired for cash, a scarce commodity within the cost vs return on offer. The age of farmers is increasing and their numbers decreasing. Holding on to the essence of village life is hard to see happening. 

You highlighted  the age of farmers, that is very true in Japan the average of a farmer is 65  , how many young farmers do you know are taking up farming as a career, but mechanization  might save the day, around here  it is mainly cassava sugar cane and maize, some areas rice is grown, one area of land is just to light to grow anything else ,90% of the work is now done on a tractor no back-breaking work like before .

Many years ago in the UK an old boss of mine used to say "you lads think only having your arse on a tractor seat" , now that is very true, but it will be the only way to go and if it attracts the younger generation into farming, all the better

but they is still that Sigmar, you farm because you can not do anything else, that one will take a lot of shifting.

I even had it said to me once, I meet a guy he said what are you doing in Thailand I said farming, he looked at me and said sharply"you should be teaching English, not farming." 

[kickstart]

Hi All 

         Some years, this is one, we have a popular verity of maize, known locally as, Pann-Wowa- Yim, smiling cow verity. 

In May we had  174 mm of rain, corn planted in April was looking very well, but in June we only had 55 mm of rain(June last year 174 mm of rain), up to the middle of June the maize plants have grown well, but the cobs have not grown, some have grown, but not filled out ,they will be just a few salable cobs, not cost effective to harvest the crop ,

This field is just 1 km from us drilled around the Songkran holiday which makes it about 74 days, a normal crop at 74 days cobs are full and the ears are at the milky stage.

So, all the local dairy farmers are they en-mass cutting all the maize plants to feed to the cattle, normally cows are feed on unpalatable rice straw,   now for a week or so they have some nice fresh green maize plants to eat, hence the smiling cow verity, and normally milk yield increases.

The owner of the land just gives the crop away, wants the field clearing, to get another crop in, literally across the road another farmer sold his crop for maize silage, he will get about 600 baht/ton, not a bad price.

One guy was not so lucky, wheel bearing collapsed  on the trailer he  put  on a new tapered bearing, but the threads on the stub axal where damaged,  the nut would not go on, I said turn  it around ,sometimes the edges of the castellated  nut will catch on the stub axal threads ,and the nut will go on ,this time it did work ,it will get him home .

Word on the street is maize this year 4baht/kg still on the cob,7baht/ kg for grain, a bit more than last year, but still not a good price, a lot are saying imported maize, wheat, barley, are driving down the price of locally grown crops.   

[kickstart]

 

Harvesting corn, the first thing I asked the owner was what is the moisture, he said 30% plus, maybe 40%then  I asked what  price is he getting, he said  5.50 baht/ kg,not a lot .

Reminds me of an old UK saying, when you think the crop is fit for harvesting,go on holiday for a week, when you come back it will be ready for harvesting.I think that would a case here, and he would have got a better price for his crop.

Walking across the field, a lot of grain on the floor, the crop was to wet to thrash out properly, and he was driving to fast, again.

And looking at this field a pre-emergence herbicide would not have gone amiss. 

[farmerjo]

Some great pics in there KS.

Been away doing a bit of work so as normal the best laid plans have gone awry on the farm.

Bit late in the year to be doing anything but rice.

Hadn't finished building my air seeder when i went away so to keep the FIL happy i got a local contractor in to prepare and plant the rice on a 5 rai piece.That involved one ploughing,one rotovating and then direct seeding with his machine(tyned corn seeder converted to rice)1000 baht all up.

Then after seeding the FIL pumped water to germinate and since has been rain fed.

Cant give any exact details of how much seed per rai or fertilizer used.

Even though a bit late to be planting in our area after 3 and a half weeks it's looking ok.

 

 

[kickstart]

Hi FJ ,

         Welcome back,a good even take on that rice crop, how did he convert the tined corn drill, to rice, those drill rows look like 8-10 inch spacings, or did he go up and down between the rows to get the spacings. 

Would have thought you could  get a crop of maize in ,should be time ,around here the combines are at work, very little rain ,only 82 mm of rain over the past 2 months (253 mm rain June/July last year ) yield not good cobs are not full, not certain on price about 6.50 baht/kg ,moisture will be low, for once .

Some farmers have already redrilled, again crops could do with some rain, Thai  Meteorological office says 40-60% chance of rain, for Lopburi, maybe for the rest of the province, we somehow keep missing out. 

[wayned]

The corn harvesting hasn't started here yet, but the combines are oiled up and ready to go.  FIL had a stroke last month and have been busy just keeping up with his chores around the house.  He didn't do a lot but those combined with my wifely duties and my non-functioning pegs  are a full time job.  BIL asked me yesterday if he could move FIL back into his house and have me look after him.  I kinda lost it as he Paw refuses to do any exercises and try to walk and is still on adult diapers and told him that I would deliver his three cats and 30+ chickens that I have been taking care of to his house today!

[farmerjo]

On 7/29/2018 at 9:11 PM, kickstart said:

Hi FJ ,

         Welcome back,a good even take on that rice crop, how did he convert the tined corn drill, to rice, those drill rows look like 8-10 inch spacings, or did he go up and down between the rows to get the spacings. 

Would have thought you could  get a crop of maize in ,should be time ,around here the combines are at work, very little rain ,only 82 mm of rain over the past 2 months (253 mm rain June/July last year ) yield not good cobs are not full, not certain on price about 6.50 baht/kg ,moisture will be low, for once .

Some farmers have already redrilled, again crops could do with some rain, Thai  Meteorological office says 40-60% chance of rain, for Lopburi, maybe for the rest of the province, we somehow keep missing out. 

Hi KS,

The seeder was on 10" spacings,the guy owns the local fabrication shop as  well as tractor hire.

Looking at our rainfall,62mm for the month so under average,where i was working in Laos just north of the capital we had 700mm for the month.

Won't be tempted to put anything else in now even though i have corn and sunn hemp seed in the shed.

Found last year without a good closing wheel on the seeder in August(normally get 300mm plus) the germination was very patchy due mainly to poor coverage of soil and the seeds bursting.Not only that but the chemical rates would be to high and unsustainable to be effective on the growth of the weeds currently there.

So have found myself in the situation of making(saving) money by doing nothing.☺️ 

 

[kickstart]

Driving past this field near me this guy was direct drill his next crop of maize, not something I have not seen very often around here ,and some other farmers are doing the same thing ,as he was drilling I was speaking to to his wife ,she said this year we have had very little rain, if he ploughed the field he would have to wait for some rain before they could dill the maize seeds .

They reckon that they is enough soil moisture to direct drill, another guy near here he went over his last crop stubble with a 7 disc plough before drilling, I would say just to knock down the tall maize plant storkes, making drilling a bit easier. 

This guys drill is an old one, no disc coulters at the front, just steel plate in a  V-shaped . to make the rows, it seems to work well.

And this evening we have had about 10mm of rain, so a few happy farmers about this evening, 

 

[Sm farm]

Hi does anyone know price of maize iam also looking to make contact with seller of maize Korat area 5 tonne i can collect . Thanks in advance.

[kickstart]

13 hours ago, Sm farm said:

Hi does anyone know price of maize iam also looking to make contact with seller of maize Korat area 5 tonne i can collect . Thanks in advance.

At this time maize price at the farm gate is about 5,50-6.50 baht/ kg, not a high price this year.

But with the rain we have had the moisture will be high, if you buy it directly from a farm the moisture will be high, and it will not have been cleaned, and if you put 5 ton in a heap on the floor with a high moisture it will heat up ,you will get a fungus , and it could well spoil, no problem if you only keeping it for a short time ,any long storage will be a problem.

If you want it for long term storage you will have to go to a local buyer, where he buys in farmers crop and cleans and dry's the corn, buying from him, not certain, but I would say you would be paying 8baht/kg.

As for making contact with a seller, just ask any grower of maize where he sells his crop, and talk to his buyer, or ask a grower if he will sell you some of his crops. 

 

[farmerjo]

Well it's one of the driest Augusts on record around here.

40mm of rain for the month so far,rice and corn are struggling but the sugar in the area seems to be handling it ok.

It's got to the stage here that i've had to have signs made to keep the livestock owners off my land from cutting grass  where i'm trying to build organic matter.

 

[kickstart]

It's like waiting for a number 15 bus , waite 1/2 hour and 3 come along, we have had 174mm of rain, this is in just 4 days over  the past  6 day period, more than the whole of the past 2 1/2 months 154mm, and the same as the whole of May .it will come .

A fish farm near here has been flooded, and all the fish have escaped .in to the local ditches and stream, so all the locals will be out fishing for Blar Dok and Blar Nin this weekend. 

To be fair, if I was cutting grass for my cattle I would come along with my tractor and grass chopper, what is growing they, is they any sun hemp, or is it all grass?

[farmerjo]

Hi KS,

It's just a variety of grasses and weeds,but i plan to roll it so need some height in it.

All part of the long term plan to conserve moisture and cut down on chemicals.

Cow farming up here is very small scale,10 rai farmers running 3 or 4 cows,

They put there land into crop then have to cut and carry for the animals till the land is freed up,

The problem is one comes then the telegraph line starts and before you know it people are turning up from villages away.They won't pay for it.From there point of view if they see a 75 rai field full of grass not being used for cropping it's heaven.

So easier to nip it in the bud with the signs. 

[wayned]

If you did that here , someone would have stolen the signs and sewed them together for a tarp and went ahead and cut the grass!

[JungleBiker]

On 8/24/2018 at 9:50 AM, farmerjo said:

It's got to the stage here that i've had to have signs made to keep the livestock owners off my land from cutting grass  where i'm trying to build organic matter.

 

Where I am here in Laos, the locals will cut barbed wire fences to allow their cattle to eat any grass growing on your land. I've lost a lot of money (100s of thousands of baht) in terms of damaged fruit crops as result of this criminal practice. They will even steal your barbed wire! And fence posts!

 

Just 2 weeks ago, a guy working for me had this happen to him and the cows grazed all his newly planted avocado trees (150 of them) and some other fruit plants. He was so angry he mixed up a bucket of water and urea fertiliser. 4 cows died. He ended up having to pay some compensation to the criminal! The criminal in this case being a local policeman! 

 

What the big farming companies here do to prevent this kind of problem is dig a 2 metre wide x 2 metre deep trench around the farm boundary. The combination of the trench plus the soil removed and piled up more than 2 metres higher on one side creates a good barrier for both animals and people. It costs around 60,000 -  80,000 baht per kilometre. I think it's cheaper than a barbed wire fence when you factor in the labour cost for building the fence. The disdavantage is that it eats up some of your land. 

[JungleBiker]

Here's an example...

[thoongfoned]

2 hours ago, JungleBiker said:

Here's an example...

from what i read the other week some farmers back in the uk are doing this also, to stop thieves taking the machines and robbing the houses....

back some years ago the wife had some problems with boundary lines on a plot of land, people over night got the macro in and did the same as the above on 10 ish rai, next day i went and pushed all the mud back in the hole with the tractor. even the village head man had a good laugh when he saw me filling the hole.

[JungleBiker]

29 minutes ago, thoongfoned said:

from what i read the other week some farmers back in the uk are doing this also, to stop thieves taking the machines and robbing the houses....

back some years ago the wife had some problems with boundary lines on a plot of land, people over night got the macro in and did the same as the above on 10 ish rai, next day i went and pushed all the mud back in the hole with the tractor. even the village head man had a good laugh when he saw me filling the hole.

So the trick is to pile the soil up on the inside of your boundary trench - as in the photo. 

[kickstart]

On 8/8/2018 at 9:20 PM, kickstart said:

Driving past this field near me this guy was direct drill his next crop of maize, not something I have not seen very often around here ,and some other farmers are doing the same thing ,as he was drilling I was speaking to to his wife ,she said this year we have had very little rain, if he ploughed the field he would have to wait for some rain before they could dill the maize seeds .

They reckon that they is enough soil moisture to direct drill, another guy near here he went over his last crop stubble with a 7 disc plough before drilling, I would say just to knock down the tall maize plant storkes, making drilling a bit easier. 

This guys drill is an old one, no disc coulters at the front, just steel plate in a  V-shaped . to make the rows, it seems to work well.

And this evening we have had about 10mm of rain, so a few happy farmers about this evening, 

 

Photo of the same crop taken yesterday 54 days, and 315 mm of rain, one area got waterlogged,

 

but it  proves direct drill is as good as the old way ,ploughing with3 anda7 disc ploughs . Today Mrs  KS was saying see if he gets a crop, we now have the north winds blowing, meaning it could well be the end of the rainy season , if it is, it has come early this year, this is light land and it will soon need some rain, we will probably get the odd  shower, and it has not had a vast amount of fertilizer . 

[IsaanAussie]

Interesting progress. I have been looking at some information where worm castings and compost teas have been put in the drill during seeding. Also interesting results considering the really poor condition of the land. Anyone doing something similar in Isaan?

[wayned]

There are very few sunflower fields here this year.  Most are planted with what looks like foxtail millet but I'm not sure if that's what it is.  I haven't been anywhere to actually ask, or actually I forgot to ask!. 

[IsaanAussie]

Could it be sorghum?

 

[wayned]

I was told today that it's khao fang, which, according to google translate, is millet(grain).  I imagine that it could be sorghum as Thais would lump it all as grain!

[kickstart]

Khao Fang is Sorghum, they are the brown and white, use to be grown a lot in this area, mainly the brown, then it was harvested by hand a crap job, itches  like mad, then it has to be thrashed out in to bags, this was pre-combine days ,now no one grows it , sunflower seems to have taken over it was the last crop we grew on our rented land ,we got the combine in ,never did make any money on it.

I would say it is still early for sunflowers, they are a dry season crop, normale drilled about now after a maize crop, but saying that saw a crop 25 rie all in flower, did look nice too, something I have never seen before this time of year ,but for us it has been a dry year ,the rainy season all but finished for us 3 weeks ago ,all of October only had 45 mm of rain, October last year 104 mm , this crop was grown on light land, if it was our black land it would be Rip-Roy,just would have rotted out to wet .

[IsaanAussie]

Sunflowers are confectionary or for oil? I tried to get oil seed years ago without luck. 

[IsaanAussie]

Sorghum seed is used to culture mushroom spawn, at least for milky mushrooms. I wouldn't mind growing a small patch for that purpose. 

[kickstart]

7 hours ago, IsaanAussie said:

Sunflowers are confectionary or for oil? I tried to get oil seed years ago without luck. 

Mainly for oil, apparently the ones you buy in the shops in fancy packets come from China .

[kickstart]

On 10/4/2018 at 4:35 PM, IsaanAussie said:

Interesting progress. I have been looking at some information where worm castings and compost teas have been put in the drill during seeding. Also interesting results considering the really poor condition of the land. Anyone doing something similar in Isaan?

 

 

 

I would very much doubt it, you would need a special  applicator on the drill, to apply your brew, if

it was used in a conventional  Thai drill it would not flow through holes in the plates, or if fitted   with different plates with bigger holes  everything would flow ,then your seed rates would not be that accurate . 

It sounds like a good idea an applicator that applies the brew through a pipe that drops just behind the disc culters with the seed the would work well and not that difficult to do, controlling the application rate could be a problem, but it could be overcome.

And any idea that would increase the fertility in Isaan soils, or anywhere else in Thailand has got to be a good thing .

[farmerjo]

Hi all,

Been away for a while as we all know more baht to be made working away than on the farm.

Been busy on the tractor this last week slashing weeds,hopefully i have a hay baler turning up in the next few days to bale it.

For what?

Not sure yet.if can sell will otherwise i"m thinking making a fence or briquettes out of it.

Cant find the attachment thingo It"s been a while

 

Edited November 8, 2018 by farmerjo