rice harvester

[allycat]

any farangs running rice harvesters, am looking into buying a kubota to run during harvesting season near sisaket, I would like to make this a profitable business. Any pointers would be much appreciated.

[slapout]

With the lack of labor avaliable for farm work,with either mechinical knowledge or common sense I would look at a rice planter.; As mentioned there are a lot of harvestors around. Planting labor tough to find, women are not as cooperative as in past times and men are hesitant to do what has always been ''womans work'' A planting machine is much less of a investment in the machine and or support equipment and mechanically is much less complicated and does not require as much maintance, etc

Just my thoughts , opinion if I was looking to make a pofit on a machine hire basis in ag work/ market

[khwaibah]

I'm starting to see a reliability issue on Kubota's . Sunday in a 10 km section of the 214 highway I saw 10 Kubota's broke down and being worked on These units were only 3 years old. New Kubota's are about 1.2 million. Your larges harvester can go as high as 2.5 million.The junta last year imposed a tax on harvesters being transported out of area to help slow down rice harvesting. Personally for the average person I say do not invest in a harvester if you must spend 600k to 1 million on a tractor that can be used 12 months out of the year.

[khwaibah]

With the lack of labor avaliable for farm work,with either mechinical knowledge or common sense I would look at a rice planter.; As mentioned there are a lot of harvestors around. Planting labor tough to find, women are not as cooperative as in past times and men are hesitant to do what has always been ''womans work'' A planting machine is much less of a investment in the machine and or support equipment and mechanically is much less complicated and does not require as much maintance, etc

Just my thoughts , opinion if I was looking to make a pofit on a machine hire basis in ag work/ market

In my area a rice planter by Kubota is totally useless.. Saw a unit this Sunday that was only 3 years was picked up second hand for 50k. The buyer tried to use it and and it would not punch through the earth. Yes the paddies were properly made. Save your money.

[farmerjo]

OP you will have to give more information

Old/new bagging machine/hopper & auger transportation tractor & trailer/truck

Do you have your own land to do as well/harvesters in area/prepared to travel.

Owner operator/employees.

Pay cash/loan for machine.

Many varibles.

If you use the search forum there's some but mostly outdated now.

[Dario]

alleycat,

the best advice I can give you: forget about it. Keep your money and save yourself a lot of trouble. Owning a rice harvester used to be profitable, not anymore. We are doing our 4th season with a TSY (Thai Sengyont) harvester we bought brandnew. There are now so many machines coming from the central plains to the Isaan, they run you over and cut it all before you even notice. Every year more are coming. Too many machines have been sold and every one wants to make money. The farmer has choice now. If your machine breaks down and you need a spare part from BKK you might stay idle for 48 hours until the part arrives and and all the rice around you has been cut by others in the meantime. Farmers will not wait for you, they need their rice to be cut on time by whoever is available to cut. The harvesters from the BKK area will undercut your price, they can afford to do that. They cut rice all year round, but you have one season to make your profit. And don't underestimate the repairs! Repairs have put many harvester owners out of business. When you get stuck in the mud, it'll cost you now 20'000 Baht to get you out. No way of bargaining the price down. Only one hour work to get you out, may be less. 3 yeas ago we paid 8'000 Baht, now it's 20'000. And last but not least, the present military government doesn't allow you to charge more than 500 Baht per rai anymore. Think twice about it. My wife would never do it again. This is probably her last season. She wants to sell her harvester and 10wheel truck.

A Kubota? Here in northern Surin province there is maybe one Kubota where there are ten big harvesters. Farmers want the big machines which can cut fast. Kubotas are small machines which have short comings, they are used for small fields, no way to make big profit with them. They have more and more disappeared where we live.

Edited November 24, 2015 by Dario

[slapout]

With the lack of labor avaliable for farm work,with either mechinical knowledge or common sense I would look at a rice planter.; As mentioned there are a lot of harvestors around. Planting labor tough to find, women are not as cooperative as in past times and men are hesitant to do what has always been ''womans work'' A planting machine is much less of a investment in the machine and or support equipment and mechanically is much less complicated and does not require as much maintance, etc

Just my thoughts , opinion if I was looking to make a pofit on a machine hire basis in ag work/ market

In my area a rice planter by Kubota is totally useless.. Saw a unit this Sunday that was only 3 years was picked up second hand for 50k. The buyer tried to use it and and it would not punch through the earth. Yes the paddies were properly made. Save your money.

Are we talking about the same machine? I have only seen the one that plants the rice plant that was started from seed to be replanted after its about 1 foot in height. The machine plants the plant into the flooded paddy which has been prepared in the normal Thai way, but only require 2 or 3 people (1 boss of course) 1 to feed and 1 driver. the wheels of the planter leave tracks in the mud, that you could see where water level was shallow on the end of the planted paddy.

[khwaibah]

With the lack of labor avaliable for farm work,with either mechinical knowledge or common sense I would look at a rice planter.; As mentioned there are a lot of harvestors around. Planting labor tough to find, women are not as cooperative as in past times and men are hesitant to do what has always been ''womans work'' A planting machine is much less of a investment in the machine and or support equipment and mechanically is much less complicated and does not require as much maintance, etc

Just my thoughts , opinion if I was looking to make a pofit on a machine hire basis in ag work/ market

In my area a rice planter by Kubota is totally useless.. Saw a unit this Sunday that was only 3 years was picked up second hand for 50k. The buyer tried to use it and and it would not punch through the earth. Yes the paddies were properly made. Save your money.

Are we talking about the same machine? I have only seen the one that plants the rice plant that was started from seed to be replanted after its about 1 foot in height. The machine plants the plant into the flooded paddy which has been prepared in the normal Thai way, but only require 2 or 3 people (1 boss of course) 1 to feed and 1 driver. the wheels of the planter leave tracks in the mud, that you could see where water level was shallow on the end of the planted paddy.

Sounds like we are. Photo of the unit I saw and was told its no good for the area.Money wasted.

[slapout]

You are correct, we are talking about the same machine. I watched several videos on the internet where planters were demonstrated in the paddy at work. the kubota was in the CM area and a couple other demos were made with wheeled planters and appeared much more constant, reliable. The latter were Japenese demos, made there.

The planting of seed and the resultant sprouted roll of plants that feed the machine looked to be a weak point in sytem if improperly done and handled.

Edited November 25, 2015 by slapout

[allycat]

ok thanks for comments, I do have own land to harvest but only 9 rai, may be better buying a tractor and implements, also i may be in a position to purchase a small 360 excavator I've always wanted one but not sure if i will get the use out of it........

[khwaibah]

You are correct, we are talking about the same machine. I watched several videos on the internet where planters were demonstrated in the paddy at work. the kubota was in the CM area and a couple other demos were made with wheeled planters and appeared much more constant, reliable. The latter were Japenese demos, made there.

The planting of seed and the resultant sprouted roll of plants that feed the machine looked to be a weak point in sytem if improperly done and handled.

I am in lower Surin Province. I'm not saying someone doesn't have a unit but with only 1 crop a year for 95% of isaan I doubt there are very few out there. Almost all farmers broadcast the seed. Yes I have seen these and larger units for sell in the Kubota dealer in Surin but I have not seen or heard of a unit in operation in this area. The photo is another loser imho. Wife bought one 6 years back and it was twice used as a demo. Its parked and is a dust collector. Save your money.

[khwaibah]

ok thanks for comments, I do have own land to harvest but only 9 rai, may be better buying a tractor and implements, also i may be in a position to purchase a small 360 excavator I've always wanted one but not sure if i will get the use out of it........

IMHO if you have money to through away you will still not make your normal tractor pay for its self on only 9 rai. In my area it cost only 200 baht per rai to have it plowed under. How long will it take to recoup your investment?

[Gonsalviz]

Rice Harvester start from around 600k and only run for a couple of weeks a year, and the rest they stay idle so you need storage.

And If you buy a big one you also need a truck to haul it around.

Ps: And the price per rai has been stable (in the area where I am) for a couple of years already at 500-600 THB per rai, and hasn't increased, because there are soooooo maannnyy of them

They are getting 700/ rai in Kalasin. The IL's have been waiting for a week and still no sign of them. Seemingly there are hundreds of them around here.

[Gonsalviz]

With the lack of labor avaliable for farm work,with either mechinical knowledge or common sense I would look at a rice planter.; As mentioned there are a lot of harvestors around. Planting labor tough to find, women are not as cooperative as in past times and men are hesitant to do what has always been ''womans work'' A planting machine is much less of a investment in the machine and or support equipment and mechanically is much less complicated and does not require as much maintance, etc

Just my thoughts , opinion if I was looking to make a pofit on a machine hire basis in ag work/ market

In my area a rice planter by Kubota is totally useless.. Saw a unit this Sunday that was only 3 years was picked up second hand for 50k. The buyer tried to use it and and it would not punch through the earth. Yes the paddies were properly made. Save your money.

Plow first. Add water. What's to punch?

[khwaibah]

With the lack of labor avaliable for farm work,with either mechinical knowledge or common sense I would look at a rice planter.; As mentioned there are a lot of harvestors around. Planting labor tough to find, women are not as cooperative as in past times and men are hesitant to do what has always been ''womans work'' A planting machine is much less of a investment in the machine and or support equipment and mechanically is much less complicated and does not require as much maintance, etc

Just my thoughts , opinion if I was looking to make a pofit on a machine hire basis in ag work/ market

In my area a rice planter by Kubota is totally useless.. Saw a unit this Sunday that was only 3 years was picked up second hand for 50k. The buyer tried to use it and and it would not punch through the earth. Yes the paddies were properly made. Save your money.

Plow first. Add water. What's to punch?

Thats what I said and was told that the planter would not punch through a wet paper bag. At the end you just don't see these machines out and about.