Start a mixed farm in Isaan

[djayz]

1 hour ago, Mr Kie said:

thanks, I just love sheep and they all eating grass mostly. just having them as hobby  

You should shear them annually, I think at the beginning of the hot season might be best for them (after shearing, it might be a good idea to make sure they have shade from the scorching sun for the first few weeks until the wool begins to grow back). This should give you additional income for the wool ASSUMING you find a buyer here (highly unlikely I think). Alternatively the wool could be used in the chicken coop. I've seen a video on Youtube of a small farmer in the US who puts it in the boxes where the chickens lay their eggs. They nest in it. 

Put a ram in with them and you'll have lambs. Hmmmm, find a good butcher in your area and then you'll have fresh lamb for the BBQ. Delicious! 

I envy you... hopefully in approx. 2 yrs. I'll open a similar thread about my 3.25 rai in Korat. 

 

[JungleBiker]

Or raise hair (rather than wool) sheep. Adapted to the tropics and don't need shearing. 

[djayz]

2 hours ago, JungleBiker said:

Or raise hair (rather than wool) sheep. Adapted to the tropics and don't need shearing. 

I've learned something new today - never hear of hair sheep before. 

[thoongfoned]

mr kie, the progress/work you and your family have done so far is very inspiring..... good luck for the future......

[Mr Kie]

these flowers are attractive and less care. 

[Mr Kie]

found a lot of bird nest, more and more birds come to our farm. 

[Mr Kie]

[Mr Kie]

New barn for laying hens, looking at cost per Egg is around 0.06THB which is reasonable and relatively inexpensive. 

this barn able to keep up to 300 Birds and can be lasted more than 10 years

[Mr Kie]

Payoong tree 8 months old, i planted 100 trees last year and will plant 900 more within next 5 years.  price of 1 cubic meter = 300-600 thousands Baht.  will take 30-40 years to get good size. 

[Mr Kie]

[Mr Kie]

Passion Fruit 

[Mr Kie]

[Mr Kie]

took over the neighbor land 3 Rai, now total is 9 Rai. 

[Mr Kie]

update 

[JaseTheBass]

took over the neighbor land 3 Rai, now total is 9 Rai. 

Awesome. Looking forward to seeing your future projects.

Sent from my Cray II supercomputer

[Mr Kie]

decorate the farm with simple materials locally available. 

[Mr Kie]

young layers are ready for sale

[BertBert]

Mr Kie,

I like reading your posts.

[George Bowman]

Fantastic effort on farming! I'm trying to do the same thing on my hobby farm outside of Phitsanulok. The doesn't work list is leading the race. But it is enjoyable to try...

[Mr Kie]

On 30/5/2560 at 7:12 AM, missoura said:

Fantastic effort on farming! I'm trying to do the same thing on my hobby farm outside of Phitsanulok. The doesn't work list is leading the race. But it is enjoyable to try...

Wow! looks pretty good and well organized. just love it.

[Mr Kie]

On 28/5/2560 at 8:14 PM, BertBert said:

Mr Kie,

I like reading your posts.

Thank you. 

[Mr Kie]

kind of summary of what i have done. 

[Mr Kie]

I have been in the shrimp industry for while selling product to shrimp farm and found quite interesting about culturing shrimp especially in my area (Northeast or Esaan). the number from a farm i know in the eastern coastal area, they got 1 pond with 4 rai, take 95 days culturing per crop, generate 3.5 million in revenue (13 tones of shrimp harvested/crop, size = 30 shimps/kg and price = 250THB/kg). the cost involved is 1.8 million per cycle. this farm able to run 3 crops per year which able to make a net profit of almost 5 million THB/year on the 4 rai pond. 

 

the interesting point is that i have the salty water from underground on my property with around 35 ppt which more or less equal to sea water. i personally wanna try and i have planed to do it next year on the land that i bought from the neighbor and using salty water from the underground diluted with the sweat water from the river and mix it up to get around 5-10 ppt. will also check for mineral contents and pH which is also one important criteria in shrimp culture. for other things (tools, feed, PL, etc.) will source it out locally 

[Mr Kie]

seasonal fruits, new born calve, laying hens, fishes, etc. 

[Yasoh]

I will agree that there are a lot of ways to lose money farming, but it is certainly not impossible to make money. There has been a lot of good advice and some not so good. I have lost more than my share of money farming in Thailand and know why it happened. I think you have a very interesting project. I have done everything over the last 20 years here on your list except grapes, lychee, rambutan, mangosteen, mulberry, roselle, pigs, and earth worms, but have done prawns, frogs, quail and a few other crops and fruits (and have forgot some). With enough work almost everything you are doing can be profitable. Here are some thoughts I have in no particular order and forgive me if you are doing them already:

1. Consider adding a small rice mill. Around here the operator gets the rice polishings and the rice hulls. This gives you a supplemental income in the form of the rice polishings that can be sold or feed to your animals. And the rice hulls could be composted to return organic materials to your soil.
2. I will predict that you will have problems with grapes, durian.
3. I would reduce or eliminate Mangosteen, rambutan, lychee, ma fie, but not til you see if they are good producers. See my next point.
4. Learn how to air layer and graft and make your own trees to sell. Double grafting is even better and more profitable. Thing about every tree you bought. Your work, only a little space and a good return. Seed papaya, and seed other shrubs and clone bamboo and bananas.
5. Add a Thai Grapefruit tree to clone from.
6. Add manila tamarind. They will do especially well around your ponds. Fish love fruit that falls and so do chickens and ducks that free range. You have to make sure you get a good strain so look at the fruit on the parent stock
7. Add1-2 Kaffir lime or more.
8. Basil will grow right up alongside a building. Grow extra to feed your livestock. Look at other herbs.
9. Add Putsa Apple.
10. Add as many water collection jars as is practical to every building.
11. Consider some concrete rings to raise catfish but I would stick with Big Oui (I have never had pla duck Russia grow well). There is also a strain of climbing perch that is promising and I am trying to get a small sample to try out. I would also consider one crop of pla duk a year in the smaller pond nearer you house. Drain it to fill the other
12. I would look for the best strain of tilapia you can find and raise them in nets. Throw some Pla Sawai in the ponds if you like to eat them, but not too many. I love hamook.
13. Geese are hard to make money on, but a couple out on your ponds will let you know if you have visitors. If you are well respected in the village, you will have less loss. A mean dog won’t hurt either.
14. Consider getting a small plot and opening a market. Put in a covered structure and run power and build some stalls. Let everyone use it for free for a while and use it yourself. It can be as simple or fancy as you think will work.
15. I would probably opt to pass on Yasohotin. It will cost you about 100 baht per trip and rental on a stall. You are better off building a quality operation and selling as much as you can in the local market which will get more locals to know about your farm and lead to walk in customers. A consistent presence will be rewarded.
16. Look at making your own poultry feed. Consider dropping chickens except for your own use. I am working on a layer/ gai ban cross that is a good layer of small to medium eggs, and meats out more like a gai ban. Put the hens with gai ban roosters and you can make money selling for meat. I would go with Pekin ducks and may be start with a few on your ponds. If you must have laying chickens buy good POL pullets, then cage/coop raise them. Free ranging or just letting them wander around a yard is a money loser.
17. Consider quail. I can give you a lot of info on this. Per square meter you will make more than chicken or ducks.
18. Consider crickets. It was a fad years ago and I thought it died out, but two local feed stores in Petchabun are selling cricket feed bulk. I haven’t done it, but it would be something to look at.
19. The Santol makes a good border for a field or road. Consider drip tape.
20. Put Papaya around your young fruit trees to shade them some while they are young. Some folks use bananas
21. Prik Keenu will grow well in the shade of bananas and papayas.
22. Forget crops for farang like zucchini, strawberries, bell peppers, head lettuce ect…. At least in the beginning .
23. Learn about drip tape (not the same as the hose type irrigation) and plastic mulch. It is used on melons and other crops. You will use a lot less water.
24. You tube and Facebook can be your friend. You are a lot more likely to find people doing exactly the same crop(s) as you and over time will help you advertise.
25. Going organic can be the right thing to do, but most of your local buyers will not pay a premium. Initially it is important to compete on a fair footing.
26. We have 2 rose apple trees and the wife planted a bunch of chillis around one and it had considerably few pests. I hear that chrysanthemums do the same.
27. A light over your pond may help a few pest to become fish food and may discourage visitors.
28. Keeping records will be a valuable exercise over time. Note weekly market prices for crops you are thinking about and when the high prices tend to occur….New Years, Songkran, Chinese New Years, when schools are open or closed. Obviously high prices can mean it is the wrong time a year or it could mean too much water is needed. Once you are running keep detailed costs and income records. When possible track a particular crop just to see what is happening.

I have forgotten at least this much and will let you know if anything comes to me.
Just to be clear, I am not recommending you do all or any particular activities, you will have to set your goals andlimits. I think you are someone who likes to learn and this will be a fun process. Something that works in one place may not work for you and vice versa. You do not need to explain yourself to naysayers. It is easy to say something can’t happen and impossible to prove it. Search for people that have similar experience that are willing to share and have fun.
Chok Dee

Wow tanti ottimi consigli dai quali prender spunto. Grazie


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[JaseTheBass]

Any updates Mr Kie? I hope you managed to avoid any flooding.

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[Mr Kie]

the update from the last 2 week, no flooding in my area very lucky. we able to make some money from selling eggs and thinking of expanding the barn, have more laying hens 1200 birds in the next season. 

[George Bowman]

You have a great idea in plan and it gives me plenty of ideas. Thanks!

[BertBert]

Thanks for the update. It gives me energy.

[JaseTheBass]

Glad to see you thriving. I'm itching to get started on my farm. 565 days and counting...

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