This Years Rice Harvest

[lannarebirth]

Just finished sacking today. Only 4 rai this year, but we'll increase next year(may even do a second season). Got 42 bags (45kg) sticky rice, and 56 bags of jasmine rice.

That's 1,100 kg per rai if the bags actually weighed 45 kg and you actually only grew 4 rai.....that's pretty impressive.....especially considering that it seems that over half of your land was in jasmine rice. Around here you would be a star for getting such good results. Around here 600 kg per rai is considered par for kou gniew and kou chow yields less. 1,100 kg per rai would be considered phenomenal.

What varieties did you grow and how much of what kind of fertilizers did you use per rai? Did you transplant once or twice? How old were the seedilngs when you transplanted. Are you sure that the area planted is correct and the weight of the harvest?

Good work lannarebirth!!!!

Chownah

Well. ity's a 17 rai piece and I'm kind of eyeballing the paddy size. It might be 4 1/2 -5 1/2 rai. I weighed a couple of the 45kg (going from what my worker told me) sacks today. They averaged about 36kg apiece. Still it's a good bit more than we got from the adjacent paddies last year and our experiment of hill farming rice. We used no fertilizer save for the cow manure that had been accumulating in the fields for the 2 prior years these paddies lay fallow and about 1 1/2 meters of grass we cut and plowed under.

Anyway, the results were good enough that we've decided to cultivate the adjacent paddies as well and do a second season. Anecdotally, my workers tell me we got a little more yield than the adajacent Thai farmers and they couldn't be happier. My workers are Tai Yai and they take a lot of crap off the Thais, so this was nice for them.

[Thaicoon]

I did pretty good this year, got 100 Bags rice, that was my share, i think the family harvested 325 bags in total, which is good, i did better last year, but that was due to lending money, rice as interest.

I will not sell untill the price gos up a bit, always keep my rice in storage and then get the best deal, i will keep 4 bags for the temple, do this every year, gives one good merit in the village.

Edited November 27, 2006 by Thaicoon

[chownah]

We are going to thresh today. My wife says she is going to sell most of the kou gniew today to a man who will come and pick it up and pay us 9.5 baht per kg and he offered to buy the kou chow (for steamed rice) at 7.2 baht per kg (but she's not selling it). So.......what's up with the rice prices? Last year kou gniew was about 6.5 baht per kg while last year kou chow (for steamed rice) was about 7.2 baht per kg......Why has the price for kou gniew almost increased 50% since last year while the price of kou chow remained relatively constant.

I really want to know.....there must be something really dilfferent to make not only the price of kou gniew to go up 50% in one year AND for it to be higher priced than kou chow which has always been the more expensive......anyone have ideas.....did the floods only effect fields with kou gniew so there is a shortage?...is Toxin up in China going into the rice business there?.....is the gov't wanting to buy votes or redistribute wealth?....what's up?

Chownah

Edited November 28, 2006 by chownah

[bdenner]

Oh one more thing. - Big problem here with rice theft this year, I believe it is related to the higher prices.

Theft directly from the field or from the barn? How do they go about it?

I'm not a farmer, but I find this forum absolutely fascinating. Hope you all don't mind the newbie questions.

I love the organic jasmine rice they sell in the vacuum packs (2.5kg for around 80bhats). Wonderful aroma. How much do top quality organic rice fetch directly from the farm?

Theft from the storage huts is an ongoing think but this year the fields have been targetted where the rice has been cut and left bundled awaiting the threshing machine. A number of family members camped out each night when the problem arose.

[chownah]

The wife got about 500 kg per rai this year....this is ok but most farmers around here say that they can get 600 kg per rai....but....they never seem to measure exactly how big thier plots are and they don't weigh every bag of rice so I don't know how they get their 600kg per rai figure....maybe its just wishful thinking....I don't know.

Chownah

[pnustedt]

Now that we've finished the harvest we're well into baling - I have had quite a few pm's regarding this so thought I'd let you know how it's going.

We had a lot of people (press, suppliers, dealers, etc.) around at the beginning of the week as it was the first baler to be sold in the region. After a fair bit of setting up and training the m/c performed well, but the string was said not to be the best and we had a couple of mistied bales. Also the baler is heavy and started sinking into the soft paddy which could result in damaged pickup hooks.

I was expecting to make 200-300 bales/day but the baler co. boss said that in Saraburi (where they make the baler) they get 1,500 bales/day and we should expect 1,000 on the smaller Isaan fields.

However, the fields were heavy with dew in the early morning and Thais finish before it gets dark, so the day is quite short, also we have the soft soil problem, the fields were flooded just a few weeks ago.

I prefer the straw in the fields to be turned to help it dry and give the bale air and asked the supplier if they sold spinning rakes here that I have seen in Europe - but was told that they are not suitable for Thailand, I guess this is Thai speak for we haven't tried them.

Yesterday we made about 750 bales and the people working with us (family) made much more money than they had anticipated - smiles all round! There is a shortage of suitable straw this year due to the wet fields and farmers are saying that good bales will be expensive next year. We are also getting people coming up to us in the fields wishing to buy bales. We may change our plan and pay farmers for bales we take away from their land, rather than them pay us for the bales we make.

The "going rate" to make bales is Bt15/bale and we are doing them for Bt13. The costs are string, diesel for the tractor, one operator plus a labourer and, of course, the machines.

A couple of weeks after baling our own land we are going to plough and seed green beans - these should provide a harvest just before planting next year's rice, after harvesting the beans they will be ploughed in, fields flooded and new rice planted. Our family was advised by the local agri. college that this would reduce the need for fertilisers next year.

[RamdomChances]

The "going rate" to make bales is Bt15/bale and we are doing them for Bt13. The costs are string, diesel for the tractor, one operator plus a labourer and, of course, the machines.

Can you expand on that a bit Pun, is that what you actually sell the bails for or charge for bailing them ? It sounds expensive either way at the moment I can buy bails for 11 bhat a bail if I go and pick them up or 17 bhat delivered. Bailers are fairly common around here most people who have one contract them out.

[pnustedt]

Can you expand on that a bit Pun, is that what you actually sell the bails for or charge for bailing them ? It sounds expensive either way at the moment I can buy bails for 11 bhat a bail if I go and pick them up or 17 bhat delivered. Bailers are fairly common around here most people who have one contract them out.

The rate for baling round here is Bt15/bale charged to the farmer for baling only, we're doing it at Bt13. Bales retail at about Bt30 plus here, but that will be in a few months. Price is expected to be even higher next year due to lack of suitable straw available due to floods.

[chownah]

What's the approximate weight and size of bails in various places?

Chownah

[pnustedt]

What's the approximate weight and size of bails in various places?

Chownah

Our bales are 36 x 47cm and set at about a metre long. Weight will vary quite a bit depending on straw and moisture content (I haven't weighed them). The lighter the better.

[RamdomChances]

Our bales are 36 x 47cm and set at about a metre long. Weight will vary quite a bit depending on straw and moisture content (I haven't weighed them). The lighter the better.

Yea about the same here, say usually about 20kg ( roughly). It goes up to about 25 bhat rainy season price here but not that much of a problem as I have forage for the rainy season. I think the going rate for bailing here is only something like 3-5 bhat a bail !!

I used to buy bails of fresh grass, same size but up to 40kg...pain in the bum to handle

[Mid]

bailing when wet .......................?

spontaneous combustion isn't a myth..................

[olaus]

On 4 rai we got 60 bags (about 30 kilogram each) of rice.

Everybody happy, because more than normal.

We have been pumping water from a river two times.

This is in Mahasarakham Province.

[macb]

WEll yesterday we finished the other 3 Rai this was brown rice 15 half sacks:

So in all this year 43 Jasmin and 15 say Brown rice, so off of 13 Rai total 58 sacks, then there is rice to come in from from other sources

[lannarebirth]

WEll yesterday we finished the other 3 Rai this was brown rice 15 half sacks:

So in all this year 43 Jasmin and 15 say Brown rice, so off of 13 Rai total 58 sacks, then there is rice to come in from from other sources

Hi macb,

I love brown rice, for it's taste and for the additional nutritional value. It was my understanding that brown rice was simply a milling process (it is for me anyway). Is there another distinct rice seed you're growing for it? If so I may look into it amd plant some.

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=f...ce&dbid=128

[chownah]

What's the approximate weight and size of bails in various places?

Chownah

Our bales are 36 x 47cm and set at about a metre long. Weight will vary quite a bit depending on straw and moisture content (I haven't weighed them). The lighter the better.

About how many kilograms of straw do they get from one rai...I know it will vary but any idea at all?

Chownah

[pnustedt]

About how many kilograms of straw do they get from one rai...I know it will vary but any idea at all?

Chownah

It's a bit like the proverbial "how long's a piece of string" but I suppose we're normally getting around 30-40 bales @ 20Kg each, but, as you say, there are so many variables.