Thread: Raising Farm Animals for Profit

Originally Posted by jamescollister

One thing everybody keeps forgetting, small farming is subsistence farming, so no real money.
Once you get big enough to start earning real money the game changes and you become a business, tax, VAT, health certification, EPA permits, planing permission.

Workers need to go on the books, pay national insurance, healthcare and health and safety come in, it all costs.
A few pigs, rats, chickens sold at local markets are one thing, 100s of pigs or anything else sold by contract, taxman and other Government agencies will be onto you sooner than later'

Law here is similar to western countries, they just don't apply to peon farmers and rich subsistence farmer are few and far between.

There is a 15% agriculture tax, once you earn [on the books] more than the allowed amount, that tax becomes due.

Yup…

Unless you intend to start a Thai “Cottage Industry” utilizing cheap family labor to support the family.

To start, you need a valid idea. You need a market -whose gonna buy and how much? You need a hook – what puts you ahead of the competition? –

Then you need to do the financials – how much is; licensing, insurance, labor, administrative, sales, operations, etc.

Then – define your “start-up” costs? Business building cost, sales and marketing, salaries, Just how long will you be supporting your labor and operating costs as your sales develop? How far done the road is your “break-even” point? When will the dollar meter reverse and just how much money will you have spent before you actually start seeing a positive cash flow?

Once you have these “details” accounted for and documented – then you can write a “valid business plan” and start “raising money” yup, the fun part, financing a “start-up”. Remember though - you need a good chunk of change just to get to this point in the game. Sourcing investment money and investors. Realize there are significant costs just to get here in the game. Legal and licensing fees. Insurance.

Now – here’s hoping you “business plan” is attractive enough to solicit adequate funds for your start-up. Now the real fun begins – hitting the street with your hand out – well, good luck. You are attempting the most difficult job in the world, talking people out of their hard earned cash and offering nothing but your word.

I could write volumes. Anyway, underfunding a venture is a killer, you get half-way to profitability and run out of cash. Then you wind up losing control of the company you worked so hard to start-up to raise mezzanine financing to hold you ‘till profitability.

Anyway… without doing an investigation, any type of foreign business venture USD $1M+ minimum to start.

And, yes, there are always a few exceptions to the rule, and, yes, someone will hit the lottery, but, it won’t be me…

Originally Posted by bowie

Unless you intend to start a Thai “Cottage Industry” utilizing cheap family labor to support the family.

Keep family out of your business. They cause more problems than they're worth IMO. If they mess up you can't sack them unless you want problems with your missus. Your missus will want to pay them more than locals people also. I could go on but it was one of the first things that was drilled into me when arriving here, 'don't employ family'. After seeing other farangs who did employ family and wifey's friends, I was advised right. Sorry going off topic again.

Originally Posted by Pragmatic

Keep family out of your business. They cause more problems than they're worth IMO. If they mess up you can't sack them unless you want problems with your missus. Your missus will want to pay them more than locals people also. I could go on but it was one of the first things that was drilled into me when arriving here, 'don't employ family'. After seeing other farangs who did employ family and wifey's friends, I was advised right. Sorry going off topic again.

Yup, 100% correct. Even in close-knit family businesses, ego's, bickering, arguments over inconsequential minutia occur. Downright feuds develop over stupid stuff. Mom & Pop's work fine while Pop is in charge, then fall apart when turned over to the kids. I have seen it and it ain't pretty. Actually saw a brother + sister team up against a brother and cause a division to fail. Cost 'em a bunch of money and the two "winning" siblings were smiling about it. Vindictive idiots. Hurt quite a few good employees who lost their jobs.

Originally Posted by Pragmatic

Keep family out of your business. They cause more problems than they're worth IMO. If they mess up you can't sack them unless you want problems with your missus. Your missus will want to pay them more than locals people also. I could go on but it was one of the first things that was drilled into me when arriving here, 'don't employ family'. After seeing other farangs who did employ family and wifey's friends,

I imagine a few have got it wrong but no need to tar all with the same brush...there's good and bad everywhere in this world.

I always use the extended family and it has worked out okay. Some have livestock, some rice and we have a few rice fields, some vegetables and a small fish pond. We pay the going rate and receive the same rate when helping in the other farms. We run a slate for fish and veg, similar to the mom&pop shops and get paid in rice after harvest. We provide some feed for the pigs and get paid a fattened piglet or two in return. We have cows looked after by an experienced uncle and we share the sale of offspring. We also rent out our land in the off season for people to grow water melon and share the profit.

I run the whole thing at a loss but that's because I give away the rice and fish to those that need it. In return I have the respect of several generations, which I kinda like and think it was money well spent. I still haven't bought a utility tractor or decent machinery, the outlay cant be recouped so we'll stay with the 'lot Thai' I bought 15 years ago, which is shared between 3 or 4 families.

Rained last night with the rice cut and drying in the fields...it's not an easy life for them and they don''t have an escape like I do.

I have been involved in "farming" here since 2002 and I/we have not really made any money (i.e. profit) as yet but what we have achieved is a way for some people in the village ,including some family members to make a bit at different times throughout the year. Have a friend of the missus, second cousin I think, who does work for us (shares the returns) on a regular basis.

That is he drives our tractor/s, truck, small excavator, harvester and repairs them plus our motorbikes, whipper snippers and lawn mower. We grow rice and cassava and the family and friends work to harvest the cassava. Just recently had a bucket fitted to the front of our small tractor to collect and load the cassava so now the missus is getting some work as a contractor in that area.

We have had cows, but that didn't work out as the ones looking after the cattle (we were in Aussie at the time) couldn't wait for the 2 years for the cows to have calves and then for the calves to grow big enough to sell.

We have grown mushrooms and this did actually make a profit but was deemed too hard as it required getting out in the mornings at about 4am and then a 260km round trip to sell.

A friend of the wife is growing rats so we will how that goes. I asked him if people would buy them as they only like "wild" ones, his response was they won't know once the rats are dead.

The missus once tried sugar cane but only broke even.

So in the end I don't think there is any money to be made, as in profit, from farming at the village level but it does keep the money circulating. Given the land ownership system her in Thailand I don't think there will be land holdings large enough to make farming profitable, other than those that already exist, and therefore in will remain subsistence farming.
I don't think that cooperatives will work here either as people don't trust each other enough for that to work well and there would always be the problem of equalising the manual input of different people without there being arguments.

And last of all don't forget about "Thainess" which requires there to always be "elites" and "peasants".

Originally Posted by Norton

“I bought raw dog meat at 26 yuan (per kilogram) last year and this year it went up to 40 yuan,”
125 baht per kilo. Not to shabby.

https://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/...ival-in-china/

Could be a good business opportunity for herr stroller.

Originally Posted by Pragmatic

Keep family out of your business. They cause more problems than they're worth IMO. If they mess up you can't sack them unless you want problems with your missus. Your missus will want to pay them more than locals people also. I could go on but it was one of the first things that was drilled into me when arriving here, 'don't employ family'. After seeing other farangs who did employ family and wifey's friends, I was advised right. Sorry going off topic again.

Unfortunately Nepotism is king in asia. More so in the philippines than thailand i think. Flippers are to clanish and dont like working with outsiders ( from other provinces) fuck nepotism i reckon. Theres no way i would go into any kind of biz with my Lao rellos or my Australian relatives.hard to be objective when yer ralated to the cunts. Its not like i dont trust either of them , just think business and family shouldnt mix. I could be wrong. But im not planning on finding out the hard way.