Rice Mill Chores

Some things are better forgotten, "Auld Lang Sine". Even though the rice harvest is in, we still have to mill and distribute the rice. It was a tough agricultural year in 2012. Some land was planted three times. When we run the bookkeeping, all our efforts were basically in vain. (Hey! This is no surprise to an old farmer, we know how to lose money on a regular basis.)We looked at the expenses and they are nearly $160,000. The value of all our paddy rice produced?  $161,000. That is not including anything for our labor, land  or depreciation. But we move ahead. We should have enough rice to get us to an early harvest in July of 2013. We pray this year is blessed. Milling paddy rice produces about 65-70% finished rice.Rice milling is hard on machinery, and it has cost. We installed a new engine in December, and it seems that every day our antique milling equipment is in need of some kind of repair, but all the kids will be eating our own rice for much of the year.  Most of the rest of the 25-35 % of the milled by-product is used for animal feed, and five percent is rice hulls, which can be used for cooking fuel. We will still need help this year, but we are ready for a blessing.[nggallery id=1031]