The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Land Management => Topic started by: goosepimple on January 06, 2012, 05:08:23 pm
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Is there a humane way to get rid of moles that actually works - I've heard of electronic pulse systems (don't want to trap) but does it work? We've got a lot at the front of our goat enclosure at the moment which is a real pain - we've put that plastic grid type gardening stuff under foot to stop it getting too muddy for the goats feet. Thanks for reading.
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Hope someone has a good plan was we've plenty of moles/mole holes/mole mounds - looks like a big family in each paddock - the rain seems to wash things flat but they appear again further along the line!
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Not necessarily Brucklay - you'd be amazed just how many holes one mole can make, and over how large an area!
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At the end of the day they don't bother me that much and I'm not prepared to dig to catch the little devil/devils and once in a while the cat get's one - but like goosepimple says it's muddy enough at the moment!!
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They're making a right mess of my fields too. I was told those little kids windmills, with the ends in the tunnels, pass on vibrations that moles don't like and that they move on. But probably just into my next field and anyway I'd need so many it'd look like a mini wind farm. Pretty though :D I'm trying to train myself just not to mind them.....
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i was told by a friend who had this problem that his dad said to use lime, how, i dont know!
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I had a friend went into rearing worms, moles were a problem of course - a predator! They said the sonic deterrents really did work - but like any mole deterrent or trap, it's crucial to get it in the right tunnel - they have tunnels for coming into the area, tunnels for hunting, blind alleys, all sorts, apparently, and unless you bug the right one you have no effect.
People pay £3 to £5 per mole caught around here, and there never seem to be any less of the little blighters. ::)
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Windmills jaykay - yes I've heard of that too, but the goats will eat them :D :goat:, and the lime I've been putting down as it's muddy isn't helping either. There is a mole catcher around here, but like you say Sally, there never seems to be any less of them. Oh well....onwards and upwards.....(now why did I think of that :D) We'll be getting in a big JCB digger soon to re-landscape, that should sort them out. :o
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we have a mole problem here too, my patio keeps disapearing! i have to lift and relay slabs on a regular basis.
we used solar sonic deterrents over the summer, following the instructions and gradually moving them further and further from the house.
i would say that they did work, but as there is not enough daylight now to charge them, the moles are now back with a vengeance.
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This will be of no help to you whatsoever. When my 8 yr old was up north staying with cousins who rented a cottage on the Glamis estate she was delighted to find mole hills in the garden. Next morning she got up, still in her pyjamas, and dug up a big worm. She cleared a mole hill and sat holding the worm above it. For two hours. My brother and sister in law watched with delight all morning as she sat there, and were gobsmacked when she unexpectedly appeared clutching a mole. Oh, ye of little faith. She cuddled it for a while, but then it scratched her so she shoved it back down the hole. Slowly slowly catchee molee. :) (Absolutely true.)
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;D
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My cats have caught a few of them - I've no idea how ???
Personally I've come to embrace the moles as my land is heavy clay and poorly drained and I figure they are nicely aerating it for me. I just spread the hills out a bit and pop down a bit of new grass seed.
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Our place is a bit Beatrix Potter anyway, perhaps I'll just have to treat the 'big worms' as characters in the story, waistcoats and all. ;)
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I thought my cat had caught a mole - I was very impressed, as was my neighbour who I was chatting too. It wasn't until he went back to his quad bike, looked in the box at the front where he had put the dead moles that he'd been catching, to find that my cat had helped herself to one of his while we'd been talking ;D
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I thought my cat had caught a mole - I was very impressed, as was my neighbour who I was chatting too. It wasn't until he went back to his quad bike, looked in the box at the front where he had put the dead moles that he'd been catching, to find that my cat had helped herself to one of his while we'd been talking ;D
;D ;D ;D ;D
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I can't help with the moles (unless you want to borrow Red Dog for a bit, she'll catch anything ;D) but please do tell a little more about the plastic grid gardening stuff that sound like it could be my saviour. ;) :thumbsup:
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I'd be interested too, I was thinking of putting it down in my grass gathering pen.
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I'm afraid the only real solution to moles is to catch them. Here is excellent advice about how to do it.
http://walcotefarm.fernhillsolutions.net/molecatching/mole_catching.htm (http://walcotefarm.fernhillsolutions.net/molecatching/mole_catching.htm)
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Thanks I look at that later when kids not around ;)
Grid stuff is just plastic grid mesh you would get on a roll at the garden centre. We were left lots of it here in the polytunnel and so have put it down outside the goats house and on frequently used routes, it does help reduce the feet clogging thing quite a lot but you have to lift it every week or so, shake it out, put it down again but that's hardly a hassle really. You get different gauges so the closer gauge works better than the wider type. If you don't have any its worth buying some as it's working quite well, but think it may be a bit pricey. We only have pygmy goats so perhaps they're lighter footed walking on it, should think it would be useless with piggies but they'd probably eat it anyway ;D
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We have quite a few on the hill paddocks. They only appear over the winter I think because the ponies come off the hill in October till March. My cat has caught lots over the past couple of years.
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One tip from my Grandad that did work for me was to partially bury bottles without lids in the mole runs. When the wind blew over the open top it made that musical tone we used to make as kids by blowing over bottle, this shifted the moles form our garden. We used old glass milk bottles but it may be worth a try with plastic ones.
We also had a cat that was so good at catching them he got renamed “moles”. He used to take great delight in dropping them on the concrete drive and watching them try to escape. Wicked cat but very useful.
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Good reply, I liked that! ;D, we've got a jcb coming in soon to start relandscaping bits so that may give them a shock (wonder how fast they dig?) ;D
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The only reason I dont like the mole hills is that they increase the risk of grass sickness in horses by disturbing and bringing up the bare soil. We have lots of mole hills and as a neighbour lost a horse to GS I do worry. But I figure that they are pretty impossible to eradicate, and this mild winter has given them a field day (literally!)
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Personally I've come to embrace the moles as my land is heavy clay and poorly drained and I figure they are nicely aerating it for me. I just spread the hills out a bit and pop down a bit of new grass seed.
Same here. We are in Wales - horrible heavy clay soil round here.
It's an opportunity to do a bit of soil analysis
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;D ;D yes, and see how much landfill is around ;D