The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Land Management => Topic started by: juliem on May 31, 2015, 07:27:57 pm
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I paid a local mole catcher to catch moles in a 4 acre field over 1 week in April .He caught 8 moles....it cost me £100 which I begrudged .I also have moles in some of my other fields..been using the soil for containers etc in the garden and raking them flat. but getting a bit fed up of that now.I have noticed the moles seem to be moving in the direction of the ditches/hedges. Should I hold on and hope we have a hard winter? I have 12 acres all rented out for sheep.
Alternatively does anyone have any suggestions how I can move them along to someone elses fields.
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You could try the reverse of what happens here - pour earthworm killer all over your land, so there are no worms to attract the moles -( that's a joke). Here, it's the farms round about us that have no earthworms, so the moles all run to us for sanctuary.
Every few years the numbers build back up and we get the mole catcher in again. Ours doesn't cost as much as yours did. We noticed he always left one behind, to make sure there was work for the future ::)
In fact your best plan is to learn how to catch them yourself - it's a skill but shouldn't be too difficult.
I would never use poison on the land. They used to use I think strychnine, but I would hate to contaminate my pastures that way.
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It can be easy to catch them or really bloody hard! On the rented land they are shallow 3-4" and easy to kill, at home the are deep, really deep, and difficult to catch
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The catcher actually left one of the traps in a hole in the field which I found together with dead mole.It was an unusual american trap...quite complicated but found out how to set it online.I think he used a range of different traps when he caught the 8.What I most begrudged was that he drove his vehicle all over my field when he checked them each day.
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Try trapping yourself or you can buy sandcastle windmills and put them in the mole hills the vibration drives them away, I shoot an air rifle down the hole always in the same direction so as to drive them off my field = it works.
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£100 seems like way too much. I thought the usual price was £5 per mole.
Try trapping yourself - read this page and its links: http://walcotefarm.fernhillsolutions.net/molecatching/mole_catching.htm (http://walcotefarm.fernhillsolutions.net/molecatching/mole_catching.htm)
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£100 seems like way too much. I thought the usual price was £5 per mole.
Try trapping yourself - read this page and its links: http://walcotefarm.fernhillsolutions.net/molecatching/mole_catching.htm (http://walcotefarm.fernhillsolutions.net/molecatching/mole_catching.htm)
Depends where you are. In Surrey it can cost £60 just for one mole. (I have bought my own traps!)
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£30 to set up then £10 a mole here
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my cats catch them and leave them to bloat in the sun. :innocent:
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my cats catch them and leave them to bloat in the sun. :innocent:
My dogs dig them out, but make a far bigger mess of the ground than the moles themselves do ::) :dog: :dog:
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my cats catch them and leave them to bloat in the sun. :innocent:
Can your cats do it for less than £30 and £10 a mole? If so can I borrow them
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Depends where you are. In Surrey it can cost £60 just for one mole. (I have bought my own traps!)
Geez, perhaps I need to give up my day job and become a pro mole catcher then!!
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IME it depends on where the mole is! If he's easy to catch, £5. Hard to catch, £10. In the middle of your tennis court / bowling green, maybe a little more ;)
I have a friend who makes a part time living at this. He used to charge £5 per mole, but has now had to up this to £8 on his two original farms, as the moles are fewer and further between. This year he averaged £9 / hr for his efforts, so though not a bad rate for going for a walk with a spade, it's not a path to vast riches either!
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my cats catch them and leave them to bloat in the sun. :innocent:
Can your cats do it for less than £30 and £10 a mole? If so can I borrow them
Just get yourself an Egyptian Mau they are great at catching moles (and rats, weasels, rabbits etc) and they do a good line in cuddles too ;D
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Well I've compromised and found another mole catcher who is coming out tomorrow morning..he charges £10 for each mole caught.( I think his interest was sparked when I told him that the previous mole catcher had caught 8....)
I am hoping this is not going to have to be a regular yearly expenditure!!.
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Why do you want to catch them? If you're making hay in your fields then the soil may well become incorporated into the crop and potentially cause listeriosis but otherwise ....? We co-exist with ours, make hay in fields they don't use and are glad that our soil is in such good heart it has high numbers of earthworms to keep the moles fed.
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I suppose my fields are sometimes like an extension to my garden..I like everything including hedges fences to be tidy.I have no equipment like tractor and arrows to flatten them and they are making my pastured fields look a mess.I have 12 acres.There is also the prospect they will breed and I need to tackle the problem now.I have a lot of bare patches now....which will encourage docks..thistles in the future
I also feel as I rent out for sheep and ewes lamb our in the fields I have a responsibility to prevent that listerosis?? He had a healthy lamb drop dead the other day...wasn!t flystrike.
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We used to think "ah, mouldywarp the mole, so cute" and so he is. But as well as Listeriosis, which can be got direct from the soil as well as from soil in baled hay, the bare earth can be a nuisance during lambing. Ewes seem to like to lamb right on it, so the lamb is hard for her to clean and may freeze onto the soil when still wet during very low temps. We have had a ewe cowp over a mole hill, stuck with her legs in the air. Our neighbour ranted a bit when our moles were at their worst, that a sheep or bovine can break a leg running then catching a foot in the hole left after flattening the hill. With a huge infestation of moles it can sometimes seem that there's more bare earth than grass.
On the other hand of course, where would be get new clean soil for our growing medium and veg beds without all that lovely soil :garden:
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Why do you want to catch them?
When more than 25% of your pasture is turned to mud rather than grass you definitely want the little critters dead! :) I've had a nightmare this winter with them in one particular field, where they are really really really deep and have been making mountain sizes mole hills! Thankfully the excavations have pretty much ceased now, and I've had the dog help me flatten all the hills. A dog that will dig on command (and stop digging!) is very handy :D.
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Well my new mole catcher came out this morning (retired game keeper) and he was very helpful.We swapped traps....( I gave him the trapline trap which the previous catcher had left and he'd never seen before and he gave me a tunnel trap which he uses).He showed me how he sets them...and how to find the run.....and within ten minutes he'd caught a mole.
He's charging £10 a mole....but think it will be good investment if I l can catch them in the future.
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another mole caught today....