Moles!!!!!!!!!

setterlover said:
Anyone else got a problem .
We have always had the odd few mole hills but this year we have area of mole hills in each field .
Not huge areas but patches in each field and very very unsightly.it will result in mounds making haylege making difficult.
I don't particularly want to get the mole catcher in as my dogs run loose in the fields and would dig (potential getting injured.)
I read somewhere that harrowing the areas help .
Once I can get on the land I can try that but not possible at the moment plus I have the most horrendous head cold so don't feel up to it.
Really fed up with it.
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Yes!! They've gone absolutely insane here! My land looks absolutely awful.

They've also been burrowing really close to the surface and leaving little trenches everywhere.
 
PurBee said:
I find it interesting those afflicted have said this year is worse than ever. Nature responds to environmental/weather conditions we humans aren’t necessarily aware of. Makes me wonder what the spring/summer season is going to be like if this winters mole activity is frantic.
Miss those old farmers almanacs!
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Makes you wonder what they know that we don’t!
 
Worse here at the moment too compared to normal, and in different field to normal. Had mole man out last week, he’s due back on Monday.
 
Widgeon said:
So, to sum up, does anyone know a reputable breeder of Siamese or Burmese cats? I will take three please
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Just need a cat that’s decided to specialise!
Our neighbours used to have (until run over) an absolutely outstanding ‘mole-fiend’, he and his full brother (which focused on rats and mice around the farm) were from a feral cat rescue, ordinary moggies, neutered and vaccinated on arrival.
His best bag was fourteen corpses on the doormat, never ate any (moles supposedly bitter), and never bothered with any other prey either. Kept going all winter, only snow stopped play.... a legend in his own, short lifetime.
 
setterlover said:
I had a Burmese cat that was a manic mole catcher she regularly brought in dead moles she had caught she would catch every few days until there was no evidence of moles on any of our fields ( she caught a pure white albino mole!)
She lived to 23 and was mole catching into her late teens.
Sadly the 3 feral I have now are brilliant catching any rodents as well as magpies crows and rabbits but never a mole.
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I misread that as Burmese python 🤔
 
I always think of that Jasper Carrot sketch in relation to moles and it's so true drives you crazy!!
Another point is that this proliferation of moles seems to be pretty widespread and it's worrying that if hay and haylege is being made to sell how careful people will be about soil contamination as raising the cutter to avoid the hill could severely reduce yield on fields depending on how large the areas of moles hill are.
Honestly if it's not sycamore seeds it's something else.
 
We just got a new terrier and I'm now eyeing him up and wondering if we could teach him to catch the moles that are invading....
 
Just seen this thread and we also have had more moles than normal and in places we wouldn't normally.

Our cat has in the past been very good at catching moles however having reached middle age he seems to have decided to retire himself to in front of the fire sadly 😏
 
Before the horrendous rain arrived we managed to get on to the fields and harrow the moles hill areas thoroughly this was about a week ago and we have noticed very little activity by moles since .once it dries out again will get it done again.Hubby says they may have been flooded out given the rain we have had
Went to the agricultural merchant 4 miles away a couple of days ago and the mole activity in all the fields was horrendous every field I passed seemed to have quite large areas of moles hills so it seems there are problems everywhere.
 
They always are very active early spring, then it all calms down later. I always feel sad that people feel the need to get “mole men” out to kill them. Our townie neighbours had the mole man out all week, because obviously their lawn is more important than things that live in the countryside. Ironically they’d report the local hunt if that ran across their land.
 
Honey08 said:
They always are very active early spring, then it all calms down later. I always feel sad that people feel the need to get “mole men” out to kill them. Our townie neighbours had the mole man out all week, because obviously their lawn is more important than things that live in the countryside. Ironically they’d report the local hunt if that ran across their land.
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What about where moles are making a molehill out of a field?

I love wildlife and do my best to work with it, but one of my 1.5 acre small paddocks is basically entirely molehills at this point.

The lawn, also got mole hills. But not bothered about these!
 
Honey08 said:
They always are very active early spring, then it all calms down later. I always feel sad that people feel the need to get “mole men” out to kill them. Our townie neighbours had the mole man out all week, because obviously their lawn is more important than things that live in the countryside. Ironically they’d report the local hunt if that ran across their land.
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I think the problem is most of us 'country folk ' are happy to accommodate a few moles but this year there seems to be 10 times as many mole hill areas than any other year.antd yes we know they are more active in the spring but we have areas of molehills in all 3 fields in places we have never seen them before.
We cut haylege from two of the fields ,( can't do hay as COPD horse coughs horribly on hay) We cannot risk having soil in with the cut as there is a risk of botulism . We will set the hay cut higher ( obviously this will reduce the yields)
We are monitoring at present and will harrow the areas several times to spread the soil and do not intend to get the mole man out
We harrowed thoroughly last week and have not had much activity since so will harrow a couple more times before we leave it to grow on for haylege.
For a lot of us this is maintaining our grazing areas and safely cutting our hay and haylege ( without the risk of botulism) ..We tend to live and let live but do need to manage our land safely for our stock.
 
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Honey08 said:
They always are very active early spring, then it all calms down later. I always feel sad that people feel the need to get “mole men” out to kill them. Our townie neighbours had the mole man out all week, because obviously their lawn is more important than things that live in the countryside. Ironically they’d report the local hunt if that ran across their land.
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I don't bother about them in the garden, but as I said previously, my fields are covered. Today there is a frost and these mole hills are solid, my 36 year old pony trotted across for her breakfast and I was really worried she would trip as she picked her way through them. I'm sorry but she is far more important to me than a mole.
 
Honey08 said:
They always are very active early spring, then it all calms down later. I always feel sad that people feel the need to get “mole men” out to kill them. Our townie neighbours had the mole man out all week, because obviously their lawn is more important than things that live in the countryside. Ironically they’d report the local hunt if that ran across their land.
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We've had such a lot of moles. It caused issues with grass growth as they eat the roots. They were also causing issues with the ground - in a particularly hot spot for moles in our field my truck sunk and had to be pulled out with another 4x4 (yes it was moles not rabbits).

We took 9 out of a 2 acre paddock in the space of a week. We've taken another 4 out of the same space in the last 2 weeks. They need managing.

I'm sure you wouldn't be happy if you had grubby/dusty hay as a result of the hay man not clearing moles from his land?
 
dorsetladette said:
I'm sure you wouldn't be happy if you had grubby/dusty hay as a result of the hay man not clearing moles from his land?
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Not just grubby dusty hay but there is a high risk of botulism if hay and more especially haylege has contamination with soil.We always monitor for mole hills before cutting and fence out any areas with high soil mounds but the increased activity this year could have taken out quite large areas from the cut.
Hopefully consistent harrowing seems to have got frid of the activity though I will be carefully monitoring before cutting our haylege
 
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