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moles in hayfield

Ellis Kinney

Ellis Kinney

Well-known Member
Location
Northern Ky. 30 miles Southeast of Cincinnati
From the fence row out to about 15 yards I have terrible mole infestation. I farm with an M Farmall and the field is so bumpy that I have to drop down a gear when raking hay just to keep from bouncing off the tractor. Hills are also hard on my neighbor's disc mower. Any solutions? Thanks, Ellis
 
.17 with a scope and silencer can be fun.

Lawn mower with the muffler removed and a flexible exhaust pipe plumbed in is another.
For that one, you also might want to first dig out the mound to find the hole, then pour in some water to clear out any blockage.
You might also need to dig it out just a bit more to clear the hole, then stuff in the pipe and fire it up.
Mixing some ATF into the gas also helps because then you can see if the smoke is coming out any other holes.
 
Ellis.

I use a plate compactor to roll down their paths. Then I wait a day or so to see the active paths. Then set a trap. The step on kind, probably wire the brand.

I have rid of about 75 of the critters.

D.
 
If they are large mounds of dirt, but no obvious humped up tunnels, they are probably pocket gophers. They make poison baits to put down the holes, once you get them open. A garden trowel works good for that. Or the carbon monoxide from the mower exhaust has been known to work. I use a small leghold trap in the opened hole, covered up with a board. Sometimes you have to reset it a number of times, because they are really good at stuffing it full of dirt and not setting it off. Setting it with a hair trigger works best. steve
 
I, too, have them this year-the worst I have ever seen them. They are in places I never saw before. But I always thought they were moles, but I do see the 'runs' around some of the mounds, but not all of them. I live in the same region as Ellis, and thought maybe since we had army worms last year, that these varmints were eating larvae. Mark.
 
I'm going out on a limb and say you have clay soil.
If you have clay soil, moles can turn a molehill into a mountain.

My soil is a dark sandy soil.
After a good rain, all the molehills collapse and dirt falls back into the mole runs..

I made a lawn roller out of a 500 fuel tank
thinking I could crush moles..
It does a good job flattening dirt after a good rain.

The next morning the moles were laughing at me.

cvphoto136201.jpg


The moles won..

If you have a lot of money, you can buy worms that will kill them. The only problem; their next door friends will come to visit and not leave..
 
We run a Elston gopher getter to put bait underground. Makes loosened tunnels for them to find the bait in.
 
I got a far bigger problem, about 50 acres of them in hayfields. Push up rocks in their mounds, does a job on sickle bar mowers. Constantly having to replace knives and guards. Finally bought a drum mower, that slices tight through the mounds, blades probably need replacement more often, but took the fight out of mowing. If I had a few holes it would be one thing, but a whole farm full of them? I got no solution, other than the mower knocks them down, by the time I get through raking and baling, most every thing has been run over at least once.
 
The problem with the assumption that you can take away the food, is that gophers eat plant roots, and moles eat worms and bugs. All of which are fairly hard to remove from the landscape. I've even seen gopher mounds in a gravel pit. Maybe they even eat rocks? steve
 
Nothing scientific about what I'm about to post, Just my observation.
If you have a fence row, a good chance you may have trees.
Birds perch in trees and poop. When birds come in for a landing, they poop too. Worms like the poop rich soil. Moles like worms.

I've removed all but 2 trees in my acre and half yard.

I no longer have moles.

Again, nothing scientific about what I posted. Just my observations.
 
I have what I think are the pocket gophers. I was cleaning up around property with my J/D 5203 and disc and disturbed a colony, 4 of them running about just turned around and disced them in. 4 down a bunch more to go.
 
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