Costs,,

[moxy 617]

We will see how things pan out when the Ali phos regs are changed.

 

Loads of farms will suffer when the old boy rule is legislated and all folk who use gas have to be trained.

 

Plenty of farms around my way do their own with gas but how many are going to pay to be trained and deemed competent.

 

I tell you now lots will view it as going the same way as strychnine went. So trapping may become a new trend!!!

 

Garlic bread!? It's the future!

[logun 91]

mox i was shit scared of strychnine...used it in the past but hated the stuff.

[moxy 617]

mox i was shit scared of strychnine...used it in the past but hated the stuff.

 

Well that's another topic for another day.

 

Atb

[micky 3,325]

there hell of a lot of mole trappes out there it seems,,but aint really any idea how to price jobs ,,, on going threads now that starts off how much etc for mole job..tip from me .. if you need to ask you aint been in the game long....... and to even try and make a living ,,you need some serious land..

I know nothing about moles but I know a bit about houses,give me plan and within ten minutes I could give a client a rough idea what it would cost from DPC to the ridge,if we then found we were in the same ballpark I could then spend a couple of hours and give them a written quote detailing ,what they were paying for and when it would be done, any one of those ten a penny out of work brickies could do the same if they had been in the game long enough.Now if had spent the last 50 years catching moles I feel sure I could give a would be client a fair and competitive price for catching their moles, now I know we all have to start some where but if a man dos not know what a job pays ,then I am pretty sure that he knows Jack shit about the job.

[Guest clairian09]

i've only been moleing for 3 years now, but i have a wander round then give them a price there & then then put traps in, But i do find that people say well my mate the green keeper did it alot cheaper than that "so why have you rung me!!" the thing is there are beer money molers Out there that are not trying to earn a living from it just topping up there income

[Butler 396]

£10 a mole i wish.......................................................... I have a few small jobs that pay that kind of money. But try telling a sheep farmer he owes you £2000 after a couple of days work he would laugh in your face. I run 400 traps almost full time from august through till may, i have found a price that works for me and my area. How do i know i couldn't get more? because i have land in my area i would love to get at but the land owners won't have them done because of the cost involved. Matt you seem to have it in for part timers in my experience it's men like yourself who charge extortionate prices that are the con men if you could catch moles proficiently you wouldn't need tenner each to earn a good living.

[Matt 160]

£10 a mole i wish.......................................................... I have a few small jobs that pay that kind of money. But try telling a sheep farmer he owes you £2000 after a couple of days work he would laugh in your face. I run 400 traps almost full time from august through till may, i have found a price that works for me and my area. How do i know i couldn't get more? because i have land in my area i would love to get at but the land owners won't have them done because of the cost involved. Matt you seem to have it in for part timers in my experience it's men like yourself who charge extortionate prices that are the con men if you could catch moles proficiently you wouldn't need tenner each to earn a good living.

 

Butler, if it works for you and you make a living then good luck to you, but....................firstly, my prices are not 'extortionate'; if anything, given the fact that my prices have not changed in the last 4 years they are now too low. Secondly, if I was not proficient at catching moles I wouldn't still be at it after all these years.

 

If nothing else, this thread seems to have got a bit of a debate running.

 

The removal of Ali Phos from the untrained may well have an effect on the 'traditional' molecatchers over the next few years; but all the time there are part timers and hobbyists out there undercutting the legitimate businesses the price for a decent job will be driven down.

 

If a molecatcher in 1920 could expect to earn getting on for £20 per mole (£16.25 for the skin plus the 'token fee' from the farmer), then why can't the 2013 molecatcher expect to get a similar amount?

 

Just a thought, but the next time a farmer says that he won't pay more than a token fee per mole perhaps you should mention the diesel prices, and the fact that cull ewes and lambs are making a decent amount of money these days. I've just read on a farming forum that a shepherd lost 8 ewes to listeriosis last year. What do you think the value of those ewes was?

[moxy 617]

At a fortnight ago's prices. About £496

[Matt 160]

At a fortnight ago's prices. About £496

 

Is that the cull price Moxy?

 

I reckon if a ewe produces 1.5 lambs each year for five years, that's around £400. Cull value about £120, total £520 x 8 = £4160.

 

That's 416 moles at my current rate.

 

Plus, let's not forget the improvement to the value of the land, and also the fact that most farmers are now paid £60-£120 per acre to 'manage and maintain' the land.

[moxy 617]

Just market price. Very few going for cull at this time of year unless grown for that market.

[Butler 396]

Matt honestly if i tried to charge them prices then i wouldn't be making a living from moles i would be sat at home. Some farmers round here wouldn't pay you £2 a mole and that's a fact. I have learned to live with the fact that i can't charge "London prices" for my moles, but we have no shortage of them and I'm confident in my abilities to catch the little black fellas in good enough numbers that it's worth my while turning out.