Matt 160 Posted January 20, 2014 Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 Pk, keep at it I no it's hard in this current economic climate but I would put your prices up.farmers like to think they have one up on you but if you sell your self to the best of your ability the work speaks for it's self.lambing is a another option for you? Some of the farm's up hear will not let you on when they are lambing.Atb Jamie Very true. On Sunday morning I was driving between to bits of land and happened on a farmer loading sheep into a trailer. I stopped and waited while he loaded them up and wound down the window for a quick chat. After putting the world to rights, I gave him a card.... "ah, we have so and so in here. They've caught 200 in two years off our main farm..." "No problem", I said, "as long as your happy"... "Just out of interest", he said, "how much do you charge?"... So I told him. A wry smile came onto his face, and I thought, 'no chance'.... "I take it you are paying less?" I ventured.... "About the same" came his reply. Anyway, said a fondish farewell, and carried on. Tonight, I got in at about 6, fed the dog and started with getting some grub together for myself when the phone rang.... it was the farmer I met yesterday.... "I was wondering if you'd do our moles for £9 each" he asked... "only, our usual bloke says he's too busy to do ours this year"....... Now, just to translate that last bit of the conversation; what probably happened is that he went home and looked at his last invoice and found that he was paying £12-£16 per mole plus expenses. Will I be doing it for £9 per mole? Yes. Why? Because not only is it nicking a good heap of land that borders two other farms that I already do, or even because I will put the price up next year when he's seen that I do a good, hassle free job, but also because it gets one over on the latest 'fly by night' newcomer to my patch.... The moral to this story? Firstly, what a farmer says isn't necessarily what he means, and secondly, I'm as cut throat and money grabbing as anyone else I suppose. One thing is certain; you'll never have to worry about me coming to Cumbria to nick work off you guys at those prices! 1 Quote Link to post
jamie mc 168 Posted January 20, 2014 Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 I'm in the same boat as you Matt 5$ is not worth my while . Quote Link to post
perthshire keeper 1,239 Posted January 20, 2014 Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 Pk, keep at it I no it's hard in this current economic climate but I would put your prices up.farmers like to think they have one up on you but if you sell your self to the best of your ability the work speaks for it's self.lambing is a another option for you? Some of the farm's up hear will not let you on when they are lambing.Atb Jamie Very true. On Sunday morning I was driving between to bits of land and happened on a farmer loading sheep into a trailer. I stopped and waited while he loaded them up and wound down the window for a quick chat. After putting the world to rights, I gave him a card.... "ah, we have so and so in here. They've caught 200 in two years off our main farm..." "No problem", I said, "as long as your happy"... "Just out of interest", he said, "how much do you charge?"... So I told him. A wry smile came onto his face, and I thought, 'no chance'.... "I take it you are paying less?" I ventured.... "About the same" came his reply. Anyway, said a fondish farewell, and carried on. Tonight, I got in at about 6, fed the dog and started with getting some grub together for myself when the phone rang.... it was the farmer I met yesterday.... "I was wondering if you'd do our moles for £9 each" he asked... "only, our usual bloke says he's too busy to do ours this year"....... Now, just to translate that last bit of the conversation; what probably happened is that he went home and looked at his last invoice and found that he was paying £12-£16 per mole plus expenses. Will I be doing it for £9 per mole? Yes. Why? Because not only is it nicking a good heap of land that borders two other farms that I already do, or even because I will put the price up next year when he's seen that I do a good, hassle free job, but also because it gets one over on the latest 'fly by night' newcomer to my patch.... The moral to this story? Firstly, what a farmer says isn't necessarily what he means, and secondly, I'm as cut throat and money grabbing as anyone else I suppose. One thing is certain; you'll never have to worry about me coming to Cumbria to nick work off you guys at those prices! its ok....the borders closed any how no one with knee pads is allowd in unless their welsh then they have a excuse Quote Link to post
Matt 160 Posted January 20, 2014 Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 its ok....the borders closed any how no one with knee pads is allowd in unless their welsh then they have a excuse My grandfather came from Carwelees Inn (can't remember how it's spelt) near Carlisle, and I keep saying I'm going to drive up for a nose around one of these days.... I might just pop a few buckets of traps into the van when I do to make a bit of beer money while I'm there. I take it the ale is still at 1980 prices as well as the molecatchers? Quote Link to post
jamie mc 168 Posted January 20, 2014 Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 Pk, keep at it I no it's hard in this current economic climate but I would put your prices up.farmers like to think they have one up on you but if you sell your self to the best of your ability the work speaks for it's self.lambing is a another option for you? Some of the farm's up hear will not let you on when they are lambing.Atb Jamie Very true. On Sunday morning I was driving between to bits of land and happened on a farmer loading sheep into a trailer. I stopped and waited while he loaded them up and wound down the window for a quick chat. After putting the world to rights, I gave him a card.... "ah, we have so and so in here. They've caught 200 in two years off our main farm..." "No problem", I said, "as long as your happy"... "Just out of interest", he said, "how much do you charge?"... So I told him. A wry smile came onto his face, and I thought, 'no chance'.... "I take it you are paying less?" I ventured.... "About the same" came his reply. Anyway, said a fondish farewell, and carried on. Tonight, I got in at about 6, fed the dog and started with getting some grub together for myself when the phone rang.... it was the farmer I met yesterday.... "I was wondering if you'd do our moles for £9 each" he asked... "only, our usual bloke says he's too busy to do ours this year"....... Now, just to translate that last bit of the conversation; what probably happened is that he went home and looked at his last invoice and found that he was paying £12-£16 per mole plus expenses. Will I be doing it for £9 per mole? Yes. Why? Because not only is it nicking a good heap of land that borders two other farms that I already do, or even because I will put the price up next year when he's seen that I do a good, hassle free job, but also because it gets one over on the latest 'fly by night' newcomer to my patch.... The moral to this story? Firstly, what a farmer says isn't necessarily what he means, and secondly, I'm as cut throat and money grabbing as anyone else I suppose. One thing is certain; you'll never have to worry about me coming to Cumbria to nick work off you guys at those prices! its ok....the borders closed any how no one with knee pads is allowd in unless their welsh then they have a excuse And Velcro gloves by any chance? Quote Link to post
Matt 160 Posted January 20, 2014 Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 Muddy boots, manky knee pads and dirty fingernails.... just three ways to quickly identify a mawdyman.... Quote Link to post
perthshire keeper 1,239 Posted January 20, 2014 Report Share Posted January 20, 2014 Muddy boots, manky knee pads and dirty fingernails.... just three ways to quickly identify a mawdyman.... yup i fit right in. and yes its £2.50 a pint for beer hear.they wanted to put it up 10p soo we stopped drinking their till it went down lol you should come up matt its a bpnny place right enugh Quote Link to post
Mole man Kent 26 Posted January 21, 2014 Report Share Posted January 21, 2014 Don't mind a bit of lambing, keeps them hands warm during them cold nights lol Quote Link to post
Rat face 1,655 Posted January 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2014 turned into to a good thread this has 1 Quote Link to post
DavisSmith 0 Posted January 28, 2014 Report Share Posted January 28, 2014 Now no one do it as a full time work, either it is part time or no one is interested it doing now a days Quote Link to post
3175darren 1,100 Posted January 28, 2014 Report Share Posted January 28, 2014 Matt, you will certainly get a argument from the farmers up here if you ask for £10 a mole mate, Quote Link to post
Matt 160 Posted January 28, 2014 Report Share Posted January 28, 2014 Matt, you will certainly get a argument from the farmers up here if you ask for £10 a mole mate, Only because so many people sell themselves and their skills short up there. Believe it or not, I actually get a few farmers trying it on down here. Given the fact that one competitor is charging £16 per mole plus travel expenses, I usually persuade them to use me. The thing is, in the grand scheme of things, £10 per mole isn't actually that much when you compare it to all the other costs in producing grass these days. I've just cleared one large 25 acre field here which was un-mowable before I started. I've taken 32 moles off that field, so it's cost the farmer £320. How much will the diesel cost to mow that field? How much will the fertiliser cost? Overall, spending £320 to make that one field productive again is chicken feed. Price is important (especially to farmers), but so it providing a good, hassle free service. If the only way to get 'in' with them is to lower the price then I suppose that is the way you'd have to go. Offering a 'loss leader' is fine providing it's only for a short period of time. Once you've proven yourself reliable and effective, then I'd consider raising those 'loss leading' prices to something more akin to profitable work. If a farmer was paying £5 per mole ten years ago, what was the cost of fuel then? How much was he selling lamb off the farm for? How much was bale wrap? How much was nitrogen? Prices go up. It's inevitable. Be fair, be reasonable and be confident. But don't sell yourself short. Quote Link to post
3175darren 1,100 Posted January 28, 2014 Report Share Posted January 28, 2014 Matt, you will certainly get a argument from the farmers up here if you ask for £10 a mole mate, Only because so many people sell themselves and their skills short up there. Believe it or not, I actually get a few farmers trying it on down here. Given the fact that one competitor is charging £16 per mole plus travel expenses, I usually persuade them to use me. The thing is, in the grand scheme of things, £10 per mole isn't actually that much when you compare it to all the other costs in producing grass these days. I've just cleared one large 25 acre field here which was un-mowable before I started. I've taken 32 moles off that field, so it's cost the farmer £320. How much will the diesel cost to mow that field? How much will the fertiliser cost? Overall, spending £320 to make that one field productive again is chicken feed. Price is important (especially to farmers), but so it providing a good, hassle free service. If the only way to get 'in' with them is to lower the price then I suppose that is the way you'd have to go. Offering a 'loss leader' is fine providing it's only for a short period of time. Once you've proven yourself reliable and effective, then I'd consider raising those 'loss leading' prices to something more akin to profitable work. If a farmer was paying £5 per mole ten years ago, what was the cost of fuel then? How much was he selling lamb off the farm for? How much was bale wrap? How much was nitrogen? Prices go up. It's inevitable. Be fair, be reasonable and be confident. But don't sell yourself short. You are right Matt no denying,your rational is spot on I originally came up to Cumbria from yorkshire, and I thought they could be tight,?? Quote Link to post
Matt 160 Posted January 28, 2014 Report Share Posted January 28, 2014 Now no one do it as a full time work, either it is part time or no one is interested it doing now a days I can't speak for the US situation, but nothing could be further from the truth here in the UK. There are more people than ever trapping moles, and quite a few who make a living from it. The 'myth' that molecatching is a dying art still persists here, and some see it as an easy buck. The situation has not been helped by certain self proclaimed celebrities running courses and giving anyone with a spare £100 the impression that it's a romantic and easy living that's waiting for them. When strychnine was on it's way out, one of the reasons used to defend it was that there was a shortage of mole trappers. In reality, there wasn't a shortage of trappers at all; what there was, was a shortage of people prepared to pay a realistic fee to have moles trapped. I've just started working on a farm that I used to poison with strychnine twenty years ago. Looking back through the records, the farmer actually paid me more (inflation adjusted) to poison his moles back then than he'll end up paying to have the same ground trapped this time around. Conning people into believing that mole trapping was a 'dying art' suited certain individuals who made money from selling books, dvds and training courses and added to the 'romance' of their cult status. Let's just make this clear; wherever you are in the UK today, there is no shortage of molecatchers. Quote Link to post
Mr Muddy 141 Posted January 28, 2014 Report Share Posted January 28, 2014 (edited) Spot on Matt. Plus, virtually every self employed pest controller also does moles, and usually wants to do more. And, honestly; If you think you can just do one £100 course then start any shiny new career, with no shortage of well paid work, then frankly, you’re an idiot. Edited January 28, 2014 by Mr Muddy Quote Link to post
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