Help! New horse property is riddled with dangerous gopher tunnels

[Thurley160]

I finally bought a home with acres to bring my horses home. Unfortunately I have figured out that not only do I have the mounds from the gophers, the ground is sofy in many areas that the horse’s foot sinks a good 6". I have moved them to the pasture least affected and they don’t run much thankfully. I know I need to get rid of the gophers, but even after I do that I don’t know how to get the pastures safe for them to walk on without the ground collapsing under them. I’m so worried about them I can’t sleep at night coupled with the fear of what this is going to cost. Any guidance? Thanks!

Edit: I am In Washington state, my neighbor says it moles doing the damage.

[Christa_P]

Plow and reseed

[fourfillies]

What part of the country are you in? May help with suggestions.

[walkinthewalk]

Before you plow and re-seed, you need to eradicate the gophers.

i only had a few and Hated doing this BUT the gophers loved sticks of Juicy Fruit gum. Just peel the wrapper off and shove a bunch down the holes. They will chew the gum but they can’t digest it — you get the picture.

its either that or pay someone to sit in the pasture all day and shoot them.

After the gophers have gone away, then you can plow and re-seed. If you have too much land to do that or that is not feasible for whatever reason, start gathering big stones and fill up the holes with stones.

[fledermaus]

look up gopher exterminators in your area.

[poltroon]

I understand flood irrigation can do the trick too. I’d call in an expert, maybe via your extension office.

[NoSuchPerson]

@walkinthewalk

i only had a few and Hated doing this BUT the gophers loved sticks of Juicy Fruit gum. Just peel the wrapper off and shove a bunch down the holes. They will chew the gum but they can’t digest it — you get the picture.

Just because you read it on the internet doesn’t mean it’s true. This is just a wacky urban legend. You cannot kill gophers with gum. In the first place, gophers don’t eat gum no matter what flavor it is and in the second place, even if they did eat it, it wouldn’t gum up the works. If gophers did leave a particular tunnel after you shoved a bunch of Juicy Fruit gum in the hole, it was because you disturbed the tunnel entrance enough to make them move, temporarily at least, to a different tunnel.

There are a number of approaches to getting rid of gophers. Traps or poison work. Most other options may or may not - mostly may not, I think. As others have suggested, contact your county extension office. They will be able give you some advice.

Just don’t try the Bill Murray method. :lol:

[Sannois]

Are we talking Gophers, which is a term used loosely for anything that leaves raised tunnels. Most times it is moles.
If you are in an area that got a bunch of rain this summer, the ground is rich with Earth Worms. Moles fave food.
Truthfully, the horses will take care of the problem, moles and ground critters hate the vibration that big critters make.
IT will send them out of the area, we are not talking wood chuck holes, so all the horses will do is step on the runs and help compress the soil.
IF the property was vacant for a while the moles have had sufficient time to really have a blast.
Another way I have found is great, get on your mower or brush hog the field. They hate it!!!
All the little tricks like juicy fruit, and all the stuff on the market, do not work. I can tell you I have spent a boat load of money on all sorts of stuff over the years. LOL
Your horses will be fine.

[clanter]

@Christa P

Plow and reseed

rather than plowing OP might be better off using a sheepsfoot roller which will compact the soil allowing the horses to still use the area

[trubandloki]

Another vote to contact your county extension and have them come out and see your situation and offer advice on how to move forward.

All I know is the darn woodchucks in my part of the world are not trappable. I tried every bait I could think of and never caught any of them. I finally gave up and decided the darn things that live at the edge, in the hedge row, can stay. If they move out into horse areas they get lead poisoning.

[Sannois]

@trubandloki

Another vote to contact your county extension and have them come out and see your situation and offer advice on how to move forward.

All I know is the darn woodchucks in my part of the world are not trappable. I tried every bait I could think of and never caught any of them. I finally gave up and decided the darn things that live at the edge, in the hedge row, can stay. If they move out into horse areas they get lead poisoning.

Yeah but this poster is not describing Wood Chucks at all. If she had giant sand mounds and a hole, and there is usually another entrance exit. Wood Chucks, Ground Hogs, same thing. do not leave small raised runs in the ground. they go deep,and they are building a den, not looking for worms.
Yeah I have been battling these beasties for many years, My answer for Wood chucks that works and does not involve guns are Conibear traps. Very effective, I saved my barn from the foundation caving in due to a large den that a pair built under it. nothing would deter them, till I had a farmer tell me to get a couple of those traps.
I tell you if you have land a farm or live away from city’s you run into all manner of critters making things a challenge. :yes::winkgrin:

[Raincityrider]

I feel your pain. I don’t know where you are but in my area it has been nearly a plague year for gophers. Everyone seems to be having problems with them. I’ve been dragging, filling and setting box traps (unsuccessfully I might add) like mad. I can’t use poisons because my hapless crew of cats and dogs very ineffectually hunts them. I tried the smoke bombs; save your money, I used 8 sticks at once on a single burrow and the creature is hearty and hale. I also tried CO gas to limited effect. It may or may not have worked. Burrow activity briefly ceased and then resumed…maybe by another animal.

I’m seriously considering acquiring a gopher blaster. Has anyone used one of these? It injects oxygen and tiny bit of propane into the burrow which after igniting purportedly dispatches the occupants and collapses the tunnel system with concussive force. I like the idea of killing them quickly (traps sometimes don’t) and destroying the burrow for the next occupant. Plus it wouldnt endanger my dogs or raptor population. The downside is the set up is really quite expensive…and it seems like there would be a bit of risk involved. Anyone have any thoughts?

[Suspiria]

@Raincityrider, I have a Rodenator. It’s loud, you run out of gases really fast, and it doesn’t really kill much–just collapses the tunnel. Maybe if you were really diligent with it, you would see results, but Mr. Suspiria only ever used it once and then got bored and wandered off. And me, actual Suspiria, isn’t going to voluntarily stand near a gas explosion, even a small one.

OP, i also moved to a pocket gopher infested acreage about 5 years ago. I had my local farm service company come out and poison my fields but I would not recommend that either. The machine they used essentially cut big furrows in the field, dropped strychnine-soaked grain, and then covered the tunnels back up. I was not worried about the strychnine because it takes a ton of that stuff to affect a horse even if they did dig down to it, which they did not. However, the tunnels left by the machine were even deeper and more annoying than the gopher tunnels.

I agree with the poster who said the problem will take care of itself because the gophers really seem to dislike the concussion from horses walking around up top. Now I only go after the ones who set up shop on my lawn. Mr Suspiria likes trapping them but you will never get them all that way. I use poison. I probe the big mounds with a long screwdriver til I find a tunnel, and then dig down into the tunnel and cram a block or two of gopher poison (like D-Con, but brown) and cover the tunnel back up. Pocket gophers seldom come above ground so I have never had a problem with a neighbor dog or cat eating a poisoned gopher.

[Sannois]

@Raincityrider

I feel your pain. I don’t know where you are but in my area it has been nearly a plague year for gophers. Everyone seems to be having problems with them. I’ve been dragging, filling and setting box traps (unsuccessfully I might add) like mad. I can’t use poisons because my hapless crew of cats and dogs very ineffectually hunts them. I tried the smoke bombs; save your money, I used 8 sticks at once on a single burrow and the creature is hearty and hale. I also tried CO gas to limited effect. It may or may not have worked. Burrow activity briefly ceased and then resumed…maybe by another animal.

I’m seriously considering acquiring a gopher blaster. Has anyone used one of these? It injects oxygen and tiny bit of propane into the burrow which after igniting purportedly dispatches the occupants and collapses the tunnel system with concussive force. I like the idea of killing them quickly (traps sometimes don’t) and destroying the burrow for the next occupant. Plus it wouldnt endanger my dogs or raptor population. The downside is the set up is really quite expensive…and it seems like there would be a bit of risk involved. Anyone have any thoughts?

They are so bad at my place now I am considering the gizmo where you hook it up to your cars exhaust and stick the other end in one of the runs. I swear they are Moles on Steroids!!:eek::yes:

[Thurley160]

@Sannois

Are we talking Gophers, which is a term used loosely for anything that leaves raised tunnels. Most times it is moles.
If you are in an area that got a bunch of rain this summer, the ground is rich with Earth Worms. Moles fave food.
Truthfully, the horses will take care of the problem, moles and ground critters hate the vibration that big critters make.
IT will send them out of the area, we are not talking wood chuck holes, so all the horses will do is step on the runs and help compress the soil.
IF the property was vacant for a while the moles have had sufficient time to really have a blast.
Another way I have found is great, get on your mower or brush hog the field. They hate it!!!
All the little tricks like juicy fruit, and all the stuff on the market, do not work. I can tell you I have spent a boat load of money on all sorts of stuff over the years. LOL
Your horses will be fine.

I have been told they are moles and the pastures have been vacant for a few years. I afraid to turn out because their feet sink close to 6" all over the place. Isn’t it dangerous to turn them out when it’s like that? I’m leaning towards what others recommended with tiled and re-seeding just trying to figure out the equipment to do so as this is my first time having more than 1/2 an acre. Thanks for the advice!

[Sannois]

@Suspiria

@Raincityrider, I have a Rodenator. It’s loud, you run out of gases really fast, and it doesn’t really kill much–just collapses the tunnel. Maybe if you were really diligent with it, you would see results, but Mr. Suspiria only ever used it once and then got bored and wandered off. And me, actual Suspiria, isn’t going to voluntarily stand near a gas explosion, even a small one.

OP, i also moved to a pocket gopher infested acreage about 5 years ago. I had my local farm service company come out and poison my fields but I would not recommend that either. The machine they used essentially cut big furrows in the field, dropped strychnine-soaked grain, and then covered the tunnels back up. I was not worried about the strychnine because it takes a ton of that stuff to affect a horse even if they did dig down to it, which they did not. However, the tunnels left by the machine were even deeper and more annoying than the gopher tunnels.

I agree with the poster who said the problem will take care of itself because the gophers really seem to dislike the concussion from horses walking around up top. Now I only go after the ones who set up shop on my lawn. Mr Suspiria likes trapping them but you will never get them all that way. I use poison. I probe the big mounds with a long screwdriver til I find a tunnel, and then dig down into the tunnel and cram a block or two of gopher poison (like D-Con, but brown) and cover the tunnel back up. Pocket gophers seldom come above ground so I have never had a problem with a neighbor dog or cat eating a poisoned gopher.

What do you use on your lawn? I am desperate.

[Off_Course]

But it you till and re-seed, but leave the pasture empty to allow the grass to grow, wouldn’t the moles just move back in? If we are talking large moles like we have here in Tennessee (the Eastern Mole), there are mole traps that are placed through the tunnel (from above) that kill the mole as it moves through the device inside the tunnel. They are simple to install/remove - no bait, no poison - so no worry about other critters. Don’t remember what brand we used. But even after eliminating the moles, you still have the tunnels to deal with. We just run our tractor tires over the tunnels to mush them back down - but a weighted roller attachment would be more effective and efficient for a pasture. We only have them in our side yard, near our house, and not in our pastures.

[Manybees]

Sounds like pocket gophers? We have them in our horse pasture. To get rid of them (or should I say, reduce their numbers) we used Black Box gopher traps. Gophers can have multiple openings to one burrow so you either have to put traps at all the entrances or block off the ones that don’t have traps. Make sure the traps are wedged in well with no light visible around them so the gopher goes into the trap. I also put flagging tape stakes by the trap to make sure I can find them (you should check them frequently as on occasion they don’t cleanly kill the gopher

edit (part of my post disappeared).

Best time to trap or shoot is in early spring when they first emerge, but before they reproduce. I don’t use poison- sick gophers are more likely to be eaten by predators, and predators (coyotes, hawks, eagles, my dogs and barn cat) help control gopher numbers.

Tilling will certainly help, but if you don’t want to do that, we found harrowing ( with a tire or log on the harrow for weight) spring and fall helps. I also fill in old burrows in high traffic areas with rocks and soil periodically. Touching wood as I say this, no horse injuries due to gopher holes (yet).

good luck.

[Suspiria]

@Sannois

What do you use on your lawn? I am desperate.

There is commercially available gopher bait at my local feed store. They sell it by the bucket. You can also use D-Con blocks.

[TCA_Arabians]

Knew of someone that poured gas into the burrow holes and lit it on fire. He not only had fire coming out of holes all over his property - his neighbor did too. I’d till and reseed. Six inches is enough to hurt a horse when its running and you too.