Digging pond out

[lej]

I started doubling the size of our pond without draining it. My son brought me a Yanmar 35 to play with. It has plenty of power but not enough counter weight as I did test its limits. I now have a Cat 303.5se that my son’s work will sell me at $10,000.00 plus below value. I dug a section 3’ by 40’ by 5 to 6 foot deep during the dry period with the water level down 3 to 4 foot. After 200 loads with my tractor loader I learned that this is not going to work. I’m considering buying a dump trailer to take the load off my tractor as I have to haul it behind my woods to an area before my farm field. I know I will still have to double dig to let the dirt dry out before loading to haul back. Anyone have any better ideas?

 

[EddieWalker]

When I dug my 3/4 acre pond, I used a full sized backhoe. Digging was easy, hauling dirt took forever. At first I hauled the dirt off to a ditch I wanted to fill up, but that took forever and I was worried that Spring would get here and I'd still be hauling dirt if I didn't do something different. So I dumped all the dirt right next to the pond and created a giant mountain. Then I worked at hauling that dirt off to where I needed it on my land over the next couple of years. Eventually I just dumped it at the edge of a pasture, and it's sat there for the last 15 years. I still get dirt from that pile, but there is so much dirt that it will be there for another 15 years!!!

When I dug my 4 1/2 acre pond, I used all the dirt to make the dam wider. The back slope of my dam is so shallow that most people have no idea that it's a dam. It's very easy to mow and looks great.