Pond Update

[john_bud]

Hi all,

I figured out how to use the video camera as a still camera and took some photos of the pond project. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Work was kind enough to shut the plant down for the week of July 4th (without pay /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif), and I took the opportunity to see how much work the Kubota could do in two days.
I found out that I could really move some major dirt by using a combination of the FEL and the box blade. You can't really see it, but the hill side has been reshaped and resloped to have a more gradual decent to the bottom of the pond on the one side. The spoils have been moved down hill to raise it so that water will be trapped and go back to the dug pond.

The tractor worked great on the project with only one "finding". The 3pt lever got hard to move when the tractor was hot. I guess hot is a relative term as the temp only went up to 3/8th on the guage. I found the jam nut to control the lever's tension and backed it off by 1/4 turn and that fixed it. Most of the work was done at PTO speed to get the power to move the dirt. Typically, the mid range was used but on occasion it needed to go into low range. I did learn alot about feathering the peddle to keep the rpms in the right range!

The tractor is also ALOT more thirsty when run for 8-9 hours in a row at pto speed. Glug glug glug. That's the sound of 8-9 gallons of fuel being used each day. Glug Glug Glug. There's still more to do, but progress is being made.

John Bud

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

8-9 gallons a day is still cheaper than what it would have cost to either buy a hoe or hire the work.

I don't notice any sign of moisture (spring, etc) in the hole. How are you planning to fill your pond?

Keep us posted on this, since I'm probably going to wind up doing just about the same thing.

SHF

 

[john_bud]

<font color=blue> I don't notice any sign of moisture (spring, etc) in the hole.</font color=blue>

You can't see it too well, but behind the tractor (in the top down photo) the ground is wet. That is the ground water level. I may have to go deeper to keep it wet all year, I don't know yet. I do expect that it will hold enough rain water in the spring and fall for ducks and frogs. Over time, it will get bigger, scoop by scoop. But, I probably will have to rent a hoe to really make it deep enough to be a year round "pond" and not just a seasonal "duck pond".

John Bud

 

[patrickg]

John, I was surprised to read your location in your bio, your place looks a lot like mine (south central Oklahoma). Having had my reality check and expectation adjustment (60 hours on L4610) I can see that a mid size dozer could move more dirt in an afternoon than you and I could working together in a week but we don't have dozers and tractoring is FUN. Anyway I have an appreciation for what you are attempting. Looking real good man! That was a lot of dirt to move with your tractor in that time. You must have found, as I did, the box blade can move a lot of dirt if you stick with it. Maybe your dirt is easier to move than mine but I don't think I could do more in less time with my L4610. Much of my soil is clay, almost no surface rocks at all. When it is wet it sticks to implements like glue. When it is dry it is almost like working with hardened cement. If you catch it in between you can move massive quantities in a day with the box blade. Mine has the hydraulic raise/lower scarifiers and that really helps.

My ponds are for the most part dozer built and too large of dams to be practical for a compact tractor but I have a couple candidate locations where I could impound a significant quantity of water by moving a compact tractor job's worth of dirt. So maybe in a couple of years I will have worked my way down the list enough to get to that.

Does your dirt hold water pretty good? I have a lot of clay which seems to hold it OK. I was cautioned about deepening my ponds. Seems you can hit an area that is not water retentive and it is like pulling the plug out of the bath tub. Before that warning I was thinking of deepening my ponds, a lot. Now I think I will just try to remove silt and not enlarge beyond original depth.

I too am wanting ducks/geese (domestic stock, we get wild ducks and geese in winter, mostly mallards and canadian geese) but am concerned with keeping ahead of the coyotes and racoons. I was thinking of an island for a safe nesting area but racoons I'm told will swim out and raid the nests or worse.

Keep up the good work, like the pix.

Patrick

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

John,

Any chance there might be a spring? Or aren't they common in your area? I'll be cleaning out an old stream bed, stays at least damp at the surface most of the year. Filled with 6' of black clay. Outta be fun! /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

SHF