Yes, another pond started.....

[MotorSeven]

I know it is late in the year, but i began working on the pond yesterday. Within an hour i had a 50' swath dug 4' deep, then hit gumbo & got the dozer stuck. Had to hook the Kioti on & have the wife pull me out. The pasture is bottom land & the creek is about 75' away. Even though it has been very dry this year the pasture is holding alot more moisture than i expected. Bedrock should be around the 6-8'mark, but it will remain unknown untill i can dig deeper.

The plan is for a 50x100' odd shaped pond with a catch basin in one end. The reason for the catch basin is i have this fantasy that i will be raising freshwater prawns for personal consumption. Ponds in my area usually hold well for a few years, then the limestone kasrst formations underneath allow holes & they dry up. So, i will be putting in a liner. The plan is to install a solar panel/battery pack to run a pump to draw water from the creek to keep the pond full.

This will take a a long time pending the weather, but i will post photo's & progress as go along.

RD

 

[coreshot]

Looks like a cool project. Beautiful place you have there. Mmmmm....prawns....

 

[shvl73]

Beautiful place you have! You helper appears to be checking on your progress.

 

[MotorSeven]

Our 2 Clydsdale colts are like big lap dogs & are always sticking their noses into any activity in "their" pasture.
RD

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

cool

a pond is on top of my "list"

lookin' good, keep us posted!

 

[EddieWalker]

Nothing like a pond to make your land complete!!!!!

You have a beautiful setting for it. I especially like the way the hills and valley come together. It makes it look like a natural setting.

A few things that I learned when digging mine was to start digging closest to where you are piling the dirt thne work your way back, creating a slot. The sides of the slot will allow the blade to hold more dirt, and by starting at the begginging, you will travel less then if you started at the back. Cat did a study on this and there is a significant difference in how much back up time you will have.

With the wet stuff, I found that stopping when I hit it and letting it set for a week would let it dry out enough to go back and dig it out. I would have several slots going and would spend pretty much an entire day digging just that one slot. I would leave about two feet between each one, which made it easy to knock them dow and push them out when I was done with the slots.

It took me two years to dig my big pond, so dealing with rain and standing water was always a problem. Sometimes, you just have to wait it out, but when the weather is good and the dirt is dry, there's nothing like it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the pics, I'm looking forward to following your progress.

Eddie

 

[MotorSeven]

Thanks Eddie, i was pondering how much to leave between slots. I also learned the hard way to start the slot at the "pile" end, then back-up a little more each time deeping as i go. Also, that "pile" got real big real fast, so i had to start pushing the dirt up and over it to get rid of the spoils.
The gumbo really snuck up on me, & i got into it on one scrape of about 3" or so. I hope the weather lets it dry, because this is a natural low spot in the pasture that turns into a disco frog nighclub in a few hours. It is easy digging with no rocks which is unusual for my area. I am going to spend a few hrs on it today & try not to get stuck again....

RD

 

[RobJ]

Sometimes its hard to tell from the pics but the pond area looks really flat. Guessing that's true becuase you will be using a pump to keep water in it instead of a natural catch. Since it small about 8 hours with a track hoe and you'll have it done in a weekend!! Use the dozer dress it up.

I like to post these pictures of a friend of mines pond. 8 days, a D6, good location on a spring feed creek, and a guy who really knows how to operate one of these. Because of the creek it filled in a week!! The atvs give you a clue of the size..

Keep the pics comming!! Great place you have there to!

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

that's a great looking pond! that last pic is beautiful...

Sometimes its hard to tell from the pics but the pond area looks really flat. Guessing that's true becuase you will be using a pump to keep water in it instead of a natural catch. Since it small about 8 hours with a track hoe and you'll have it done in a weekend!! Use the dozer dress it up.

I like to post these pictures of a friend of mines pond. 8 days, a D6, good location on a spring feed creek, and a guy who really knows how to operate one of these. Because of the creek it filled in a week!! The atvs give you a clue of the size..

Keep the pics comming!! Great place you have there to!

 

[RobertBrown]

Hey Motorseven,
You've probably already got this coverd but......
I Don't know much about ponds or horses. But it seems like that horse might fall in the slot if he gets the chance.
That would'nt be good.
Best regards
Nice looking place you got there.
RB

 

[MotorSeven]

Talked to the County extension agent & he recommended syaying off the bedrock. The reason is that the clay/gumbo on top of the bedrock is the waterproof barrier that plugs the fractures in the rock. So if i scrape everything down to the rock i could cause the pond to leak. Makes sense & maybe i won't need a liner(yea right), so it is worth a try.
RobJ, no trakhoe, so it will be slow going, but i'll get it done. RB, horses...well, i have been watching them & they have investigated the trench extensivly, so i think they know where everything is. Next spring they get trained as trail horses(yes we are gonna ride 'em), so i am trying to expose them to alot of things.
The 3'rd trench started out good, but then i hit some real hard pan clay at a little over a foot down. It just won't scrape worth hoot...kinda like concrete. So tomorrow i will drop the scarifiers on the 7' box blade & use the tractor to break it up, then hit it with the dozer.
RD

Trench-2

Trench 2 done....

Trench 3, note the shiny glass like surface?

 

[MotorSeven]

The rippers worked great on the Box blade. I would have got the third trench done except my neighbor interrupted me. I had to take my truck over to his place so we could pull out the 350 tranny so he could rebuild it for me. Sheesh, some neighbors are such a pain.................

RD

 

[MotorSeven]

New twist today. The Case 350B keeps trying to throw the right track from the front idler wheel, so i had to park it. I had trench-3 about half way done & there was plenty of daylight. Soooo, i used the DK40 to finish the trench. I have to say it did great & the 7' box blade moves alot of dirt. I smoothed the bottom down to the muck & now i will wait for it to dry out so i can scrape some more.

RD

 

[EddieWalker]

Sorry to hear about your track. I've had some track problems too and it was a huge pain to deal with. Hope it's not too serious.

Eddie

 

[MotorSeven]

Eddie, so far a can't figure it out. The first time i heard it climbing the idler i backed up, put some grease to the tensioner & went back to work. Today it started the same thing, more grease, & it is getting worse. Now just traveling forward not touching the brake & it trys to pop off. SO i had to back up all the way to the shop. I did notice the front lower guide wheel mounting bolts are loose, but they are stuck about 1/2 out & will not budge. I think the guide wheel shifting could be the trouble.
I am going to clean off everything & take a long look at everything. Hopefully it will be something obvious. I have thrown the left track, but never had any trouble out of the right.

& rain is forcast for wed/thru.....i better hurry & get waht i want done

RD

 

[EddieWalker]

Are the tracks tightening up when you add the grease? Mine got to a point where they wouldn't tighten up at all and I had to rebuild the cylinders. Each of them have a plate over them that I had to cut off with a torch, which really adds to the fun of a pain in the but job anyway, but it was the only way. The actual cylinders were not that bad to rebuild, espeically compared to some of the bigger ones, but getting to it was the nightmare.

That solved allot of problems for me and my tracks.

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[MotorSeven]

Yes it's tiightening & holding(marked & checked it). It will be a few days before i can get to it. In the mean time i am digging away with the DK40...a little slower but i can get down to the gumbo. The plus is i can move a big bucket of dirt wherever i want once i scoop it up.

RD

 

[3RRL]

Hi Rick,
Great to see you start this thread.
Adding a pond to my property is in the very near future, so I'll be particularly interested on your progress. I wish I had more clay in my area, but I'm afraid I'll have to go the liner route. Mine will be for aesthetic value and to attract wildlife for viewing. It's interesting that you're considering farming your own prawns. I hadn't thought of that. I figured a few fish in mine is all, but after reading your thread, I could make it a small food source like you are doing.
Great idea.

 

[meadowlarkponds]

A couple of comments. I have a Case 450C and have built a few ponds. I had to replace the idler on both sides of mine and haven't had any problems since...my mechanic said they usually never wear out but running the dozer with the tracks too tight can cause excessive wear...may not apply in your case.

Other comment is be very sure that you pack in at least two feet of good clay over any/all bedrock areas....otherwise a leak is very probable. Good luck. I love building my own ponds and especially love raising fish in them for everyone to enjoy.

 

[MotorSeven]

Thanks for the info. I found the problem, my idler wheel is cocked to the outside. It looks like i have a broken tensioner spring on that side. I will be pressure washing it all & tearing into it in a few days.

I do have one dilema i need to solve, this pasture is subject to flood. No flood this year, one the year before, 2 the year before then...etcetc & a wicked monster flood in '93. The pond area has been under 2-4' of water during "normal" floods . So, the plan is to dike the entire pond & install a large culvert at the end where the flood comes in from. A "V" shaped dike, culvert at the apex of the "V", a steel sliding door on the culvert that i can shut prior to a flood. Rip rap on the leading edge of the "V" to help keep the soil from washing away along with some good deep rooting grass. What do y'all think?

Meanwhile i made some progress with the tractor, & here are a few pics:

I "ringed" the futue edge of the pong with dirt...

Drainage/in-flow end of pond