Will this work

[wanner78]

My project is grading and buiding a pond. It will be located on the wyoming/ colorado state line south of Laramie. The soil is a sandy loam with sandstone rocks here and there. I first need to grade around 15 acres to no till seed. When I say grade I don't mean flat, but smooth and move some dirt. I have a 6 foot box scraper pretty solid and a ford 8n, but not sure if this will work and take years. As for the pond it is located in a draw with a 15gpm cold spring flowing through. I am planning on moving the top 1-2 feet down stream and building a dam. This won't require heavy digging for a track hoe or something else. Would I be better off renting a tracked skid steer or something else to prepare the ground and move the dirt. Then I can use the box scraper to smooth when that dirt moving is over. I have some sagebrush that needs ripped out and they have good sized roots. The pond is 70' wide 400' long with an elevation change from top to dam of 15'. Thanks for any suggestions! Nick

 

[Diamondpilot]

How young are you? The reason I ask is with a 8N and a box blade you will be a old man or a very old man by the time its done. Get a dozer in there to do the work. You are taking a knife to a gun fight and it will cost you more in the long run.

My neighbor wanted a pond 10 years ago so he bought a tractor and a old drag line. 200 hours later he barely made a dent. He hired a Komotsu (spelling?) excavator at $80 per hour plus $15 per hour on weekends for a operator, all cash, and in 20 hours the guy did 3 times the work he had done in 200 hours and in the end by the time he figured fuel and tearing up his equipment it was cheaper.

Chris

 

[EddieWalker]

Park the 8N and get something that has some HP and is capable of picking up and carrying the dirt. Bigger is better, but with a tight budget and lots of time, you can get by with older iron.

If you really want the pond, then it's just a matter of overcoming the obstacles and sticking with it.

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[farmboy12]

I would say get either an older large wheeled backhoe, or an older tracked Deere or Case Backhoe with a loader and backhoe. The ones I am talkin about are front engines. We got our 197?'s Case 450 crawler backhoe for $12k with only 3500 hrs on it. Which is fairly minimal for ag and construction equipment. Then, if your budget allows, see if you can still squeeze in the price for rent or purchase of an older small/medium dozer. With a backhoe, dozer, and your 8n, you should be pretty well off.


Kyle

 

[Willl]

To repeat the others. The smaller the machine, the longer the time.

How much time do you have ?

 

[farmboy12]

In fact, there's a Deere in Va built as said. This one has a clamshell/4n1 bucket, so it could do dozer and loader and backhoe work as well. This would fit all your needs. The following was taken from the listing-

"John Deere 555 B Track Loader & Backhoe-Govt Surplus-VA"

"The following surplus asset is being offered for sale via internet auction by Prince William County Virginia Government-Fleet Management Department. Asset is located in Manassas VA.

Asset Description- Late 80's era 555B Loader. 4172 original hours. Used very little in the last 3 years. Wain-Roy backhoe attachment with 36 in. bucket and 4 additional backhoe buckets as seen in photographs, Equipped with 4 in 1 front bucket. Approximately 70% remaining undercarriage. Started right up and all systems operational at photo session. On site staff reports unit becomes harder to steer when hot."

Current price- $5800. 2 days on the listing left. But, a paypal account is required. Not hard to get. Links to eBay are not allowed. Please go there and search for it. The title posted is the exact title. Good Luck!!!


Kyle

 

[skipro3]

Here's a tip;
Do a search on this site for ponds. There's some great threads including photos of ponds such as you describe.

I'd recommend using a dozer to get things going, then finish up with a rubber tired tractor w/ a BIG bucket and a hoe. If you are a good operator, you should be able to get this done in 4 weeks or so, working 8 hour days.

Got any photos?

 

[fire72]

Another angle to consider is the proper construction of the dam, such as thickness, slope angle, tying the keyway into the subsoil, and proper compaction of the soil in the dam. I briefly looked into damming a small stream in one of my ravines to create a small pond, and I very quickly realized that I don't have the equipment or the knowledge to do the job properly. Part of what you're paying an equipment operator for is their knowledge and expertise.

 

[dangerdoc]

I would say get either an older large wheeled backhoe, or an older tracked Deere or Case Backhoe with a loader and backhoe. The ones I am talkin about are front engines. We got our 197?'s Case 450 crawler backhoe for $12k with only 3500 hrs on it. Which is fairly minimal for ag and construction equipment. Then, if your budget allows, see if you can still squeeze in the price for rent or purchase of an older small/medium dozer. With a backhoe, dozer, and your 8n, you should be pretty well off.


Kyle

I had a Case 680E backhoe, a pretty good size machine. I build a road, trenched utilities and did extensive clean up with that machine. Completely satisfied with the results.

I also dug a pond about 12 feet deep and 35 feet across. It only took a few weekends and the soil was almost solid clay. It leaked like a seive. I eventually used the hole to bury debri from a barn, covered it and planted grass.

A pond is more than a hole in the ground. Even if you have the machine, you need the knowledge to build a good pond. Paying an experienced operator to build a pond is worth every penny.

 

[newbury]

Doesn't some govt. agency assist with building farm ponds anymore?
Back in the '60's my family bought 30 acres in Vt and we had a pond built by (I think) the Soil Conservation Service.
They came in with a fairly good sized dozer , a D6 or bigger and the guy worked for a week at least. He was supposed to clear, grade and build a dam and spillway for about a half acre pond about 10' deep. But he and my dad got along pretty well, so he left the dozer for a long weekend.
We ended up with a 2 acre pond about 14' deep by the time the guy came back. Large drainpipe thru the dam and all.
Since I had just turned about 13 I ended up having a marvelous life there.
The pond was built about 35 feet from a walkout basement.
I'd walk out on a summer morning catch a few trout and go in and make breakfast.

Now looking back I realize I could have built the same pond all by myself with a shovel and I'd probably be finished by now.

I'm planning on building several small ponds on my Mississippi land. But these will all be small and basically dams across narrow ravines with natural depressions behind them. I'll be able to do these with my present equipment by dragging a few stumps, and fill them in with clay.

And of course I will not be affecting present wetlands.
ACES Publications : POND BUILDING:A GUIDE TO PLANNING, CONSTRUCTING,.. : ANR-1114