Got things really tippy today on the tractor....

[warhammer]

My stock tanks have been dry for a month or two now. I have been getting quotes to get them cleaned out and have been unpleasantly surprised at the prices being given.

I drove the tractor down into the tank today to try a little cleaning with the FEL.
I was surprised at how soft the dirt was - like loose ash. The tractor started really tilting over immediately, fortunately I had two wheels on a firmer portion and never stopped rolling forward or this would have been a pretty good getting stuck at a minimum.

Warhammer

 

[tanglefoot]

WH,
I'll bet you could do more good with a scoop on the 3-point as long as you keep moving forward. I've found that my Ford 4500, pushing brushpiles with the fel, spins the tires when I try to back away because it lacks traction. Just a thought.
I hope the drought lets up real soon.
Butch

 

[jinman]

Boy-o-boy! I can sure identify with your problem. Several years ago, I had my pond cleaned, but before I hired the dozer, I dug into the silt with my tractor to find out how deep it was. When I got down to about 6' deep, I decided I better get out of there and let a dozer do the job.

What I found was that the dry pond changed to wet muck about 18" below the surface. The only safe way to dig is to start making a wide trench at the edge of the pond and work your way into the middle. You have to remove all silt so that your wheels rest on native soil instead of wet silt. Once you get a wide trench dug, you can start widening the trench and complete the cleanout. Here are a couple of pictures of my pond and my trench. My pond had been dry for over 3 months. As it turned out, in the middle of the pond, the silt was almost 10' deep. I don't think you will find yours that deep, but don't be surprised if it is 4 or 5 feet deep.

 

[chh]

Stock tanks/ponds can be a barrel of fun. I have seen LGP dozers buried up in the "dried" bottoms. Yours doesn't look all that big, you probably would be better off with a trackhoe than a dozer. If you want to save a bit of money, just have him pile the dirt to the sides(out of the inflow area, of course) and use your tractor FEL and a boxblade to smooth up afterwards.

Is the NRCS offering any costshare money on pond cleanouts? They did up here in OK during our drought of a few years ago.

 

[warhammer]

I have two tanks, both dry. The pictured one is about 50 feet across. The second one is about 160 feet across. The tanks are about 250 feet apart
I have some gullies to fill and would really like to pull the dirt out of these tanks to do it but I have more pressing projects for $2800.
I called the local Farm Service Agency and they said they do not administer anything to help with the tanks. I will look into the NRCS.

Warhammer

Stock tanks/ponds can be a barrel of fun. I have seen LGP dozers buried up in the "dried" bottoms. Yours doesn't look all that big, you probably would be better off with a trackhoe than a dozer. If you want to save a bit of money, just have him pile the dirt to the sides(out of the inflow area, of course) and use your tractor FEL and a boxblade to smooth up afterwards.

Is the NRCS offering any costshare money on pond cleanouts? They did up here in OK during our drought of a few years ago.

 

[texasjohn]

I've got 3 tanks, all bone dry on the surface. Neighbor is cleaning his out and I helped him. He's using a smallish tracked back hoe... piling the dirt to one side for my FEL tractor and a neighbor's with FEL to pick up and move. He had to stop when it got too mushy toward the center for the back hoe to get traction.

My tanks... am going to start seeing if I can clean them out some... plan to start wit the edges and work toward the middle.

There is a dirt buggy available locally for rent for $50/day... about 3 yards... will take a shallow bite, fill up the box, hydraulics turns it into a trailer to be taken to be dumped.

Anybody have experience using this type device for cleaning out a tank?
I UNDERSTAND that you can't get into the mushy part with a dirt buggy... but have lots of space that is dry for a LONG ways down, no sinking of tractor at all, but completely dry, friable silt.

 

[jinman]

Just one more picture to show what you can get into on a pond. While a track-loader seems to be a good choice, he spent a lot of time trying to clean the packed clay out of his bucket. This cleaning job cost me about $2400 in 2005 and I had to do the finish cleanup afterwards. All the spoils I had piled up and it took almost two years for it to fully dry so I could work it. Silt with clay in it holds onto water and refuses to give it up.

 

[texasjohn]

Jinman, good description, good photos, appreciate the input.... interesting that spoils were wet for 2 years... amazing! Makes the point that cleaning it out down to where it is mushy and then waiting for it to dry in a few days or a couple of weeks will not meet with any real success. I had not expected that.

 

[Luremaker]

Just one more picture to show what you can get into on a pond. While a track-loader seems to be a good choice, he spent a lot of time trying to clean the packed clay out of his bucket. This cleaning job cost me about $2400 in 2005 and I had to do the finish cleanup afterwards. All the spoils I had piled up and it took almost two years for it to fully dry so I could work it. Silt with clay in it holds onto water and refuses to give it up.

Wow Jim, that is almost like digging out a new pond. How many years of silt was that sitting in your pond? Hope you guys don't have to clean them out too often.

 

[jinman]

How many years of silt was that sitting in your pond?

Steve, my pond was built in 1940/41. We have a soil conservation lake that was built with money from one of the recovery programs after the great depression. The lake dam was built in 1941 and my ponds were the fish breeding ponds for the lake. The pond sits at the mouth of an erosion gully leading to the lake, so it had been collecting silt for 64 years. That's why silt was 10' deep in the middle. Most stock ponds people own will have nothing like this. I just show it to bring home the reality that you never know what is there until you start digging. You have to treat the pond with a lot of respect and caution. Most people who do a lot of pond work with a dozer will know just exactly how to approach the problem. People with equipment and not much experience are in danger of learning the hard way. That's what I'd like to prevent by showing my photos.