TripleR said:I sure can't beat the advice given by James.
As to the pond, my son and I just spent two full days mucking out a very small pond, less than half an acre with our L5030 and M8540. While it was fun, we really didn't have the time to finish it the way we wanted and next time will probably rent an excavator.
My pond is maybe half an acre probably smaller and i don't have a certain time to have it done. I could spend an entire summer doing it haha. My dad bought me this tractor for Christmas, which I'm sure it was part of his christmas to. I'm just going to do little things for fun.