DIGGING OUR POND

[xtruckerbob]

Texasmark, I am lucky we live in Louisiana so we still have some rain, like you it does not seem like it rains as much as did 40 years ago. The pond is on the edge of our fields so the ground is rich . I already have a good crop of Bermuda grass and a little Bahia grass
on the banks and in the spill way. I will still have a little maintenance to do before the grass gets seated for a good ground cover.

 

[ishiboo]

Did you price out renting a track hoe for the digging part, and just use the box blades for final shaping/grading/etc? I thought about extending my pond, and with the number of hours it'd take on the tractor it seems like it'd be a worthwhile investment to rent a hoe.

 

[xtruckerbob]

I checked with Sunbelt Rentals in Jackson, Ms. The rate seems to be cheap enough, but they are the only site I checked. Sunbelt Rentals price is $500 per week or $1060 for 4 weeks. I am Medically retired from the Army so I have a lot of time plus my wife enjoys helping me play in the dirt. If I had rented the Hoe I could have finished the pond in 2 days maybe 3 days easily even considering I would have to use my tractor to move the dug out dirt. And I would have to go get it and then return it. It is only 130 mile each way or 520 miles total. Still if I had rented it for a week I have other projects I could have done. This price was for a 2,000lb Mini Excavator.

 

[Manofthehouse]

I realize this is old post, but I just have to comment that this is great! A while back I created a post where I was getting advice on redoing my pond and most of the folks were giving me advice to get someone else to do it for me, or to buy much larger and expensive equipment that I would have no long term use for. So glad I found this thread! Its even given me an idea of the time frame it should take me to get it done! I am getting ready to pull the trigger on a kubota L35 TLB, and this was extreemly helpful!