Pushing vs digging a 1/2 acre pond for a guy.

A guy is looking to have a farm pond quoted and completed. Though I have done a few nice ponds, I would not say I am a pond expert. Rough sizing on this one will be about 1/2 acre and probably 12-15ft deep. This will depend on the water table and geology in the ground.

Personally, I think the majority of this pond can get done quickly with my D7 dozer but I have never done a pond with it, and not a clue how to assess the cycle rates for it. The excavator has a 4ft bucket and a little over 2yd. It can move dirt in a hurry but limited on how far I can move material.

Customer just wants "a hole" and not too worried about where spoil dirt goes. Which just means it will stay near the pond so trucking the material would not be needed.

Off the cuff, I have estimated about 50hrs of hard running with the excavator. Soils will all be silt loams and clays. Basically all easy digging. Curious what you guys think? Dozing rates?

I prefer more aggressive bank slopes which is a bit too much for a dozer so I would still need the excavator to shape it. It would be nice to eliminate one piece from the jobsite but I know it is nice to have backup if something happens.

Seems to me the fastest way to go that deep would be start in the middle of the pond with the backhoe and make a pass from one side to the other down to grade all the way across it.
Then use the dozer to push the spoils to where you want it. I wouldn't spend much time making the slope pretty with the hoe.
Hog out the bulk of the dirt with the hoe and then shine up the slope with the dozer.
Unless the slope material is too wet for the dozer to be efficient. IMHO !

Mchv appears to be spam. There is a hidden link in the post to a leather jacket ad.

Tinkerer said:

Mchv appears to be spam. There is a hidden link in the post to a leather jacket ad.

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Yes it was and I removed the spam from the thread. In the future please do not reply to spammers.

Most of the time people want a pond put where there's water. My limited experience has been that you beat the dirt into a pumping soup with the dozer before you actually get where you want to go.

I did a pond a few months ago, about 2 acres and 10 ft deep. Took about 40 hours with a d8L. I used all the dirt in the banks.

Correction, the pond I built was about 2 acre FEET capacity. About 1/2 an acre at the mid water line.

I’m not sure what kind of excavator you have but I think the d7 would work well.

I think your 50 hr estimate is close.

I didn’t keep track of hrs but it was probably closer to 30, the more I think about it.

Nice Pond !
Fastline's D7 next to a D8L would look like a mouse next to an elephant !
I spent quite bit of time on an D8L. The fuel was turned way up on it. Unbelievable power !

How do you keep a pond from being a muddy swamp hole?

Thanks, yeah the D8L is a nice size for small ponds.

skata said:

How do you keep a pond from being a muddy swamp hole?

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All the ponds we’ve build have been well-filled irrigation ponds. They’d all be dry as a bone without pumping water in..

Different parts of the country. They probably need to build a dam to catch seasonal run off to fill the pond. Parts of the country that a post hole fills with water before you get the post in would never dream of trying to build a pond with a dozer.

Or are you talking about pond maintenance after the pond is filled, Skata?

Delmer said:

Different parts of the country. They probably need to build a dam to catch seasonal run off to fill the pond. Parts of the country that a post hole fills with water before you get the post in would never dream of trying to build a pond with a dozer.

Or are you talking about pond maintenance after the pond is filled, Skata?

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I meant after it's done and filled.

Rihpper said:

Thanks, yeah the D8L is a nice size for small ponds.

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I ran one at the Dam job, and learned about keeping a good layer of loose stuff over the hard rock. I broke the back window with the single ripper.

skata said:

I meant after it's done and filled.

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It's all about clean water flowing into it and the depth of the pond.
Shallow ponds that I have seen allow a lot of vegetation to grow in them.

skata said:

I meant after it's done and filled.

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Oh, that's tougher, mostly just need to keep the slope of the banks moderate and grass covered or protected with rock. If you're talking about long term eutrophication, then keeping surface water out is the key, any surface water naturally wants to carry silt and fill any depression. If cattle have access to drink from the pond, just figure on digging it out every so often.

What kind of pond? Around here ponds are built in draws and all the excavation is pushed up to form the dam. Any special dirt requirements? Again, around here, the topsoil where the dam is to sit is stripped off, along with the topsoil that will be under water. Then the clay 2' below the surface is pushed up to make the dam. If the budget is such, the topsoil is then spread over the dam.