Digging a 1/4 acre pond with a Tractor?

[Boar Stalker]

Who here has dug a pond with a tractor. I'm looking at digging a 1/4 acre pond myself, any advise besides what I've seem on YouTube.

[WTJim]

Don't leave tractor in hole overnight...

[Uncle Saggy]

Following

Fixing to begin a pond dig also, using a tractor

[Brute Killer]

Why not? They used to scrape out tanks with mules.

[tanto]

Put in a dig request if you're going down more than 18". Call "811" and let them see what's under there first. Never know when you might hit an old abandoned line and have a mess on your hands, or worse. I know it's tedious but you hear too many horror stories of people striking lines, etc. Just want everyone to be safe out there, not trying to bark orders whatsoever. As digging with the tractor, it will probably be slow going, but you can do it, so long as your tractor can handle the abuse.

[unclefish]

How big of a tractor?

I dug a couple little pi$$ ant water holes on my place and it took a LONG time. Biggest was probably 1/20 of an acre...took me about 2 full days and its probably only 3 feet deep. I used a 40 HP with a FEL and box blade.

1/4 acre pond thats 5-6 feet deep would take a month on my rig....lol.

[homegrown]

Planning on trying to clean mine up this spring/summer with my skid steer. Got a few cottonwoods and a willow tree to remove and want to dig it deeper.

[Hog Grim Reaper]

Do you plan to do it with a front end loader or pulling a scraper? Depends how big of tractor and how deep you want. Small tractor tank that size gunna take ALOT of time. Big tractor pulling a scraper still lot of work.

[mrc]

Just finished about a 3/4 acre tank yesterday, using a JD 555 track loader. I have just about 40 hours in it including digging a 5 ft wide creek out for 300 feet. Lots of tedious work I would suggest atleast renting something bigger.

[bowhunterchris]

Put in a dig request if you're going down more than 18". Call "811" and let them see what's under there first. Never know when you might hit an old abandoned line and have a mess on your hands, or worse. I know it's tedious but you hear too many horror stories of people striking lines, etc. Just want everyone to be safe out there, not trying to bark orders whatsoever. As digging with the tractor, it will probably be slow going, but you can do it, so long as your tractor can handle the abuse.

811 is not gonna help with abandoned lines.

[xman59]

if your ground is as wet as mine is ( and it's probably not even close) after about 8 inches you hit water,,, not the best condition to dig, at least were I am I would spend more time pulling the tractor out than I would ever get to dig!
good luck and I hope it goes well

[Burntorange Bowhunter]

Pond? You mean like in the city park? Joggers, tadpoles and park benches?

[tanto]

811 is not gonna help with abandoned lines.

Typically, no, you are correct Chris. However, you never know what they will turn up. I worked a line locate a while back and it was an old section that had been cut and pickled and out of service for years, we sold those assets to a company that eventually went under but 811 had our name as the last operator of the line. So we no longer had a map or gps info for that line. But when the contractor put in a dig request, our name popped up and I had to probe an overgrown right of way for 4 hours to find it and mark it. Never know what will turn up. Point being, just call 811 before you dig. It's the law.

[Bobcat]

Get a soil survey first to make sure your soil will hold water. Then run the numbers of hiring an experienced dozer operator vs burning gas while you learn. Go to PondBoss. Com and read up on tanks. Evaporation on a tank that small could be pretty tough not to mention water quality one the temp rises and the sun starts warming that water. There's ways around that but might be a better plan to build it better so that it is more functional later on.

[wingnut]

Quarter of an acre pond isn't very big at all. With my dozer (if the conditions are right). I can dig a 75'x75' 10' deep in 12hrs. That would run $1,020. I don't know what size tractor you are planning on using but it's going to take you along time to dig it. Save yourself a lot of time and hire a dozer.