What You Need To Know Before Digging a Farm Pond

We have had our farm pond complete for two years now. We love it, but if we had it to do over again, we could do better!

[Solar]

Great Video! One way to solve pond leaks once filled is to attract/raise waterfowl. Duck poop will seal a pond bottom and nature has a magic way of pulling the waste from the ducks into the perfect spot. Raising ducks is a whole other thing, but if you’re up for the adventure, it’ll help your pond and can feed your family along the way!

[jeffallen]

We dug a pond about 15 years ago. Soil samples told us not to.. not enough clay.. we dug it anyway and it did leak. But after about year 5, it stopped or severely slowed down. Over time it will seal its self. Depending on if you are in a higher sand content, probably longer. To help fish life, every year we would take our Christmas tree and throw it in. After many many years, when the water is still and the light is right, you can still see them at the bottom. I stocked them with about 20 bluegill I caught at a nearby pond and with the wild life that are attracted to the water, most notably, Cranes, we now have bass. Possibly others.. they eat fish and crap out any eggs they had which is where I believe the bass came from. But give it time, the problems will sort themselves out and your pond will become as natural as if it had always been there.

[phillipfritz]

Recommendation: If you're in an area where you have thick ice during the winter you might try placing pea gravel over the desired bedding area during this time. As the ice melts the pea gravel will gradually fall. If the ice isn't thick enough to support the entire load you might a little each year.

[jasonlightfoot]

This is the beauty of YT, thank you sir, this is some very helpful and valuable information. We will be starting our build this summer and you gave me a lot of great things to look out for and preplan. I had not even thought about fish habitats, a definite palm to face moment 🤦‍♂

[thebrooklyngardenclub]

I love it when people like you explain the problems instead of just creating a nice 'showy' video. Thanks

[capnjan]

All good advice! Love your voice - brings me back home.

[hippyhebrewhomestead]

Thank you for the advice! We are looking to do this hopefully this spring, seems like your viewers also have some good ideas too

[CatherineSTodd]

Great video and you are one of the few that tells us "what you would have done differently." So helpful! Gracias amigo... your place must be beautiful!

[jyienger]

Lovely pond. That year update when it was overflow full was amazing. There's enough water there, give it time to silt up. Each time it draws down it sucks sediment into cracks. it may just go down less and less each year. The say farmers seal ponds with livestock, and that's because the hooves constantly churn up clay and mud into a slurry which, when the pond is losing water and head pressure is pushing water down through the bottom, this slurry sucks into crack and crevices. Doubt you need expensive polymers, just clay sediment and mud and churning.

[Prestoux]

deck, diving board and rope swing around the steeper edges of the pond would be awesome. Thanks for the video. I'm in the process of buying my first piece of land and want to build a pond to keep my 3 head of cattle cool in the summer. I appreciate the wisdom, subscribed. Stay blessed

[danielsestina]

Couple of thoughts on the Steep Bank: it looks to be a little rocky, if so, you might consider putting gabions to stabilize that edge. It will serve two purposes; structure for fish and also stabilize the bank. You could also do something similar with timbers. Eventually the material will break down and create more organic material for that bank. You could use some herbaceous plants that grow in the pond margin. Something like Japanese or Siberian Iris. I would be cautious about using any woody plant as they might encourage muskrats or damage the dam. Just my two cents

[ricardoarzac]

It’s a superb project for the price of $9000. Here in the San Antonio Texas area you could not do that for double the amount. Congratulations. Thanks for the tips.

[benharris]

You can terrace the steep banks. Super helpful video- thanks for sharing what you learned!

[ew]

Great info. I have the same problem. When I had mine dug we ran into sand stone at the bottom that had cracks and I didn't have any clay to seal the pond. Its a 1/2 acre pond and it leaks through the sand stone. I had a well put in that's on a timer that keeps it full. One nice thing about it is the water is crystal clear basically spring fed. It stays cool in summer and hardly ever freezes over in winter.

[dcimidq]

I saw another comment reccomending to hydroseed those steep banks. It's a great choice, but can be expensive. You can take a 5gal bucket and just fill it 75% with water, and then add toilet paper until its thick but still barely runny. Then just add your grass seed and sling it by hand. You will get way more bang for your buck over buying actuall hydroseed. Best of luck with your pond friend.

[kapperoutdoors]

OK, I'm in the process of watching the video and I just got to the price. First of all, that is a great deal for what you got! At least around here, it would have been more than that! Congrats on this beautiful pond!

[tryder]

I had a pond built on my property and made a siphon system for the overflow. That way it pulls the toxic water out of the bottom couple of feet. Very interesting to watch it kick in when the pond overflowed.

[hiddenacresoutdoors]

Our estimate for a one acre sized pond should be here tomorrow. Thanks for the informative video. I'll let you know when the digging begins!

[Sinnicide]

You said 8000 dollars and I was amazed. I was expecting much more never knew what the cost of a pond was. I know area is huge and if you know some people with equipment etc but either way!

[thebobloblawshow]

Great info. Thank you. I used to live on an acreage. Oh God, do I miss it.