I have a spring fed pond for cattle. Dad had it built sometime in the 80's. Now I have to fix the pond! That boy who ran cattle here the last 3 years didn’t fix a fence or bush hog a weed in a pasture. Should have known he wasn’t keeping the pond’s spillway pipe clear of debris. The spillway pipe stopped up, my best guess is last summer. I came down here this past Oct. to check the pond but got distracted by a dead cow I found in the main creek. I found this damage a couple of weeks ago.
My cousin came up today to look the situation over, he has an excavating business. There are a number of impediments to this repair.
1) The main creek has to be crossed to get to the pond. The main creek is fed/starts by 3 other springs just up the holler. The ditch the main creek flows through is about 8ft deep.
2) Getting to the pond from any direction requires going down very steep hills first, then crossing the creek. By steep I mean steep enough to roll a tractor if I’m not careful.
3) Going to need a load of clay to do the repair... which means getting it across the creek also.
We decided to put in a temporary spillway to lower the water level below that of the wash out. Maybe 8" flex pipe of some type. Then let the area dry out for a few months. We usually get dry weather in June and August, that’s when we’ll attempt to repair the dam.
The temp spillway... a) get a big trachoe to dig it or b) find a couple of young guys to dig it by hand. "B" is my choice, if I can find 2 guys willing to do physical labor (hard to do these days). Choice "A" means getting equipment across the holler twice.
That's the situation and the plan... unless someone has a better idea?
My cousin came up today to look the situation over, he has an excavating business. There are a number of impediments to this repair.
1) The main creek has to be crossed to get to the pond. The main creek is fed/starts by 3 other springs just up the holler. The ditch the main creek flows through is about 8ft deep.
2) Getting to the pond from any direction requires going down very steep hills first, then crossing the creek. By steep I mean steep enough to roll a tractor if I’m not careful.
3) Going to need a load of clay to do the repair... which means getting it across the creek also.
We decided to put in a temporary spillway to lower the water level below that of the wash out. Maybe 8" flex pipe of some type. Then let the area dry out for a few months. We usually get dry weather in June and August, that’s when we’ll attempt to repair the dam.
The temp spillway... a) get a big trachoe to dig it or b) find a couple of young guys to dig it by hand. "B" is my choice, if I can find 2 guys willing to do physical labor (hard to do these days). Choice "A" means getting equipment across the holler twice.
That's the situation and the plan... unless someone has a better idea?