Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
I hired a dozer to finish digging my clay-lined pond after my tractor reached its limits.
In this video (Part 2), I bring in a John Deere 650K XLT dozer to complete excavation and prepare the pond for sealing. The plan is to apply a minimum of 6 inches of clay along with approximately 9,000 lbs of sodium bentonite to try and seal this small wildlife and irrigation pond.
The finished pond will be roughly 90 x 60 feet and about 7 feet deep at the center. Because my soil is mostly sandy loam and silty loam, I had to downsize the pond and focus heavily on proper sealing techniques.
Before hiring the dozer, I dug most of this pond using my Kioti CK2610 tractor. I also hauled over 100 yards of clay using a dump trailer, logging nearly 1,300 miles in the process. The clay layer on my property sits 17–20 feet below the surface, which made this project far more time-consuming than expected.
This video covers the dozer work, shaping, and preparation before applying clay and bentonite. Part 3 will show how well the pond seals and whether the effort was worth it.
If you enjoy real-world land projects, pond building, and heavy equipment work, consider subscribing for future updates.
#pondbuilding #dozerwork #landclearing #homestead #earthmoving
I hired a dozer to finish digging my clay-lined pond after my tractor reached its limits.
In this video (Part 2), I bring in a John Deere 650K XLT dozer to complete excavation and prepare the pond for sealing. The plan is to apply a minimum of 6 inches of clay along with approximately 9,000 lbs of sodium bentonite to try and seal this small wildlife and irrigation pond.
The finished pond will be roughly 90 x 60 feet and about 7 feet deep at the center. Because my soil is mostly sandy loam and silty loam, I had to downsize the pond and focus heavily on proper sealing techniques.
Before hiring the dozer, I dug most of this pond using my Kioti CK2610 tractor. I also hauled over 100 yards of clay using a dump trailer, logging nearly 1,300 miles in the process. The clay layer on my property sits 17–20 feet below the surface, which made this project far more time-consuming than expected.
This video covers the dozer work, shaping, and preparation before applying clay and bentonite. Part 3 will show how well the pond seals and whether the effort was worth it.
If you enjoy real-world land projects, pond building, and heavy equipment work, consider subscribing for future updates.
#pondbuilding #dozerwork #landclearing #homestead #earthmoving
