Recently bought house on 5 acre which the neighbors and former owner use some of the land to allow a farmer to grow wheat/ soybeans etc . My land is in the middle so my pond will be built on this former crop area. Given that my neighbors still allow the crops around my acres / pond how will this effect my pond ? Will the run off be more muddy due to lack of grass or will the crops use all the potential run off? How will use of chemicals on crops around the pond? Was thinking when pond is dug to add some small hills around the pond to block some of the chemicals but that of course would be a detriment to run off.
My pond will have grass around it so not sure if that would help filter the run off. Pond will be 1/2-1 acre depending . I have a reputable pond builder lined up after the soybeans are gone in Nov.
.....any thoughts , opinions? Thanks
My ponds are fed by runoff from ag land. A settling pond can really help.
I am a farmer and about half my watershed for my main pond comes off my own crop land and nearly all the watershed for my old pond is crop land.
Here is what I did for my main pond. It was not something I had to do, but I do feel it was very beneficial.
Building a sediment pond And here is a thread where there are a lot of sediment and specialty ponds that might give you some ideas.
Sediment and other specialty ponds I've not had any problems with chemicals from my ag land (Corn and soybeans mostly) but at times there is some nutrient load that comes into the ponds. Nothing that I have found to be any serious problem.
Beastman, my pond has runoff from both row crops and cattle. I wish I had a settling pond. I was too eager for more fishable water. I have had issues with FA in past years. This year the FA was almost nil, but did have very green water with only a few inches of visibility this year. No fish kills or anything, but worrisome.
If you can get a sediment - prefilter pond that the run off hits first to slow it down, you may have less problems with nutrient loading later.
Btw, the cattle and row crops are not mine, so I have no control over tillage and feeding or fertilization methods/times. You may have more input with your situation.
I am amazed how clear my new pond has been below my sentiment pond.