Meadowlark the warning about equipment operator safety in the last paragraph of your Sept 14th post caught my eye. Could you possibly elaborate a bit on the dangers inherent in clearing muck out of an old pond, as compared with excavating a new pond. Are you refering to the possibility of the 'dozer getting bogged down, or are there other unique risk factors that come into play when clearing muck with heavy machinery ?
I ask because it won't be long before my catfish ponds, which double as plankton rearing ponds for my catfish hatchery, will need to be de-silted
to get rid of the accumulated cow manure that is added daily to fertilize the ponds in order to sustain continuous plankton (daphnia) growth.
The ponds were originally dug with a Cat D4D LGP (wide track) 'dozer, and this machine will be joined by my recently acquired D7G LGP 'dozer as soon as the undercarriage on both Cats gets a clean bill of health. Also I was wondering whether one of these two 'dozers is more suited than the other for the specific job of getting muck out of old ponds.
