Jbatt,

All of our advice is going to be a little "off base" until you have a better idea about your sub-soil conditions.

How far is your place from the Great Dismal Swamp? Low-lying ground is an understatement for some of the land in your area!

Do you have any type of excavating equipment on the farm? If so, I would dig a little slit trench with your narrowest bucket. Kind of make a flat bottom every few feet, and then dig a scoop out of the flat bottom (to get a pure sample) and make a record of what you encounter. Also note at what depth water starts to enter your trench.

I suspect in your area, your excavation will probably start to fill with water. If safe (for humans and animals), leave it open overnight and measure the depth to water the next morning.

If you are able to do a few tests at your pond location, that information will help any pond contractor give a much more accurate cost estimate.

If you are going to have a "groundwater" pond like esshup's main pond he describes above, the construction technique is going to be much different than a pond that is filled by gathering surface water. (Which is the more common type of pond discussed on Pond Boss.)

P.S. A surface pond that is only filled by rainwater falling directly on the pond will never be a reliable pond unless you live in an extremely high rainfall area. You must have some significant additional surface acres that also direct water to the pond. This is known as the watershed.

If you don't have that, then a "surface water" pond can be filled from a well or other secondary water source (such as a creek or marsh on your property - if legal). In addition to filling the pond from such a source, that source will also have to make up the day-to-day water losses in your pond due to evaporation and leakage.

Good luck on your new pond project! I hope the little background info I provided above will help with your planning.

If you come back with some more information about your specific conditions, then you can get some more directed advice on the forum.