Now here’s a picture for you... Imagine looking out over a small
pond on a warm summer evening. Birds dip close to the surface as
they fly over the water. The family cows wade belly-deep on the far
side of the pond as they cool off from the hot summer day just past.
At this moment, your red and white bobber dips suddenly below the surface
and a fat, delicious bluegill is captured and added to the stringer of
fish destined to be a delicious supper. If this water-based picture
sounds good to you, perhaps a multi-use pond built on your farm should be
in your plans.
By the way, this article focuses on ponds which are not meant to be simple
livestock watering tanks. Those single-purpose ponds are absolutely
vital for large scale livestock operations, but providing drinking water
for large numbers of cattle is their only function. Instead, this
article looks at ponds which do water some stock - usually a few head of
cows, sheep, and perhaps some horses - but which also provide recreation,
food, and even safety for the homeowner.
A fairly small pond close to the farmer’s home can provide water to
support fish for family eating, irrigation for gardens and orchards, and
in the case of a fire, a ready source of water for the volunteer fire
department to use.
However, just as so many things are on a small farm, pond construction is
not as simple as we would have it be. A pond will cost the
smallholder some money and some time. The larger the pond, the more
it will cost to build - that's probably obvious. Even a small pond
will require quite a bit of planning and preparation.
A pond is a long term investment, and since ponds can’t be relocated very
easily, the pond must be carefully planned before dirt is moved. A
poorly built or designed pond can be a disaster in many ways. Let’s
take a little time to look at benefits and problems concerned with small
farm pond construction.
Where Should the New Pond Go?
First, a multi-use pond should be pretty close to the family home.
The primary reason for this is that if the pond is to help provide water
for emergency fire protection, it has to be close enough for the fire
truck’s hoses to reach from the pond to the pumper. Also, irrigation
pipes don’t like to be run too far from the pond to the garden.
Finally, if the pond is close to the family home, the homeowner will get
to enjoy the wildlife which will come to the pond to drink.
Selecting the actual pond site is vital, and really should be done with
the help of a professional. A professional pond construction
engineer can recommend places that are best suited for a pond.
Obviously, a pond needs a source of water - if you are one of the blessed
and your small farm has a natural spring on it, count yourself very lucky.
A live spring gives clear, live water which supports maximum numbers of
fish. If no spring is close enough, or no good natural drainage from
hillside or valley is present, then that location is not a good pond site.
A pond building professional can walk over your farm and recommend
suitable places to build a pond. This advice may cost the farm owner
a bit in the early stages of the pond building, but the advice of a
professional can save lots of money and misery later. The best place
to locate a pond professional is to contact the local extension agent who
works for the state. Neighbors and other smallholders in your area
can usually recommend a reliable pond builder who would be happy to work
with you.
The Virginia Cooperative Extension service in their Publication Number
420-011 says that multi-use ponds should have easy access, adequate
volume, and water level manipulation in order to be of maximum use to the
smallholder. All of these points can be best designed with a
professional pond-builder’s help.
