Anyone have an idea of what it would cost to build a stock pond? Something I could put catfish or hybrid in? I am thinking a minimum of 1/4 an acre to maybe a 1/2 acre? Maybe "shelved" so you have 2+/- feet deep with the middle being 5-6 feet deep

B-I-L had dirt work done (tank dug, dirt redustributed) on his place in East Texas and IIRC, $12k.

It depends on your the shape of your existing pasture. Some can be done by simply damming up one end or a drain.

A County agent can come in handy when planning them.

Seems like you'd want something deeper than 5-6' for drought years and fish survival. Our little 1/4 acre pond is about 12' on the dam side. Haven't had any problems - FIL's pond about the same size is silted in pretty bad and now only about 6' deep - fish get killed every year we have a drought.

Dirt work should be reasonable right now with the economy slow and fuel cheap. Good time to have something built I'd think.

Definitely consult with a county extension agent. There's a lot of nuances when it comes to capturing water.

Youd want a minimum of 8' deep if you want fish in it or they will all die when Texas summer heats it up. Head over to Pondboss.com and look through the forum there. LOTS of great info and advice.

^^^^^This for sure.

For what it's worth I had a tank that was 18' deep back in 2011-2012. I saw that tank drop to 2' during the drought. Luckily it was large enough that most of the fish survived but IMO you can either spend money building a deep tank or you can spend money replacing fish every time your tank dries up.

I agree with Cochise, dig it deep to get through the droughts. The tanks on our place have never gone dry.

Will you have a natural run off area to fill the tank?

I had one dug in August, little less than a half acre, 14ft deep. Cost $2500 a day for a track hoe, D6 and two dump trucks. Took 4 and a half days. Guy with a pan scraper could have done it in a day for $10k but I wanted more shape.
Price included spreading the dirt.

Find someone that will sell the dirt to offset the cost if you don't need the dirt. I got about 300 twelve yard trucks out of my pond but I needed every load.

At least 10 ft. deep because it will silt in pretty quick. Channel cats and Copper nose blue gill is the way to go. Put plenty of structure in before pond fills up and take pictures of the locations. Good luck!

Thanks all. I don't have much of a grade or run off in that area at all. This was all flat farm land until we built the house last year.

I originally thought about going much deeper, not sure why I reverted back to thinking 6 feet would be deep enough.

Call your county soil conservation office. There was once a program to help with the cost and they can give advice on optimal location.

This. Had a NSTRA friend who worked there.

Without any run off it’s going to be tough keeping water in it.

Do you have clay in your soil? I had two tanks dug, one an acre and the other about 3/4 acre when full. It was around 9k.