Well ... my earthwork is only so-so but a conventional 30 sq yd load of fill can run anywhere from $80-$120 depending on far it's being hauled and how badly the seller wants to get rid of it. If I was going to mess with it, I'd get a D-9 with a blade on the front and a ripping tooth on the back:
I'd have the D-9 operating around the perimeter in the morning loosening up all the soil immediately around Rancho Grande there and I'd bring in a drag-line:
To scoop and stack the loose earth. When the D9 got far enough ahead of the drag-line, it would come back and shape with its blade. Before the flood, there'd be big ditch the reverse size/shape of the berm. When the flood was gone, I'd hit the 'go back' button including using a sheepsfoot roller to compact air out of the fresh fill.
The uniform appearance of the sides is a function of the soil's angle of repose which varies a little depending on what's being piled up but you're right, somebody went around the top 'capping' or smoothing the top; keeps the soil from eroding when it rains and blowing away in the wind.
As I suggested earlier, it was done by somebody who owns the equipment; somebody that knows what they're doing. I doubt whether that's a farmer's house; more likely the superintendent of earth-moving company ... the owner probably lives on higher ground ... :wink:
I'd have the D-9 operating around the perimeter in the morning loosening up all the soil immediately around Rancho Grande there and I'd bring in a drag-line:
To scoop and stack the loose earth. When the D9 got far enough ahead of the drag-line, it would come back and shape with its blade. Before the flood, there'd be big ditch the reverse size/shape of the berm. When the flood was gone, I'd hit the 'go back' button including using a sheepsfoot roller to compact air out of the fresh fill.
The uniform appearance of the sides is a function of the soil's angle of repose which varies a little depending on what's being piled up but you're right, somebody went around the top 'capping' or smoothing the top; keeps the soil from eroding when it rains and blowing away in the wind.
As I suggested earlier, it was done by somebody who owns the equipment; somebody that knows what they're doing. I doubt whether that's a farmer's house; more likely the superintendent of earth-moving company ... the owner probably lives on higher ground ... :wink: