Hail Damage Near Crown Butte

One farmers says it's the worst he's seen in his fifty years of farming. Many of us are still t...  More »

One farmers says it's the worst he's seen in his fifty years of farming. Many of us are still talking about last night's storms...the strong winds and heavy rains. Reporter Sarah Gustin takes us into some producers fields where rain wasn't the only thing pounding down. It's not the way you want to spend your morning. Out in your field assessing the damage from last night's storm. (Arden Hagerott / Crown Butte Farmer) I took over this farm when I was 16 and I have never seen this complete, it is the thid time I have had hail and the other times the crop was further along, so it would damage it more, then it appears to here, but this is bad, it's bad. Arden Hagerott farms just North of Crown Butte. It's not havest time...but that dreaded hail streak many farmers call the big white combine harvested acres of Hagerott's crop... And his farm wasn't the only one in the storm's path. (Doug Doll / Mandan Farmer) Over a thousand, over a thousand, I haven't been up north yet, so I don't really know. But Down here by the Saint Vincent Church, I would say a good a thousand acres was damaged. (Sarah Gustin / KX news) If you are wondering just how much hail, it is the next morning and there is still hail drifts left on the road. Hagerott says hail pounded down for over a half an hour. And more than 3 inches of rain came with it. In the yard leaves and braches were stripped from his trees, piles of hail are still in the lawn and mud is piled up in the driveway. But the biggest concern is still this year's crop. That 300 acres of wheat that was once a nice stand...now won't have the chance to become money in the bin. (Arden Hagerott / Crown Butte Farmer) We spent a lot of money to get it to this point, with high fuel prices, high fertilizer prices, and yeah it is going to hurt, it is going to hurt, the bottom line and make a differece. North of Crown Butte, Reporting for KX news, I am Sarah Gustin. Hagerott says the hail destroyed his wheat crop, but he still has hopes the Corn and alfalfa will come back.  « Less