Hail Damage

This is what 80 mph winds combined with golf ball size hail does to 6 foot high tall corn.  Unbelievable.


Many fields look like this.  There is virtually nothing left of the soybeans.


More tomorrow.

40 thoughts on “Hail Damage

  1. Betty Klosterman

    Just look at the corn. You can see where the hail stopped. The soybeans are mush. Isn’t that amazing. Oh for Iowa and the storms. Mom remembered when it rained on one side of the house and not the other. My aunt always said you have to be strong to live in Iowa. We are all subject to the whims of weather. Sorry for your loss. Maybe some of them will just be “pruned?”

  2. Dixie

    Horrible. I grew up on a ranch and know first hand that the whims of nature can be brutal. Hope some of the crop was saved.

  3. Pat Smith

    Unbelievable! Can it be salvedged? In time will the corn come back? I’ve ever seen anything like that.

  4. Angie Rowland

    As a daughter of a farmer and wife of a family that were wheat farmers in Kansas I can only feel grief for the farmers that have to walk these fields and for those that love them. May they find peace.

  5. Lynn C.

    What shocking pictures of the destruction wrought by the bad weather! I’ve heard of wind and hail damage before, but your photos show the effects on a personal level. Wow.
    I’ve always lived near or in a larger city in the eastern part of the country and know very little about life on a farm out your way. I enjoy reading your notes on your daily life, good and bad. Thank you for your blog.

  6. Janice McColm

    This is horrible! So sorry to see all the damage to your and your neighbor’s fields. It must be devastating for all who have worked so hard to see. Praying for all of you! Janice

  7. Donna Sproston

    Terrible damage. I have seen it laying flat from wind but never the effect of hail and wind. So sad.

  8. Susie Q

    It is indeed tragic! Do hope they just leave the litter there and let the plants feed the soil and soil microbes……

  9. Carolyn W.

    I know personally how heart breaking this is. After all these years it still brings tears to my eyes and pain to my heart. Thank you for helping others realize just how bad that storm was. Crop insurance is something not everyone can afford every year.

  10. Diane

    Along with the damage, there can be power outages that keep farmers constantly in motion trying to do their milking and watering of cows and other animals. It is heartbreaking to see this destruction.

  11. sandra

    All my years n Iowa , I never have seen crops so badly damaged.My prayers for the Iowa farmers,Sandra

  12. Jan Frank-de Ois

    Heartbreaking. All that work and investment. Thank goodness for Federal crop insurance. Here in SW Iowa we had a similar storm 2 weeks ago which makes a big difference in the stage of the crops! I had the insurance adjusters here yesterday to check house and garages. They didn’t seem to care about the damaged flower gardens!!

  13. sydney

    What a tragedy. Are there still governmental programs to help the farmers get back on their feet??? The farmers are everyone’s very lifeline; if we have been so stupid to take away the necessary protections, God help us all!!!

  14. Sharon Geiger

    My heart aches for the farmers! I live in a farming community and I see their struggles o n a daily basis. Prayers for your area and others.

  15. Annie

    I never realized hail could be so bad and cause so much damage. My thoughts and prayers are for the resilient Iowa farmers during these hard times.

  16. MARSHA RANSOM

    So very sorry for the farmers who worked so hard and long to get into their fields, ready the earth, plant, and spray and watch over them. We had terrible storm damage north of us – trees down everywhere, one man killed when a tree fell on his house. Still many without power and the linemen working day and night to restore power. There is so much power in nature both to nurture and to destroy!

  17. Katie Hayse

    This happened a few years ago around us. It just brought you to tears. So disheartening. Mother Nature doesn’t want to make life too easy for us. We are in blistering heat right now with no relief in sight. County fair is starting the end of the week. I’m concerned about the girls showing their animals, especially Jill with her heifer. Cattle don’t like performing very well in the heat. I have seen way too many kids get knocked around by uncomfortable calves. We are leaving at the end of next week with the girls to go to Yellowstone and the Tetons with a stop at the Cheyenne Frontier days rodeo. Hopefully, we will encounter a little cooler temps. We went in with Peter and bought an RV. It is not fancy but sure nicer than the trailer we took to Alaska! We wish we had had it then but probably good that we didn’t. The roads were so rough last year, we probably would have done too much damage to it. Take care.

    1. CountryThreads Post author

      Katie – I’m no traveler but always imagined that I’d love to go in an RV! Our church family was hit especially hard and everybody is just depressed and sad. Guess it was our turn.

  18. Martha Engstler

    That is devastating and heart breaking. Haven’t talked to my Iowa family near Ames. Will tonight.

  19. Felicia Hamlin

    It is so devastating to see your pictures. People work so hard and to have this happen, it is sad. One thing I know about farmers and their families, they are people of great faith and that will sustain them.

    1. CountryThreads Post author

      Felicia – farmers are the ultimate gamblers – they have to have great faith!

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