Bay County farmer Lee Koch won't know the extent of damage a weekend hail storm left on his 1,200 acres of land until the fall, but he has an uneasy feeling about it.

High winds, rain and hail larger than the size of a golf ball pounded Bay County on Sunday, July 27, tearing up his corn and soybean crops.

"Never in my 30 years of farming have I seen hail like this," said Koch, who owns property in Auburn, Williams Township, Beaver Township and Midland County's Larkin Township. "There's no bandaids for what has happened. What's done is done."

Hail sliced open the leaves on his corn crop and cut the main stem off his soybean plants. Corn leaves take in the sun as part of the photosynthesis process to grow the plant. When the plant is sliced open, that process is handicapped, said Koch. If the blossoms or pods on the soybeans are cut off, the plant is a loss.

"Some of it may grow back, but we're not going to know what happened until the fall," Koch said.

Jeff Schulz, a certified crop advisor with Auburn Bean and Grain, said his team was busy Monday assessing crop damage following the storm.

"We know there is significant damage to crops, including corn, soybeans, sugar beets and dry beans," Schulz said. "We've got several crop advisors helping customers through a difficult time checking fields and are doing whatever we can to make the best out of a bad situation."

Gary Sylvester, manager at Auburn Fertilizer, says damage appears to be in a pocket that runs parallel with Beaver Road in Auburn and Beaver Township.

"It's the worst hail damage I've seen in some time," Sylvester said. "It's not a total loss, but if the hail hits a flower, that's going to result in a loss of yield. If it rips the silk off the corn cob, it's not going to pollinate and that will result in a loss in yield."

In addition to his crops, Koch said his pickup truck sustained a cracked windshield in three places and significant dents across the whole body.

He added he doesn't have hail insurance because he's never experienced significant hail damage to justify the cost.

"I don't want to put a dollar amount on the damage," Koch said. "It could be a lot, though."

Source - http://www.mlive.com/