CASTLEWOOD, S.D. (KELO) — Farmers have been cleaning up the damage from the May 12th storm and that includes damaged and destroyed grain bins.

Grain bins are vital to crop farms and without them farmers have no way to store grain on their operations.
But, right now, bins are harder to get and they come at an increased price.

Chad Schooley saw widespread damage on his farm in Castlewood following this month’s storm, including significant loss of grain bins.

“Came out to the farm to find out the bins had been pretty well destroyed. I think we are going to end up totaling three bins out and trying to fix two other ones,” said Schooley.

The price of bins are on the rise, which means a farmer’s insurance policy may not be enough to cover the cost of building new bins.

“Replacement costs have went up so high from when I insured the bins, we put a replacement cost on them and it’s probably at least a third if not fifty percent higher than when we did the insurance,” said Schooley.

Replacement times are also a concern. Sioux Steel Company says that the main issue causing delays is a lack of labor.

“Right now it can be anywhere from 8 to 12 weeks, I assume, which is not that standard for this time of year, normally its four to six weeks, so it is a little bit longer, but we are really doing the best we can to provide labor and materials to fit that demand,” said Scott Rysdon, CEO of Sioux Steel Company.

Schooley has already be in contact with his bin contractor and is optimistic about getting bins built in time for harvest. He’s more concerned about the repairs needed at the area grain elevators.

“If you’re used to trucking 20 miles to an ethanol plant or elevator and now all of the sudden you’ve got to go 40 miles, that makes a lot of difference cost wise and time wise,” said Schooley.

Their advice for the farmers who suffered damage at home, order your new bins as soon as possible.

“Really it comes right down to quality product, get a quality bin and also get a quality contractor try to line those up right now,” said Rysdon.

Rysdon says he estimates they will have two thirds of the damaged or destroyed grain bins replaced this year and the rest will be finished next year.