Conducting an Agricultural Assessment

1. Conducting an Agricultural Assessment by Paul Leverenz, AgrAbility of Wisconsin National AgrAbility Workshop - Omaha, NE November 13, 2003

2. AgrAbility of Wisconsin UW Cooperative Extension Biological Systems Engineering Easter Seals Wisconsin Farm Assessment & Rehabilitation Methods (FARM) Program Direct client services Grant writing, public education, program promotion

3. AgrAbility of Wisconsin Staff

4. Assessment Preparation • What are the needs within my organization? • What are my skills and competencies? • What are my strengths and weaknesses? • Who is the end user of my report and/or recommendations and what are his/her needs? • Farmer • Extension • Physical Therapist • Division of Vocational Rehabilitation • County Social Services • Private Insurance

5. Important Note: The outcome of the assessment is not equipment.

6. Building a Relationship with DVR as an End User • Network and develop relationships • Take time to understand their needs Don’t make recommendations they can’t support • Understand parameters of service • What governs those parameters? (ex: Rehabilitation Act) • Know eligibility issues • Realize program goals (employment)

7. Assessment Mechanics • Prepare for the visit • Research the type of farm operation • Research disability & limitations associated with it • Know your county extension resources • Tools to take along • Fish scale • Tape measure • Angle finder • Maintain personal safety • Follow your gut • Pay attention to the physical surroundings

8. Onsite Farm Visit • Meet with farmer with disability • Discuss operation in general & barriers in specific • Interview at table or walking around the farm • Take an “I need your help” approach • Listen to how farmer describes his/her operation for clues to attitude, mood, finances, etc. • Have farmer show his/her work routine • Observe limitations or barriers as farmer works at farm • Ask questions to clarify • If you have a problem figuring out a solution, work backwards through the problem

9. Wrapping-up the Visit • Present ideas to the farmer • Review what you have covered • Together prioritize goals and solutions • Review the plan • What happens next? • Who will do what?

10. Writing the Recommendation Report • For every hour on the farm, plan on 10-15 hours in research • Items to include in the report: • Possible solutions • Actual solutions developed during dialog with client, VR and AgrAbility

11. Background Problems Areas Summary Cost Section Vendor Information VendorEstimates Problem Area Job Task Limitation Goal Options Implement Cost Vendor and Address Phone Contact Fed Tax ID Report Format

12. Report Information • Problem Areas • Job Task • Limitations • Goal Caveat: Problem areas are prioritized by importance and immediacy. All prices are vendor estimates and unless noted, all vendors accept PO’s. • Continued…

13. Report Information • Options • Implement • Cost • Vendor • Phone • Contact Person • Federal Tax Identification Number • Summary • Cost Section • Vendor Information • Required Vendor Estimates

14. Case Study

15. Jeff & Debbie Purvis Purvis Premier Calves Spencer, WI

16. Custom-raising Calves

17. #1 - Medicating Calves See page 3 in report • Job Task When a new group of calves is brought in, each calf must be given two shots on the first day. In the second week, they must be given a second shot, and during the third week, they must be dehorned and tested for disease. During the fifth week, they must be given another shot, and during the seventh week, they must be medicated by a nose spray. All of these medications are to keep herd health procedures in compliance with the contract for raising heifers. Mr. Farmer must be able to control the calves if he is to do these activities. To give the shots, he currently crawls into the pen, steps over the calf’s head, pushes the calf against the back of the pen, and gives the shot. He needs more control in order to dehorn the calves.

18. #1 Medicating Calves • Limitation Mr. Farmer must be able to control the calves if he is to do these activities. To give the shots, he currently crawls into the pen, steps over the calf’s head, pushes the calf against the back of the pen, and gives the shot. He needs more control in order to dehorn the calves.

19. #1 - Medicating Calves • Goal Mr. Farmer will be able to medicate and dehorn his calves. • Options Purchase a calf catch, a device that fits over the calf’s head and can be attached to a fence, holding the calf so it can’t pull away. Mr. Farmer would be able to control the calves for medication and release them after he has finished performing health care on them.

20. Calf Catcher

21. #2 - Feeding Beef Calves See page 4 in report • Job Task Currently Mr. Farmer is raising a separate group of Holstein steers to 1,000 pounds. Mr. Farmer purchased these outright. He has feed for these animals delivered in 50-pound bags, one ton at a time. Mr. Farmer must lift the 50-pound bags, dump the feed into a wheelbarrow, and push the wheelbarrow to the calves. Then he must scoop the feed from the wheelbarrow to feed the calves. • Limitation Lifting the 50-pound bags, dumping the feed into the wheelbarrow, and bending and stooping to scoop the feed are difficult and painful for Mr. Farmer.

22. #2 - Feeding Beef Calves • Goal Mr. Farmer will be able to feed his steers with less difficulty and pain. • Options • Replace the wheelbarrow with a seven-bushel Poly cart that has 24" air tires. These would bring the feed higher from the ground, reducing the bending required to lift and push the wheelbarrow as well as to scoop the feed.

23. #2 – Feeding Beef Calves • Purchase a hydraulic lift cart, which, through pumping with his foot, Mr. Farmer could use to raise the feedbags to the height of the cart. This would make it possible for Mr. Farmer to dump the bags without having to lift them.

24. “Final Stage” Feed Cart

25. #3 - Feeding Milk Replacer See page 5 in report • Job Task During the first one to five weeks he has new calves, Mr. Farmer must feed them milk replacer. Mr. Farmer is currently feeding one and a half 50-pound bags per feeding, two feedings per day, or three bags per day at 150 pounds total. This activity requires that 50-pound bags be moved from the place where they are stored to the mixing room, where they are dumped into the liquid mixer. The replacer is then mixed with water in the liquid mixer, and a hose is then attached to the bottom of the mixer. The milk is then transferred through a pump. Part of the mix goes through a hose to each calf. Mr. Farmer currently drags this hose to each calf pen, from one end of the 100-foot barn to the other.

26. #3 – Feeding Milk Replacer • Limitation Carrying a 50-pound bag and lifting it to dump into the mixer is something that Mr. Farmer cannot do; it must be done for him. Dragging the hose from the mixer to each calf is difficult for Mr. Farmer and stressful to his back. • Goal Mr. Farmer will be able to feed milk replacer to his calves.

27. #3 - Feeding Milk Replacer • Options It would be possible to use the hydraulic lift cart, recommended for moving the feedbags in Problem 2, to move the milk replacer from the place where it is stored to the room where it is mixed. Mr. Farmer could also use the hydraulic lift cart to transport the bags to the mixing room and lift them to the height of the mixer. He can then take them into the mixing room where he can cut the bags open and dump the replacer into the mixer, add the water, and mix.

28. #3 – Feeding Milk Replacer • We also talked about some options for feeding the milk in a way that would not require Mr. Farmer to drag a hose around. We discussed using a retractable hose, which could be attached to some kind of small utility vehicle in which Mr. Farmer could drive. Mr. Farmer is interested in a stainless steel reel hose because it would be easier to keep it sterile, and because he uses strong chemicals to clean his hoses and he feels the stainless steel would last longer. The vendor below is sole service because there is no manufactured product for this, as such, and this vendor was the only one willing to put together the pieces for this. Central Wisconsin Coop, Podevel’s, Bob’s Dairy, and Dairy Services Inc all said they could not do this.

29. #3 – Feeding Milk Replacer • We also discussed the possibility of mounting a steel tank on a utility vehicle if it were purchased. Mr. Farmer could drive to the location of the milk replacer, which could be dumped into the tank, then drive to the location of the water, which could be added to the tank. Mr. Farmer could complete the mixing and then drive on to feed each calf out of the tank. That tank could also be used for watering each calf. Such a tank would be large and heavy, and a system would be needed to move the tank on and off the utility vehicle. Or the vehicle could be used only for that purpose, which may not be practical.

30. #3 – Feeding Milk Replacer •  If the current stationery mixer is to be used, with the current system of mixing milk and pumping it, rather than a tank that can be moved on a vehicle, the current mixer could be lowered to about 36" so that the feed bags would not have to be lifted so high and it would not be so stressful for Mr. Farmer. He said that he could do this.

32. Hydraulic Lift Cart

33. Old Water Heater Modified Kawasaki Mule

34. #4 - Feeding Grain to Calves See page 7 in report • Job Task Mr. Farmer must individually feed grain and move milk replacer, and move bedding to each calf. • Limitation Because of Mr. Farmer’s limitations with his back, he cannot do any of these activities. • Goal Mr. Farmer will be able to feed and bed his calves.

35. #4 – Feeding Grain to Calves • Options Purchase a four-wheel drive Kawasaki Mule. Mr. Farmer needs the 4WD for both the weight capacity and the weight in the front end of the vehicle. Mr. Farmer has tried a John Deere Gator and he found it to be too wide to fit down the current aisles; the vehicle must be less than 4 feet wide, which the Mule is.

36. Kawasaki Mule

37. #5 - Clean Pens and Move Materials on the Farm • Job Task Mr. Farmer has a New Holland 140 skid loader on his farm, which he uses to clean the pens as well as to move straw and other materials on the farm. The capacity for this skid loader is 1800 pounds. See page 8 in report

38. #5 - Clean Pens and Move Materials on the Farm • Goal Mr. Farmer will be able to clean the pens, move straw, and other materials on the farm. • Options • Purchase a 44" pallet fork, which would attach to the skid loader. The skid loader is equipped with a quick attach system, so that fork would need to be compatible with the quick attach. • Explore adding a suspension under the current seat.

39. Fork on Skid Steer

40. #6 - Bringing New Calvesinto the Facility See page 9 in report • Job Task Mr. Farmer brings in 160 new calves at a time, and each calf must be moved off the truck, into the facility, and into an individual pen. • Limitation Moving and walking these calves from the truck to the pens is very stressful and difficult for Mr. Farmer. Often members of the family or others must be recruited to help with this process.

41. #6 - Bringing New Calvesinto the Facility • Goal Mr. Farmer will be able to move new calves off the truck and into their individual pens. • Options Purchase an enclosed calf cart, into which the calf can be moved directly from the truck and in which the calf can be moved to the individual calf pen; at the pen, the calf cart can be opened and the calf can walk into the pen. This eliminates the need to push and pull the calves when he needs to move them.

42. Calf Cart

43. #7 - Performing Herd Health Tasks on Larger Beef Calves See page 9 in report • Job Task The beef calves that Mr. Farmer finishes for himself are over 1,000 pounds when he sells them. He needs to do medical work on these calves as well as castration and dehorning. As the calves get older and larger, Mr. Farmer needs to be able to restrain them so that they cannot jerk or move suddenly, which could pose a secondary risk of injury for Mr. Farmer. • Limitation Because of limitations to Mr.. Farmer’s back, he cannot hold his large calves for performing herd health. • Goal Mr. Farmer will be able to perform herd health on his larger calves.

44. #7 - Performing Herd Health Tasks on Larger Beef Calves • Options Purchase a headlock squeeze chute, which Mr. Farmer would keep on the farm. If the chute were mobile Mr. Farmer could move it from pen to pen, or wherever else he needed it, set it up, and move the cattle one by one into the chute. With the headlock, Mr. Farmer could restrain the cattle from moving in and out, and with the squeeze chute, Mr. Farmer could move the sides together around the calf, protecting himself from being kicked, and making it impossible for the calf to jerk or move while he is medicating, castrating, or dehorning it. Because Mr. Farmer would be working on varying sizes of cattle – anywhere from 400 pounds to 1200 pounds – the squeeze chute should be able to make it possible for him to work with varying sizes with one chute. Mr. Farmer has a For-most headlock, and the vendor below sells all parts for For-most. So he can get a chute that would attach to Mr. Farmer’s headgate.

45. #7 – Performing Herd Health Tasks on Larger Beef Cattle • Because Mr. Farmer is selling on contract he also has to weigh his cattle as well as corral and house them. If a model of headlock squeeze chute were purchased that included a scale on it, it would eliminate the need to handle the cattle a second time, reducing the stress and pain in his back associated with these activities. Therefore, I recommend a headlock squeeze chute with a scale, and I recommend that this be mobile so that Mr. Farmer can use it wherever he needs it. • The vendor from Buetsch Implement can also supply load-bars for the scale, and the scale itself. Mr. Farmer said that he could put the load bars on for the scale. There is a portable chute for $1,635.00. This vendor also suggested moving the chute with the pallet fork recommended in problem 5 above. Mr. Farmer felt that this would work for him.

46. Squeeze Chute

47. #8 - Moving Calves to Larger Pens • Job Task When the calves get older, Mr. Farmer moves them from 4 x 4 cubicles to larger pens that hold groups of calves. Mr. Farmer must move panels for each pen to effect this change. • Limitation Mr. Farmer cannot move these panels and must rely on others to perform this task. See page 12 in report

48. #8 - Moving Calves to Larger Pens • Goal Mr. Farmer will be able to move the panels independently to change his calves’ housing as they mature. • Options • Fabricate and install plastic dividers with a hinge system. When the time comes to move the calves into larger pens, Mr. Farmer would simply open the panels against the wall, making a larger pen for a group of calves. • There are no other vendors who sell these dividers already cut to size, and so this is offered as a sole source.

49. The “Nursery”

50. Calf Hutches Housed here for 7 weeks