AgrAbility Project Keeps Kempers In Farming UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre Co.) The AgrAbility Project, a joint effort of Penn State Coopera tive Extension and the Easter Seal seat with a mirror. The One Spreader Rugged Enough For lime, Precise Enough For Fertilizer. You know how tough it is to spread wet lime. And fertilizer is too expensive to waste. Our new 56i spreader does both jobs with ease. Plus, it has no equal when it comes to spreading “sloppy” material. Stoltzfus Spreaders have been known as unique, “top-of-the-line” ag spreaders since 1947. • Press-wheel ground drive • Walking-beam suspension • Corrosion-proof steel hopper 1-800-843-8731 • UHMWplastic floor • Lime: 3 tons / acre max. Fertilizer: 125 lbs. / acre min. Society of Central Pennsylvania, is helping fanners with disabilities to remain active in fanning. David and Marina Kemper of STOLTZFUS Morgan Way, P.O. Box 527, Morgantown, PA 19543 rural Huntingdon had a dream that David would retire from his job as traveling salesman in 1997 and take up dairy farming full time. They purchased a 77-acre farm and got their dairy herd started. Their oldest son, Gabriel, planned to help with the operation. Their dream almost ended in May 199 S when David was rear-ended while on the road for his sales job. The accident left him with severe chronic pain, degenerative bone disease, and nerve damage. Spe cialists told him he eventually would be in a wheelchair. For a while, it seemed the dairy operation would have to be sold. Their son took a job off the farm. But the Kempers were determined to keep trying. “I really wanted to milk my cows,” Kemper said. “I had a herd of heifers that were ready to milk soon and I made up my mind that I would crawl on this farm if that’s what it came to.” He didn’t have to crawl. In stead, he now sits upright in his tractor long enough to do a fair amount of work, thanks to a spe cial shock-absorbing tractor seat His regular seat brought unbear able pain within minutes. He also has a special rear-view mirror that Farmers are still using Stoltzfus Spreaders they’ve had 20 years or more. That means your investment in a versatile Stoltzfus Spreader will add up to a very smart buy indeed. Call or write today for a free brochure and the name of the dealer nearest you. Lancaster Farming, helps him maneuver without pain, and a skid loader that enables him to feed his livestock. The Kempers learned about this equipment through the AgrAbility Project, managed in Pennsylvania by Penn State Cooperative Exten sion and the Easter Seal Society of Central Pennsylvania, a subsidiary of Home Nursing Agency. The Pennsylvania project is part of a national information and tech nology network for fanners, farm workers and family members who are continuing to farm despite on going physical or medical difficul ties. The Kempers discovered the project when attending a farm stress management workshop sponsored by Penn State Coopera tive Extension in Huntingdon County. David’s physicians at the Hershey Medical Center asked him to attend a stress class to help cope with his accident-related in juries. “At the workshop, extension staff asked Marina if I would be interested in the AgrAbility Pro ject,” Kemper explained, “I said I LIQUID MANURE SPREADER Saturday, November 16, 1996-115 didn’t want any help, but Marina said, ‘Yes.’ £he knows I’m a hard case.” Douglas Schaufler, AgrAbility project manager at Penn State, vis ited them a few days later, ex plained the program and left a book filled with examples of de vices that have helped others re main in farming. Kemper selected a few items he thought would help. Schaufler contacted the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, which provided the funding for the equipment. Schaufler also recommended ad ditional changes in his operations, such as moving milk by pipeline instead of in pails and round-bal ing hay for easier transportation. “I’m so grateful that my wile told them to come. If it were up to me, I would have never asked for help. My farm would have been sold and my life’s dream would have been down the drain.” For more information about the AgrAbility for Pennsylvanians project, contact Linda Fetzer at the Easter Seals office in State Col lege (814) 238-4434 (voice and TDD access), or Doug Schaufler at Penn State, (814) 863-7868.
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