A crucial aspect of the assistance from AAW is the on-site farm assessment. In addition to Allen’s suggestions during the farm assessment, she and Schmidt brainstormed other assistive technology solutions that would allow him to complete his day-to-day activities, and that were best suited to his operation and disability.

Since Schmidt suffered nerve and muscle damage in his hand and foot, repetitive shoveling and walking created extreme difficulty for him. To feed cattle, Allen suggested a powered feed cart as well as a grain bin to move feed from storage on the second floor to a cart. In the past it would take about twenty wheelbarrow loads a day to feed cattle. The powered feed cart and grain bin lessened the need for Schmidt to continuously shovel grain and silage twice a day to feed cattle and reduced loads to two to three feed carts per day. With the grain bin in place, Schmidt opened up the previous storage area for heifer feed which only required handling every few days. 

After discussing the possibility of a bedding chopper to reduce handling bales, Schmidt and Allen decided on cow mats to bring straw handling to a minimum. This would also eliminate dust and create a stable surface for Schmidt to stand while milking. Spreading lime in the barn was a constant difficulty for Schmidt, so Allen suggested a barn limer to eliminate the need to spread the lime by hand.

Due to the weakness in his hand and the potential secondary injuries created in Schmidt’s other arm, an alternative solution to handling the milking units was addressed by Allen. The final solution was a track system installed throughout the barn so that the units are attached to the track in the milk house and not removed again until the units are cleaned. This system, coupled with the automatic takeoffs previously owned by Schmidt, minimized his lifting and allowed him to move the units between cows and around the barn by merely pushing the unit along the track.

AAW and the FARM program address a farmer’s current injuries and also look to prevent secondary injuries. In Schmidt’s case, a few simple modifications allowed him to complete daily tasks without causing further physical harm to himself. For instance, the vibrations from operating the skid loader caused irritation to Schmidt’s hand. By simply adding foam rubber hand grips to the handles of Schmidt’s skid loader, the vibrations were reduced. Additional steps were added to the tractors, and two drive-through gates were added on the farm to reduce the number of times he would dismount from the tractors to access the pastures.

Schmidt admitted that after his first meeting with Allen he was skeptical and did not expect anything to come from it. He was astonished and pleased with the help and follow-through of the AAW, FARM and DVR staff.

"It’s been a godsend. I don’t think we’d be doing this anymore if we didn’t have this [AAW]," Schmidt explained.

Thanks to the assistive technology suggested by AAW and FARM and purchased by DVR, Schmidt plans to be milking for many years to come.