Bo-Irish Farms

Mary Housner and her husband, Gary, have been running their dairy operation, Bo-Irish Farms, for a dozen years. Mary has always been very active in the operation, which is located just outside Elroy. She does some of the milkings, takes care of the young stock and handles all of the feeding. But the increasing pain Mary was experiencing from degenerative disc disease and fibromyalgia was severely affecting her ability to complete those tasks.

"I would push myself to try to get the work done,” says Mary, "and would end up being unable to do anything at all for weeks." Ultimately, everything fell into Gary’s hands‚ which made his own back problems worse. "We had no idea how to fix the situation we were in."

The family’s banker told her about AgrAbility of Wisconsin and she was encouraged to contact the program to find out what help and advice they might be able to provide. After speaking to AgrAbility staff, Housner met with a Rural Rehabilitation Specialist from the Easter Seals FARM Program. “I always thought about Easter Seals as helping children with disabilities. I didn’t know they could also help a farmer in rural Wisconsin,” said Mary. The specialist visited the farm several times to walk through the operation with Housner. “When he visited the farm and saw what the problems were, he knew exactly what we needed and how to make it work.” Mary said. The specialist suggested installing a TMR mixer and using new grain and silage carts to ease the burden on Mary’s back.

After receiving the recommendations from the Rural Rehabilitation Specialist, the Housners met with a counselor from the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) who helped them attain financial assistance to purchase the recommended equipment.

“I pinch myself every time I come out here because I can’t believe it really did happen‚ they really came through for me,” Mary said. “The mixer allows me to keep up with my share of the chores, and it does such a great job that the cows are producing more than ever. The process did take some time, but I would tell any farmer to follow the program through. Never give up hope, it really does happen.”

Thanks to the changes suggested and made possible through Easter Seals and DVR, Mary is confident that she will be farming well into the future.

Before getting advice from the Easter Seals FARM Program, Mary was scooping feed by hand into carts (left photo). With a sore back, it could only be done in small batches, which was time-consuming and painful. The TMR mixer (right) and carts eliminate the need to bend over or lift heavy loads.