Lift Keeps Injured Dairyman Farming
Before he finished therapy from a 2003 vehicle accident that left him paralyzed from the chest down, Duane Pung designed a hydraulic lift to get him back up into a tractor. He gave the design to Jerry Mayer of Mayer's Repair so the lift would be ready for him to go back to farming 400 acres and caring for 150 dairy cows.
The 54-year-old Freeport, Minn., dairyman has farmed since he was a teen and was experienced at fabricating equipment. For example, he built a cattle trailer when he was a high school senior and later built his farm's stainless steel milking parlor. A doctor's comment that, "Your farming days are over" wasn't going to stop him.
"I said æI've already farmed 24 years, I will survive this too,'" Pung recalls. Classified a C-6 quadriplegic, he regained a 14-lb. grip in his hands after tendon surgery - enough for him to drive.
Pung's lift cost $12,000, but is invaluable for giving him access to tractors and other equipment. He has an Amish-built canvas sling that slips into his power wheelchair before he gets in it. When he's ready to go to work for the day, he takes his chair to the lift and attaches the sling loops to hooks on the boom. A helper then operates the hydraulic lift to raise him up to the cab.
"At first I wanted it to be remote control," Pung says, so he could operate it by himself. "Then I thought that if something goes wrong I'd be all alone."
The boom mounts on a trailer and is made of 4 by 4-in. tubing. An electric-over-hydraulic pump and three 4-in., 15-in. stroke hydraulic cylinders provide plenty of lifting power and extends the boom up to 4 ft. to get Pung next to the tractor or skidsteer seat.
"The cylinders are large and have restrictors in the line so they go slow," Pung says. "The lift goes high enough that I can almost change the light bulb in the yard pole."
Tractors have been modified with 3/4-in. tubing on the clutch and brake so they can be hand-operated. His newer Caterpillar skidsteer with hand controls didn't require any modifications. Pung has a remote control unit to operate the manure pump.
"The lift is plugged in all summer long," Pung says. "We have just one part-time guy. I can do all the fieldwork. My 14-year-old son follows me with a wrench, and my 16-year-old takes care of the cows."
With ingenuity, determination and plain hard work, the family is proving that the doctor was wrong, and Pung's farming days are long from being over.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Randy Pung, 228 Seventh Ave. N.E., Freeport, Minn. 56331 (ph 320 836-2435).
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Lift Keeps Injured Dairyman Farming DAIRY EQUIPMENT & IDEAS Dairy Equipment & Ideas 34-1-17 Before he finished therapy from a 2003 vehicle accident that left him paralyzed from the chest down, Duane Pung designed a hydraulic lift to get him back up into a tractor. He gave the design to Jerry Mayer of Mayer's Repair so the lift would be ready for him to go back to farming 400 acres and caring for 150 dairy cows.
The 54-year-old Freeport, Minn., dairyman has farmed since he was a teen and was experienced at fabricating equipment. For example, he built a cattle trailer when he was a high school senior and later built his farm's stainless steel milking parlor. A doctor's comment that, "Your farming days are over" wasn't going to stop him.
"I said æI've already farmed 24 years, I will survive this too,'" Pung recalls. Classified a C-6 quadriplegic, he regained a 14-lb. grip in his hands after tendon surgery - enough for him to drive.
Pung's lift cost $12,000, but is invaluable for giving him access to tractors and other equipment. He has an Amish-built canvas sling that slips into his power wheelchair before he gets in it. When he's ready to go to work for the day, he takes his chair to the lift and attaches the sling loops to hooks on the boom. A helper then operates the hydraulic lift to raise him up to the cab.
"At first I wanted it to be remote control," Pung says, so he could operate it by himself. "Then I thought that if something goes wrong I'd be all alone."
The boom mounts on a trailer and is made of 4 by 4-in. tubing. An electric-over-hydraulic pump and three 4-in., 15-in. stroke hydraulic cylinders provide plenty of lifting power and extends the boom up to 4 ft. to get Pung next to the tractor or skidsteer seat.
"The cylinders are large and have restrictors in the line so they go slow," Pung says. "The lift goes high enough that I can almost change the light bulb in the yard pole."
Tractors have been modified with 3/4-in. tubing on the clutch and brake so they can be hand-operated. His newer Caterpillar skidsteer with hand controls didn't require any modifications. Pung has a remote control unit to operate the manure pump.
"The lift is plugged in all summer long," Pung says. "We have just one part-time guy. I can do all the fieldwork. My 14-year-old son follows me with a wrench, and my 16-year-old takes care of the cows."
With ingenuity, determination and plain hard work, the family is proving that the doctor was wrong, and Pung's farming days are long from being over.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Randy Pung, 228 Seventh Ave. N.E., Freeport, Minn. 56331 (ph 320 836-2435).
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