Released June 24, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- For a special group of graduating Penn State engineering students, a spring 2010 capstone project involved something unexpected -- a 500-pound plastic horse. Davis Hill, director of Penn State Cooperative Extension's Managing Agricultural Emergencies program, came up with the idea to prepare for dealing with farm crises involving real livestock.
"I needed them to create an engineering model that would help emergency responders help livestock animals in need," explained Hill, a senior extension associate in agricultural and biological engineering.
"It is very difficult to help a large animal that has fallen into a hole or is otherwise unreachable," he said. "The animal is scared and will hurt anyone who tries to go down there to help it. Developing a lifting system is good for the animal and the person trying to help as well."
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