permaculture

["Kate Halstead" <rockyprairie@earthlink.net>]

<snip> Trouble with horses and mules is, they're picky eaters. We need
something with more possible inputs. Now, if we could power something like
this with pigs, with goats <snip>

This made me think of something my great-grandmother used to speak of: a
dog-powered butter churn they used when she was a child (late 1880s eastern
Canada).

The dog was put in a harness to keep them in place, with food put just out
of reach. The faster they ran to get the food, the faster the butter was
churned via treadmill and belt-drive. I understand some folks trained goats
or sheep to do the same thing. You could adapt them to run grinding stones
and other belt-driven devices as well.

Here's a picture of one I found online:
http://collections.ic.gc.ca/cummingers/hi/general/butterchurn.html And
here's another version:
http://www.ebclink.com/SHM/Archive/March/030802.shtml Perhaps something
similar would be of use.

Kate