When range open pastureland , cattle can take the air up to eight hours a day while grazing but they ca n’t always get as much exercise when confined to a barnyard . One enterprising farmer , however , has invented an ingenious way of getting his herd mooving — and generate a routine of free electrical energy on the side .
On his farm in Northern Ireland , William Taylor built the contraption above and dubbed it “ the Livestock Power Mill . ” It ’s an unpowered tread-wheel limit on a steep enough incline that the cow has to keep walking lest she be dumped out the back end of it . There is also a provender bag mounted to the uphill side for encouragement .
The salt mine ’s legal action spin an axle that in turn spins a gearbox to drive a 2 kW author . The single - cow prototype was reportedly powerful enough to turn tail four milking machines . Were the entire 1.3 billion cattle on Earth to walk on these machines for eight hours a day , Taylor figured , they could bring about six percent of the world ’s power .
unluckily , this prototype made its launching way back in 2010 and there has n’t been a peep about it in the four years since . [ PopSci – Inhabitat ]
lead prototype : William Taylor viaPopular Science
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