Goat Treadmill

General

In my opinion rural development can only be sustainable if locally available resources and technologies are used. The pump should be built with appropriate technology so the farmers who use them are familiar with its functioning and are able to fix it.

I have designed this pump so that the material input and the use of industrial tools is minimal. It can be built in any small workshop and most of the parts can be found at a junk yard.

Functioning

This device is a portable treadmill with an inclined surface on which a goat is moving upwards constantly. It creates motion and a pump can be operated.

The scale can be matched to the availability of animals so the treadmill can be built for mules or donkeys too to achieve more pumping performance.

Animal Labour

Working animal are used in agriculture for centuries because it was the only available source of power. However during the design I had concerns about the well-being of the goat on this machine and I want to ask the community here about their opinion. The treadmill would definitely force the animals to work and limit their freedom, but in my opinion an few hours on a treadmill is not so bad compared to industrial farming and what it does to billions of animals.

Salination

Also I would like to mention, that the delivery of water to the plants should not get out of focus in this project. Soil salinity is an increasing problem in regions with heat where agricultural areas are being irrigated. In Bihar it is not a problem yet, but it could evolve and create a lasting damage to the soils and reduce soil fertility.