Jambo & Jagannath working with the new capstan April 24, 2024 – Posted in: R&D

A groundbreaking achievement for the Ahimsa team of both oxen and ox-trainers. With the help of John Turner – engineer extraordinaire at the farm in Little Bytham, we recently ran the first trial of our new capstan.

A capstan is a broad revolving cylinder with a vertical axis used for winding a rope or cable, powered by a motor or pushed round by draft animals.

When animal power was the primary source of farm power in Europe and the United States, animal-driven gear powers were a popular means of generating circular or shaft power for stationary machines. Today, some villages in India and Central America still use ox-driven capstans for low-cost, simply-maintained power for dehulling and grinding grains to produce flour.

Now that our oxen Jambo and Jagannath trialled our new capstan, we are in search for a suitable milling machine for milling our emmer grains (planted earlier in the year) into flour for bread making. Emmer is high in protein content and has a low gluten content compared to modern wheat varieties.