Extension & Outreach

The names of manufacturers of American windmills—Star, Halladay, Dempster, Challenge, to name a few—once rang like poetry in the ears of many a farmer and rancher. But after low-priced electricity arrived at rural ranches and farms, most manufacturers stopped making windmills. By the 1940s most users of windmills had abandoned them in favor of electric motors that allowed water to be pumped out of the ground at greater volumes.

Many farmers and ranchers continue to rely on windmills to supply water to livestock in remote areas and this small demand has allowed some companies, such as Aermotor, to continue to manufacture windmills.

As the cost of electricity continues to rise and more attention is being paid to sustainable resources and agriculture, interest is reviving in wind-powered water pumping mills and in windmills designed to generate electricity.

At NMSU, where windmills have been used on campus since at least 1892, repair courses and workshops are offered through the Department of Agricultural and Extension Education.

Carlos Rosencrans and Craig Runyan in that department have, for years, taught students from across the nation the nuts and bolts of owning and maintaining a water windmill from setting the tower and fan to rebuilding the pump motors. The windmill technology certification workshop instructs students in wind energy potential for the farm and ranch. The course includes system selection, installation, wellhead protection, and repair and maintenance of water pumping windmills.

Windmill repair and related courses provide inhabitants of rural areas – such as the Navajo reservation in New Mexico, Arizona and Utah where there are more than 900 windmills in use – with the ability to make all the repairs and perform the upkeep necessary to keep these machines running to pump water for livestock, and in some cases for domestic water supplies.