This device combines the inventions of the barrel churn with an animal-powered wheel. While the exact year this particular device was made is unclear, it is based on a design developed in the late-nineteenth century. The animal-powered wheel was used to power everything from sewing machines to bicycles to washing machines. While dogs were the most frequently-used animal for this task, sheep were also sometimes used as a cheap and reliable alternative.
The idea of using animal power to perform the repetitive task of churning butter dates back to the early nineteenth-century. Early designs used a treadmill rather than a wheel. While the dog-powered barrel churn was reasonably popular among small farmers, it was ultimately eclipsed by other technological advances that industrialized the dairy industry beginning in the 1860s.