Actually the old windmills pumped water into ponds, or storage tanks. They didn’t generate electricity. They aren’t consistent enough or capable of being relied on for that, even today.
the wind turned the shaft that turned the diaphragm thingy and water got sucked up or something I thought ..
I agree you need a lot of wind for consistent energy to do muhc with but in some spots it fits well with the lay of the land and did years ago.
They did both; some were used to power a generator to charge batteries for DC systems on the farm; the majority were for pumping water. Wincharger/Winco was probably the best known