It’s a farm friendship as unlikely and fruitful as Charlotte the spider and Wilbur the pig – sheep and solar panels. Solar array projects are popping up around Wisconsin, and some enterprising farmers have figured out a second use for the land where the solar panels are installed – as grazing land for sheep.
Why Sheep?
“This Ain’t Your Granddad’s Sheep Farm” boasts the website for Fitchburg’s Wiscovery Farm, which provides sheep to graze at Tyto Solar, the 31.5-acre Madison Gas and Electric solar project that went online in February.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” owner Beau Stafford said. “The sheep love it.”
It’s the first Dane County solar project that employs sheep to graze between the panels, and it’s a win-win scenario. Sheep clear away vegetation that might grow to obstruct the panel in spots that machinery can’t reach, while the panels provide shelter and shade (and a steady supply of snacks) for their wooly partners.
Great Grazing
Alliant Energy cited a preliminary study that found sheep with access to solar panels grazed more, and for longer periods of time, than those grazing on native ranges. And researchers found that grazing improves soil quality that can help plant productivity down the road.
Wisconsin and Iowa are relatively new to the sheep/solar partnerships. The American Solar Grazing Association estimates that 80,000 sheep are currently grazing at 500 solar projects in 27 states.
Get Your Goat
Sheep and goats are becoming increasingly popular as an environmentally-friendly way to clear vegetation. eliminating the need for herbicides or heavy equipment. The Madison Parks Department uses goats in fenced-in parks to clear away plants like buckthorn, honeysuckle and box elders – and even toxic plants like poison ivy (which don’t bother the goats). As an added bonus, my dogs absolutely go wild when the goats arrive to clean up our local dog park.
