U.S. solar sites host 1-in-50 sheep

The American Solar Grazing Association’s first U.S. census of the practice put a hard number on a niche that has been growing mostly by word of mouth: as of October 2024, about 113,050 sheep were grazing 129,000 acres across more than 500 solar sites in the United States. USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service said the country had 5.05 million sheep and lambs on January 1, 2025. Put together, those figures imply that roughly one in 50 U.S. sheep is now spending at least part of the year under solar panels. That ratio is striking because solar grazing is still a specialized corner of both industries. The setup is simple: solar operators need vegetation kept low so panels are not shaded, and sheep can do that work in places where mowers, string trimmers and herbicides would otherwise be used. ASGA describes the model as local sheep farmers bringing animals to solar sites to manage vegetation under and around arrays. (solargrazing.org) ### Why sheep, and not cattle or goats? Sheep fit the hardware. Solar arrays are typically low enough that cattle are impractical, while goats are more likely to climb, chew or test fencing and wiring, according to solar-grazing guidance collected by ASGA and state energy agencies cited on its site. Sheep are small enough to move through rows of panels and can graze forage without damaging equipment when sites are designed and managed for livestock access. (solargrazing.org) NYSERDA guidance listed by ASGA frames this as a “grazing-ready” design question rather than a novelty. Panel height, row spacing, gates, water access and fencing all affect whether a site can be grazed efficiently, and those details determine whether a shepherd can treat the site as working pasture instead of a one-off contract. ### Where does the “dual land use” benefit actually show up? (solargrazing.org) Vegetation management is the clearest operational benefit. ASGA’s economics fact sheet says unchecked growth can shade panels and interfere with generation, while solar grazing can substitute for some mechanical or chemical vegetation control. A 2026 budget study posted by ASGA says photovoltaic operators may save on operations and maintenance by grazing forage under panels rather than relying entirely on mowing or herbicides. (solargrazing.org) The farm-side benefit is income and access to land. ASGA says solar companies contract with local sheep farmers for vegetation management, creating a service market alongside conventional lamb or wool production. ASGA has also said the relatively low startup cost of sheep farming can make the model accessible to young, beginning and first-generation farmers, particularly where open pasture is expensive or hard to secure. (solargrazing.org) ### How big is the business now? ASGA’s census says the practice had already reached more than 500 sites and about 129,000 acres by October 2024. That is a much larger footprint than earlier public maps suggested: ASGA’s 2023 economics fact sheet, citing NREL mapping, referred to 64 installations covering 24,500 acres and 3,200 megawatts. The industry group says those numbers are still climbing. (solargrazing.org) In a later update, ASGA said solar grazing had grown to about 130,000 acres with more than 110,000 sheep, and it tied that growth to a broader buildout of utility-scale solar. ### What could slow it down? The sheep supply is one constraint. USDA’s January 2025 inventory showed only a slight increase in the national flock, to 5.05 million head, while ASGA has flagged a geographic mismatch between where many sheep are raised and where solar development is expanding fastest. (solargrazing.org) In an ASGA webinar summary, Ohio State University researcher Brady Campbell said regional differences in forage, weather and production calendars can complicate grazing contracts, adding that “vegetation management certainly does not equal animal performance.” (solargrazing.org) Site design is another limit. ASGA’s census and research pages say some projects are easy to graze and others are not, depending on fencing, water, terrain and the way arrays were built in the first place. ### What should people watch next? ASGA’s public census page and solar grazing map are now the main public trackers of the sector’s scale, locations and participating graziers. (esmis.nal.usda.gov) The group says its map uses the latest available EIA solar-site data and that developers can list agrivoltaics projects there, while its census report remains the clearest published benchmark for how many sheep, acres and sites are involved. (solargrazing.org 1) (solargrazing.org 2)