Seven years ago, Chris Moore and Lyndsey Smith decided they needed more acres if they were going run a viable sheep farm.
But rather than buy land, the partners opted to try their hand at solar grazing their Shady Creek Lamb flock at a solar power installation near their Kinburn, Ont., home farm.
What started as an idea to find extra grazing for their sheep has turned into a new direction and focus for the farm. Starting with a successful pilot project in the fall of 2017, Shady Creek now partners with a local solar power installation to provide the site maintenance - replacing mechanical mowing and herbicide use with natural grass removal through sheep grazing.
On this episode of Profitable Practices on RealAgriculture, Moore and Smith share how they've restructured their production system based on the availability of pasture at solar installations.
"Solar grazing is an interesting way to feed sheep for sure in that we are actually paid to graze a solar site," says Smith. "So instead of using tractors and mowers, our sheep are employed to clear out the vegetation underneath and in front of the panels. It really was a way to expand our land base without having to take on the debt of buying land, or potentially even trying to rent land for hay ground."
After the pilot project, the sheep went to work full time under the solar panels on a 200-acre site the following year. Moore says Shady Creek now grazes almost 1,000 acres. In the video, we catch up with the partners at a 200-acre solar site where 450 ewes with their lambs graze under the solar panels before the watchful eyes of livestock guardian dogs.
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