Sheep wander the 46 acres at the Grand Island Utilities Department’s solar farm on Museum Drive. Grazing by the 75 ewes and two rams keeps down vegetation, making mowing unnecessary.
The solar farm owned by Grand Island Utilities sits on 46 acres just north of the JBS plant.
Sheep wander the 46 acres at the Grand Island Utilities Department’s solar farm on Museum Drive. Grazing by the 75 ewes and two rams keeps down vegetation, making mowing unnecessary.
Sheep wander the 46 acres at the Grand Island Utilities Department’s solar farm on Museum Drive. Grazing by the 75 ewes and two rams keeps down vegetation, making mowing unnecessary.
The solar farm owned by Grand Island Utilities sits on 46 acres just north of the JBS plant.
GRAND ISLAND — There’s one thing you can say about the new lawn-mowing crew at Grand Island’s solar farm.
They’re sure not baaashful. They jump into their work with all four feet — or rather, hooves.
The Grand Island Utilities Department has hired 75 ewes and two rams to keep down the vegetation at the 9.9-megawatt solar farm on Museum Drive just north of JBS.
Production engineer Jayson Rezek isn’t the least bit sheepish when talking about it.
“We have quite the amount of tall grass,” Rezek said. “In previous years, we have mowed it … but it is 46 acres, so it does take quite a bit of effort to get out here and get all 46 acres mowed continuously.”
“I was a little concerned about them finding the water at first with as much forage as there is out here,” shepherd Garrett Didier said. “So, I made sure they found the water.”
The solar farm has been in operation since December 2024, and surprisingly, the sheep do a better job than any mechanical mower ever cud — that is, could.
“The sheep are able to graze the grass and forbs out of here without us having to run equipment almost nonstop,” Rezek said.
Getting between the rows of panels doesn’t present a problem for the woolly wonders.
“It’s actually quite a bit safer to have the sheep out here,” he said. “The sheep aren’t going to throw rocks with high-velocity spinning blades.”
Before city watchdogs, or sheepdogs, begin barking, the sheep aren’t drawing city benefits because they’re not, strictly speaking, employees. It’s more of a contract arrangement.
“This land, before it became a solar field, was irrigated cropland that previously grew corn that we had leased out,” Rezek said. “We just leased the ground out to Garrett at a rate, and he and the sheep are able to come out here and graze for a season.”
Didier first heard about the opportunity late last summer.
“Last year, we weren’t able to make anything happen,” the shepherd said. “This year, the opportunity came about again, and I thought, why not try it out?”
After ruminating a bit, he has concluded that the ruminants are doing rather well.
“I kind of expected the ewes to thin up a bit, you know, being on some lush grass, and they haven’t. They look good,” Didier said. “I would say it’s going pretty well.”
“Sheep grazing in a solar field is actually a pretty standard industry practice,” Rezek said. “People have started to realize you can get the benefits of agriculture and generation at the same site.”
It’s called “solar grazing.” By grazing beneath and around the solar panels, sheep help maintain appropriate vegetation heights, reduce fuel consumption and emissions associated with mowing equipment and support sustainable land management.
While Grand Island Utilities can count on sheep rather than counting them, the arrangement benefits Didier and his flock as well.
“This is a huge savings of time and money. I’m not having to grain them every day, and I’m not having to go out early in the morning and do chores,” he said. “I’m able to turn these out and not worry about them.”
“A lot of the people out at the power plant and a lot of the city employees I work with knew that this was coming, and they were excited to see the sheep move in out here,” Rezek said. “So, I’m sure we’re going to get some people coming to check them out.”
Didier said the sheep likely would be at the solar farm through August or September before they take it on the lam(b).
“It all depends on what kind of forage is out here,” he said. “It’s a win-win situation for both of us, the city and myself, and I plan on moving forward in the future years.”
“I’d love to see them out here grazing every year,” Rezek said.
So, not baad. Not baad at all.
FREMONT — Cuming County 4-H members had another successful year exhibiting their static and livestock exhibits at the 96th annual Fremont 4-H Expo on July 8-11 at Christensen Field in Fremont.
Webinar planned
Warm weather has returned, bringing the risk of heat stress in livestock. Cattle in feedlots or other confinement settings are often at greatest risk, especially those near finished weight.
WeatherThreat.com Closings
Listed below is the 24-hour rainfall in inches as of 7 a.m. Friday in area communities.
Several communities across Northeast Nebraska received between 1 and 2 inches of rain Thursday — including Norfolk, which recorded 1.9 inches …
The auto body restoration class has been a staple of Northeast Community College for around two decades.
Northeast Community College will celebrate the grand opening and ribbon cutting of the iHub on Tuesday, Aug. 11.
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