A new front in the battle for sustainable energy is opening on the pastures of the Badger State.
by Chuck Quirmbach
News Features
Oct. 05, 2026
10:19 a.m.
Photo by Frederick Doerschem – Getty Images
Sheep grazing amongst solar panels at a solar farm.
This esteemed publication, as you may know, uses a line from Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg, as inspiration for part of its name: “Holy the crazy shepherds of rebellion!”
So, it makes perfect sense to report in this space that some Wisconsin sheep farmers are helping rebel against the use of climate-warming, carbon-based fuels such as coal and natural gas, to power homes and businesses.
These shepherds are helping solar power, by using their flock to graze vegetation around and under, ground-installed solar panels. The goal is to try to keep the panels from being in shade and operating as close as possible to peak efficiency.
It’s called solar grazing, part of a practice called agrivoltaics-—using land for both solar energy and agriculture. The practice pushes back against the notion that large solar farms take farmland out of production.
In Fitchburg, five miles south of the State Capitol, Wiscovery Farms co-owner Beau Stafford uses about 75 immature sheep, or lambs, to control vegetation at three solar sites operated by the utility MG&E, on property the Madison-based company leases from other local farmers.
As the lambs quietly munched grasses, legumes, forbs and other vegetation at the 27-acre MG&E Strix site, Stafford told the Shepherd Express that “They’ll eat everything except thistle—they’re not really pleased about it—and pokeweed, which is actually poisonous to them.” (Pokeweed is also largely poisonous to humans.)
Stafford says the lambs will graze day and night, during a growing season of mid-April through October. Fencing around the solar farms protects the animals from predators.
In 2019, Stafford and his wife bought their nearby 56-acre organic farm, where they produce compost, hay and now, the meats lamb and mutton. A few years ago, the couple met with OneEnergy Renewables, a Seattle-based solar developer that has about 30 large Wisconsin sites in its portfolio, including the Silver Lake project in Kenosha County. OneEnergy was developing sites in Fitchburg.
Stafford liked the company’s pitch about solar grazing and began acquiring sheep. There were start-up costs, and there is upkeep such veterinary services and occasionally feeding grain to the animals. Importantly, Stafford acknowledges there is still a bit of mowing and herbicide use on portions of the three sites, but he hopes to nearly phase that out within a couple years.
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Stafford says he’s happy with the arrangement. “It’s a big boon for us, and I think especially for younger farmers interested in producing sheep.” Stafford practices solar grazing on 109 acres. He has bids in to expand to about 400 more acres. 
MG&E acknowledges it has other solar farm sites, including at the Dane County Regional Airport, where sheep are not used. It says those other sites were established with “seed mixes to promote pollinators such as native bees and butterflies and may not be optimal for solar grazing.” The utility says that still qualifies as agrivoltaics.
Alliant Energy, which serves part of southern Wisconsin, says it has solar grazing at a small solar farm in Fond du Lac County and a much larger one in Grant County. 
Corporate environmental manager Bill Skalitzky says when vegetation around solar panels gets too high, it can reduce the panels’ efficiency by 5-10%. Plus, he says wires connected to the panels, which slowly move as Earth rotates around the sun, can get caught in thick vegetation. 
Skalitzky says Alliant’s goal is to “constantly expand” the use of solar grazing, especially where on a price per acre basis, sheep are cheaper to use than a lot of mowers. Plus, he says, compared to using gas-powered mowers, sheep, while producing manure, can still have a smaller carbon footprint. Skalitzky adds, “I don’t have to worry about the sheep kicking up a rock, or something of that nature, that a mower may do, and strike one of our panels.”
He’s clearly sold on solar grazing: “It’s actually something pretty awesome to see when you’re out there—all the sheep. It’s like you’re in a different world, because all you hear are sheep and wildlife and the birds and everything else, compared to a mower going up and down.”
How about Milwaukee’s local utility, We Energies (WEC)?  Is it as enthusiastic?
Spokesperson Brendan Conway writes: “Solar grazing is not a one size fits all solution. We are currently in the process of evaluating grazing for several smaller solar facilities in Wisconsin. Sheep grazing was utilized at two of our WEC infrastructure projects in Texas, but that was ultimately discontinued due to equipment safety concerns.” 
Conway also mentions, “Our overall approach has been to establish native vegetation and pollinators on our solar sites that require little maintenance when they are fully established.”
But a solar grazing group, the American Solar Grazing Association, (ASGA) is pushing ahead with the practice. Executive Director Stacie Peterson says having sheep farmers at a solar farm can improve safety. “We’ve had several solar grazers be the one on site that caught a problem, like there was a (electrical) short, or small fire. I actually think it’s safer to have the grazers on site.”
She says, “It’s really not that difficult to get a site in a pretty good match for solar grazing. That’s why it’s taken off like it has.”
Peterson says there are now more than 500 sites across the U.S. that use solar grazing, covering 200,000 acres. She says Texas and California have a lot of locations, and she sees promise for more in Wisconsin.
ASGA held a workshop in the Madison area last month and reports 34 more solar grazers were certified. One of them, Colin Williams, already provides sheep for a solar grazing effort in Wisconsin. “I love it, the sheep love it. The sheep thrive. It’s great,” Williams says.
And, depending on next month’s elections, more farmers interested in solar grazing could get some state financial assistance. At a farm-to-table dinner ASGA held at Beau Stafford’s farm, both a representative of the environmental group Clean Wisconsin, and State Sen. Mark Spreitzer (D-Beloit) told the Shepherd Express that they hope the next legislature and governor will consider an incentive program for solar grazing.
Chuck Quirmbach is a veteran Milwaukee reporter, a familiar voice for many years on Wisconsin Public Radio and WUWM.
Oct. 05, 2026
10:19 a.m.
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