Howard’s family operation, Texas Solar Sheep, grew into a business managing more than 8,000 animals and employing 26 people, according to reporting published in January 2025. His experience illustrates how solar grazing can help farmers gain access to agricultural land while offering solar operators an alternative way to manage vegetation. The approach is gaining attention across the United States, although its economic and environmental benefits depend on local conditions.
Large solar installations require substantial areas of land. Beneath and between the panels, grass and other vegetation continue to grow, creating an ongoing maintenance challenge for operators.
If left unmanaged, vegetation can interfere with access to equipment, complicate maintenance, and potentially create fire hazards when dry plant material accumulates. Traditionally, companies have relied on mowing equipment or other vegetation-control methods.
But there is another possibility: letting sheep do some of the work.
This practice, known as solar grazing, allows livestock to feed on vegetation growing within solar installations. It forms part of a broader agricultural approach called agrivoltaics, in which land is used simultaneously for solar energy production and agricultural activities.
Sheep are particularly well suited to many solar farms because they are relatively small, can move between panel supports, and generally graze without reaching the height of the solar modules.
Unlike cattle, which are heavier and may damage infrastructure, sheep can often move safely through appropriately designed solar installations. Their grazing also reduces the need for some mechanical vegetation management.
According to the American Solar Grazing Association (ASGA), Texas has become an important center for this activity. Its Texas Solar Shepherds initiative highlights ranchers who use photovoltaic installations as productive grazing land.
The association reports that more than 70,000 acres of solar sites in the state are being grazed by sheep. That represents approximately 28,300 hectares of land where renewable energy production and livestock farming can coexist.
For JR Howard, the opportunity emerged in 2021, when he and his family began contracting with solar companies to manage vegetation using their flock.
Howard founded Texas Solar Sheep, a business built around providing grazing services to solar operators. What began as a relatively small family enterprise expanded rapidly as more solar facilities sought alternative vegetation-management solutions.
By January 2025, the company was managing more than 8,000 sheep and employing 26 people, according to reporting by the Associated Press.
Rather than depending exclusively on access to conventional pastureland, Howard could use land within solar installations. This arrangement provided grazing opportunities while allowing energy companies to maintain their sites.
The business model differs from traditional livestock farming in an important way. Ranchers may receive payments from solar operators for maintaining vegetation, in addition to earning income from their livestock operations.
That does not mean solar grazing is automatically profitable. Transportation, fencing, water supplies, labor, animal health, and the design of solar facilities all influence operating costs.
For Howard, however, the growth demonstrated that commercial solar grazing could become a substantial agricultural activity rather than a small experimental project.
The scale of solar grazing becomes particularly clear at a large installation in Milam County, northeast of Austin.
In a January 2025 report, the Associated Press described an SB Energy solar project covering approximately 4,000 acres and having a generating capacity of 900 megawatts.
At the site, around 3,000 sheep were used to manage vegetation among the solar panels.
The animals graze grass and other suitable plants, reducing the amount of vegetation that must be removed by machinery. They can also reach some spaces around equipment that are difficult for larger mowing vehicles to access.
However, solar grazing does not necessarily eliminate mechanical mowing. Some plants remain too tall, woody, or otherwise unsuitable for sheep, while site designs can make certain areas inaccessible.
A combination of grazing and mowing is therefore common. The ASGA’s national survey found that approximately two-thirds of active solar graziers who responded were also responsible for vegetation-management activities beyond grazing.
Sheep can also provide an agricultural use for land that might otherwise be managed exclusively as an energy facility. This offers one way to address concerns about the expansion of solar infrastructure onto productive rural land.
Texas is not the only state experimenting with sheep beneath photovoltaic panels.
The American Solar Grazing Association’s 2024 national census, published in May 2025 in partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, documented approximately 113,050 sheep grazing 129,261 acres of solar sites across 506 installations in 30 states.
The findings showed that solar grazing was already taking place at both smaller photovoltaic facilities and large utility-scale solar farms.
Texas accounted for approximately 68,626 acres and 36,237 sheep in the census, making it one of the country’s largest concentrations of solar grazing activity.
The difference between this census figure and the more than 70,000 acres highlighted by the Texas Solar Shepherds initiative reflects figures reported in different publications and periods. Neither should be interpreted as an independently verified total for November 2026.
The national survey also identified several practical factors influencing the success of grazing operations:
These conditions help explain why grazing is more straightforward at some solar farms than others.
The potential environmental advantages are one reason solar grazing has attracted growing attention.
Replacing some fossil-fuel-powered mowing with grazing may reduce fuel consumption and associated emissions. Grazing can also help manage vegetation without relying entirely on mechanical equipment.
There may be additional benefits for soil management and plant communities, particularly when grazing intensity is carefully controlled.
However, these outcomes are not guaranteed. Excessive grazing can reduce vegetation cover, increase soil disturbance, and harm plant diversity. Livestock also require water, transportation, veterinary care, and infrastructure.
Researchers are still investigating the long-term effects of combining photovoltaic installations with grazing, including changes in soil health, animal productivity, biodiversity, and land management costs.
Well-designed systems may create complementary benefits, but their overall environmental performance must be evaluated against realistic alternatives.
For many American sheep producers, access to affordable pasture is a major challenge. Land competition, development pressures, and operating costs can make it difficult for smaller ranching businesses to expand.
Solar grazing offers a potential solution by opening access to land that remains vegetated beneath renewable energy installations.
The American Solar Grazing Association’s Texas Solar Shepherds project highlights several ranchers and businesses involved in this developing sector, including JR Howard of Texas Solar Sheep, Ely Valdez of Solar Farm Services, Reid Redden of Premier Solar Sheep, and the Hodges family.
The initiative emphasizes that solar sites can create new opportunities for agricultural businesses while continuing to produce electricity.
Yet long-term success will depend on fair contracts, reliable site access, appropriate infrastructure, and the ability of ranchers to maintain healthy and productive flocks.
Texas illustrates how two industries sometimes viewed as competitors for land can work together. Solar companies need to maintain vegetation, while sheep ranchers need places for their animals to graze.
By bringing those needs together, solar grazing offers a practical example of how renewable energy production and traditional agriculture can share the same landscape.

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