Madison Gas and Electric adds sheep to Fitchburg solar farm
At the sound of the farmer shaking a feed bucket, the sheep race out from under the solar panels.
Here is Greedy, front and center. Rambunctious, pushing forward through the bleating throng. Sweetie Pie, airborne, smacking the metal bucket with her front hooves.
There are seven or so Sweetie Pies in the flock, courtesy of the owners' 5-year-old. This Sweetie Pie might be renamed soon.
Madison Gas and Electric's six-megawatt Tyto Solar array, the herd's summer home, was completed in February. Its resident flock of Katahdin sheep came trotting in a few months later as part of a partnership with nearby Wiscovery Farm . The solar facility's sheep population currently sits at 73. It was higher in midsummer, before the rain dropped off and some of the sheep had to be taken back to the farm to avoid overgrazing the parched land.
For both MGE and Wiscovery Farm, sheep are something new.
Beau and Grace Stafford, who bought the Fitchburg farm in 2019, were growing organic hay and thinking about adding some feeder cattle to their operation when they heard about the planned solar project. They got in touch with the developer, OneEnergy Renewables , to make sure nothing was going to be planted around the panels that would put their future livestock at risk.
OneEnergy and MGE were receptive to their ideas, so much so that the Staffords, who have other full-time jobs, have two small children and grow hay and make compost in their spare time, wound up buying sheep instead of cattle and bringing them to graze on 30 acres of the solar site. It was a big expansion for the small family farm.
The arrangement at Tyto Solar marks MGE's first time using sheep in place of lawnmowers. But the practice, known as "solar grazing," is becoming more common across the U.S. The sheep keep plants from growing high enough to block the panels, and they lounge in the shadows the panels cast.
"It was just kind of a logical thing to try," said Steve Schultz, a spokesperson for MGE. "And it's been great."
MGE seeded the site with grasses and clover for the sheep, along with plants that would attract pollinators. Weeds came up along with the forage, and the sheep mowed them down, too.
"The sheep have done an incredible job keeping the vegetation low enough where it's manageable," Beau Stafford said. "But also, our sheep are getting fat, which is what we're looking for."
It's almost time for the Staffords to take the rest of the sheep back to Wiscovery Farm for the winter. The flock will return to keep the new growth in check in the spring.
"The sheep have done an incredible job keeping the vegetation low enough where it's manageable. But also, our sheep are getting fat, which is what we're looking for."
Beau Stafford, Wiscovery Farm
Growth and development reporter
