Planning a managed sheep grazing operation on a solar energy site is significantly different than operating on conventional pasture or rangeland. While sheep excel at vegetation management on all sizes of solar facilities, successfully controlling vegetation with sheep and raising livestock on solar sites require intentional and skillful sheep management while also operating within a functioning power plant. Graziers must balance livestock production with the requirements of their solar grazing contract and adapt their sheep operation to working in and around solar site equipment.
ASGA’s Guide to Developing a Grazing Management Plan for Solar Grazing Operations provides guidance on developing a Grazing Management Plan (GMP) for managed sheep grazing on solar energy sites. The contents of this guide are designed to assist solar graziers as they devise their grazing management strategy for individual solar sites. The information in the guide is relevant for hybrid grazing-mowing operations and grazing-only operations.
Solar graziers may use this resource when evaluating the feasibility of sheep grazing on a potential site, when preparing a bid, and when developing a grazing management plan for a site you have been contracted to manage. The guide is a valuable resource for solar developers, asset owners, and site managers to better understand the grazing planning process.
The Guide to Developing a Grazing Management Plan for Solar Grazing Operations also includes a downloadable Grazing Management Plan Template. You may fill out the template to help you think through your grazing plan. We advise against submitting the template to your solar company clients as your grazing plan. Instead, we encourage you to adapt the template’s contents to develop your own Grazing Management Plan. Any documentation submitted to a solar company client should be uniquely customized to the site and your operation and done on your own letterhead.
You can read and download the Guide to Developing a Grazing Management Plan for Solar Grazing Operations below: