What is the state of the current U.S. sheep population? What challenges will arise in meeting the demand for sheep created by solar grazing?

We were joined by Travis Averill, the Branch Chief of the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to hear the results of this year’s Sheep and Goat Inventory, an inventory that reports on the number of breeding and market sheep, lambs born during the previous year, and wool and production prices. 

Travis shared informational results including:

• Sheep and lamb numbers have increased 0.3% from last year
• A comprehensive map of the U.S. with the change in sheep and lamb numbers by state
• Details regarding the total number of sheep, breeding sheep, and market sheep for the top 5 sheep-producing states
• Trends of how some of these numbers have changed over the past 10 years

Following Travis’s presentation, we heard from Brady Campbell (Ohio State Extension) and Camren Maierle (American Lamb Board) about how solar grazing is shifting the sheep population and the challenges associated with expanding sheep numbers in new regions, like the Midwestern and Eastern portions of the U.S.

During Brady and Camren’s discussion, they pulled information from their new paper, “Vegetation management utilizing sheep grazing within utility-scale solar: Agro-ecological insights and existing knowledge gaps in the United States“.

After the presentations, the audience had the opportunity to ask Travis, Brady, and Camren any questions they had. One of the most discussed questions was one that anyone in the solar grazing industry has come across often: is there enough sheep to match solar?

---

Prior to the main presentations, we were pleased to hear from Katie Meyer from the Solar Farm Summit, who introduced the new Dual-Use Design Challenge.

The Solar Farm Summit and the InSPIRE project present the Dual-Use Design Challenge, inviting students from K-12 and post-secondary to tackle real-world farming and energy challenges. Through creativity, problem-solving, and STEM-based “farm first” designs, participants will explore how solar and farming can coexist.

Learn more here:  https://solarfarmsummit.com/student-design-challenge