By Chris Bentley
Bryant Parker opens the gate of his trailer in Dunlap, Illinois, and lets his flock out to pasture.
The sheep step out, gingerly at first, then loping as a herd toward green fields. If they notice the rows of solar panels overhead, the 75 lambs and ewes don’t show it. They’re too busy chowing down.
“They like eating grass,” Parker said. “As long as they’ve got good, clean grass in front of them, it don’t matter to them where they’re at.”
The sheep are grazing a 7.1-megawatt solar farm that came online late last year. It covers about 35 acres of what used to be fields of corn and soybeans, and produces enough energy to power about 1,200 homes
Parker, who runs Tin Can Farms with his wife Jessica Parker out of nearby Glasford, brings his sheep to graze at several solar sites around central Illinois. He had been seeking more pasture for his growing herd when he had an idea.
“At the time, solar farms were popping up around our area,” he said, “and I kept looking at them thinking, ‘Man, that’s a lot of grass. There’s something that could be done with that.’”
Parker cold-called solar companies until he found someone willing to let his sheep mow their lawn.
Click here to see more...