Sheep Industry News June 2025

W ith vegetation management contracts on 20 large scale, utility-grade solar sites in east Texas, it’s hard to believe that even JR Howard had doubts about his new venture just five years ago. Fortunately, his vi sion and his family’s hard work paid off. Texas Solar Sheep now runs more than 10,000 ewes – with another 5,000 or more leased from other producers – year round on sites that JR thinks of as stand-alone ranches. Each site has everything it needs to handle the company’s hybrid grazing model: two or three dedicated employees, sheep, live stock guardian dogs, mowers, sprayers and livestock-handling equipment. But that wasn’t always the case. “We started with about 500 sheep running on one portion of a site in a six-month pilot project,” JR recalled. “About three months in, the company said it was working better than they thought and we could take over the whole site.” But that’s where the progress came to a stop. The family – wife, Kellye, and sons, Hunter and Carter – didn’t pick up a second site until 18 months later as JR ran into skeptical solar company executives at every turn. “I tried to get as many people as I could to come to the first site and take a look at it to get an idea of what was going on there,” he said. “It was tough to get buy-in. At the time, I would say that sheep weren’t really accepted at 95 percent of these sites. It just wasn’t an accepted practice at that point. But then we got a second one, and a third one, and it kind of snowballed from there. “That might have been a blessing. Over that 18 months, we figured out a lot. When we finally got that second site, we had a better idea of what we were doing, and we were more efficient. It was good training for us.” Originally from west Texas, JR’s idea of renewable energy was windmills. His vision for the future came only after Texas sheep producer Ely Valdez introduced him to the concept of solar grazing and convinced him that sheep had a place in the solar boom. “Sheep were a hobby for us,” JR said. “We didn’t have access to the kind of land you needed to run a bunch of sheep in west Texas. My wife and I had town jobs, but we liked having sheep around. Ely told me about the American Solar Grazing Association early on and we were able to access some of their content. But it was nothing like it is now. Like a lot of people who were getting into it back then, we really had to start at zero and go from there. “I realized that a lot of what would happen going forward was going to depend on how well we did,” JR said. “We could have really screwed this up, or we could do it right and get these companies to accept that sheep are the way to go. I wouldn’t say solar grazing is the standard yet, but we’re getting

a lot closer to having all of these companies really accept what we can do for them.” GRAZING AS A BUSINESS The term solar grazing can be a bit misleading from the out side looking in, JR says. Large-scale solar companies want one contractor to handle all of their vegetation management needs, which might entail a combination of mowing, spraying weeds and grazing. Sheep producers looking to get into the industry must decide how to handle all of that. They can subcontract with a mowing company or find a mowing company that wants to subcontract the grazing aspect. Another option is to partner with an existing solar grazer who needs additional sheep to fulfill his contracts. “I work with some producers who don’t want to deal with the mowing and spraying, at least initially,” JR said. “So, they come into one of my sites and run their sheep and I don’t have to worry about the sheep on that site. I just handle everything else. Or, we can lease their sheep and we can manage them and just send a check every month.” Two things the solar grazing industry is in desperate need of right now are more sheep and more producers who under stand that solar grazing is a service industry. Grazers such as JR – who partner with other sheep producers – allow those novice grazers to get their foot in the door and learn the in dustry first-hand. “I could be greedy and think that I’m going to do it all my self,” JR said. “But they’re building so much new solar that one person can’t handle it all. We turned down more work than we took on last year, and we’ll probably do the same this year. We need more good, qualified people in this industry.” Sheep producers looking to make the leap need to un derstand the change in mindset, however. Solar grazing is a service industry and might require you to manage your flock differently than you would if they were simply running on pastures or public lands. “When we do schools on solar grazing, I want to put it all on the table and show producers everything that’s involved and everything you to need to know to work in this industry,” JR said. “That way, people can leave knowing if it’s something they want to do. Maybe they don’t want to do it, but they can partner with someone who does and needs their sheep. We can all work together to make this work. Being in the service industry isn’t for everyone. It’s not easy sometimes. But there are opportunities for some good partnerships out there.” As his operation has scaled up in the last five years, JR has hired more help than he ever could have imagined. Texas Solar Sheep started with the Howard family working hard on nights and weekends to manage that first site.

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