SAS Hires Sheep To Cut Grass
A Cary-based company is looking for ways to make a project as “green” as possible.
SAS rolled out a five-acre solar farm late last year, and have recently come up with a unique way of making it a little more sustainable.
The company may be known for cutting-edge software, but its newest landscaping crew is decidedly old-fashioned.
“Our sheep are properly trained,” said Jerry Williams, Program Manager for Environmental Sustainability at SAS.
Earlier this year, SAS started testing to see how well a small herd of Dorper Sheep could keep the grass trimmed around the new solar field.
“We’re hoping to be as environmentally friendly with this initiative as possible,” said Williams. “It’s actually easier for the sheep to get between the solar panels then our landscaping equipment.”
Right now there are 19 sheep, but if everything goes according to plan, the herd should eventually grow to 30 or 40.
Dorper sheep are not bred for their wool; SAS picked them partly to protect the solar array.
“They don’t quite grow as tall as normal sheep,” said Williams. “So it cuts down on the temptation for some of the taller ones maybe to jump up on top of the panels.”
So far Oprah, Biggun, Gerty and the rest of the herd have done a good job, and even though a lot of people get a kick out of the idea, SAS is really taking the idea of a sustainable solar field seriously.
The land required no trees to be cut down, and they opted not to use concrete to anchor the solar panels.
“Your local utility will buy back the power, so we hope others will look at this model and see it as doable and implement something like this on their campuses or their businesses,” said Williams.
The solar farm generates 1.7 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year, which goes into the Progress Energy utility grid.
The sheep are kept in pens towards the back of the field, and there are people assigned to make sure they’re properly fed year-round.
By: Chris Cowperthwaite
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