MERINO wethers being run under a solar farm at Parkes have been cutting impressive results with higher yields than their counterparts.
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The Parkes Show Society, in conjunction with NSW Department of Primary Industries, has been conducting a trial running 12 teams of 12 wethers under the nearby Neoen solar farm.
The trial has been running since 2019 with the latest round of shearing completed recently.
Head of the trial, local woolbroker Graeme Ostini, said the trial first began as a way to help keep the grass down around the solar panels without having to use chemicals but they've seen the benefits for the sheep.
"They've done insanely well - exceptionally well," he said. "In the drought when it was hard going everywhere, the wethers on the solar farm got a little advantage.
"When we did get one or two millimetres of rain the water would run off and drip off the sides of the panels and gather on the ground directly underneath and we were lucky enough there was just enough rain that we never had to feed those sheep. That got us through the drought."
Mr Ostini said when the good season came the benefits for the wool became clear.
"The wethers have been astonishining what they've done for those few good years," he said.
"They're cutting six to nine kilograms with the real exceptional ones cutting 10, and a magnificent bit of wool with high yields as well."
For Parkes woolgrower Ken Keith he put a team of wethers in the trial as a way to see how his sheep sit compared to the industry average and others in the area.
Mr Keith said the yield has been better from those run under the panels compared to his sheep on farm and the fleece weight has been higher.
"They're always able to have solid shade and they stand under them out of the rain so they're out of the climatic conditions," he said.
"The conditions are more favourable on the solar farm for wool production which is why I've been pushing for a number of years now that all solar farms should be designed with grazing sheep underneath them."
Mr Keith's team is currently leading the trial with the latest results of an average greasy fleece weight of 6kg, mean fibre diameter of 18 micron, 80.8pc yield and wool value per head of $122.90.
The trial will end next year and Mr Ostini said he thinks there is great opportunity for collaboration between solar farms and woolgrowers.
The proceeds of sale of the wool from the trial have been donated to the Parkes Show Society.
Alexandra Bernard
Journalist based in Wagga Wagga covering all things agriculture in southern NSW.
Journalist based in Wagga Wagga covering all things agriculture in southern NSW.
