PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY, VA – ‘Lambscaping’ experts are hard at work in Southside, creating an electric partnership with Dominion Energy.
“Agriculture has always done that. What’s the next opportunity and how do you capitalize on that and reinvest it into your operation? This has been huge for us,” Owner of Gray’s LAMBscaping Marcus Gray said.
Marcus Gray, the visionary behind Gray’s LAMBscaping, is revolutionizing landscape management at solar farms.
“We use livestock to control the vegetation, rather than mechanical mowing alone,” Gray said.
Gray moved back to Pittsylvania County when Maplewood Solar Farm was popping up near his house, sparking his idea to collaborate with Dominion.
“Talking about how we could benefit the economics of the rural community by producing a commodity out here, in this case, sheep,” Gray said.
The sheep maintain the landscape while Dominion provides them a place to graze.
“Putting the sheep on the farm is a form of agrivoltaics. it’s essentially a $5 word meaning pairing solar energy with some sort of agricultural use,” Dominion spokesman Tim Eberly said.
Eberly says it’s one of two farms in Southside and their largest overall.
“At 120 megawatts, it provides enough energy to power up to 30,000 homes,” Eberly said.
The farm has been running since 2022, but the sheep arrived a few months ago.
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“This is the first time that we’ve had sheep through Dominion Energy’s program on the southside,” Eberly said.
The sheep are kept in line by a team of dedicated dogs.
“Our herd dogs, we use him to gather and drive the sheep from place to place. The dogs that live here full time are our livestock guardian dogs and they keep the native predators out,” Gray said.
They’re finding the best ways to expand - and part of that involves increasing the herd,
Right now there are just over 300 sheep on the farm - but with over 150 babies on the way, the endeavor is rapidly expanding.
The project isn’t just cutting maintenance costs; it’s helping a rural community thrive.
“This region has been economically depressed for quite a while, and new industry is few and far between. So what can we do to revitalize the economy here? Well, people understand agriculture, so yeah, it’s pretty special,” Gray said.
