Sheep used as lamb-scapers at Conestoga College's solar panel site

Officials at Conestoga College have enlisted the help of lamb-scapers to maintain land at their Fountain Street S. campus location.

Thirty-three sheep will graze the 1.2-hectare pasture surrounding the school's 1,800 solar panels for the next two weeks.

"Historically, we brought in landscaping crews to maintain the vegetation underneath and around the panels,"Samantha Lamb, environmental sustainability and energy performance manager at Conestoga College, told CBC News in an interview at the solar panel site.

"As part of our ongoing sustainability initiatives, we recognize that this was an area of opportunity for us to re-naturalize this area while looking at some more sustainable methods of landscaping."

Solar grazing is a method of vegetation control on a solar site using grazing livestock.The practice is the first of its kind in Waterloo region and at any Ontario college.

The working sheep arrived June 3 and come from All Sorts Acre Farm in Ayton, owned by Jennifer and Tim Fischer.

Tim Fischer moved into a camper on the campus next to the area where the sheep are grazing.

"We've had farmers that have hired us to graze fields for a season. A horse pasture gets overgrown, the sheep can come in and basically decimate it and then the grass regrows again," Tim Fischer explained.

"They beat up the land a little bit as they're eating, but it bounces back and comes back better than it was previously. This is our first time doing it on this scale."

The eco-friendly initiative is part of a two-year pilot project at Conestoga College. The first year focuses on implementation and setup, while Lamb says the second year will look at what else can be done on the grounds and with the sheep.

She says they're looking at the possibility of using "college-raised resources in our operations or programming."

"For example, using the wool in our creative industry programs or potentially using the wool as fertilizer. Maybe even looking at using the sheep's milk or cheese in our culinary programs," she said.

The sheep's temporary home is located near Highway 401 and Fischer says he's had a lot of curious peoplestop to see what's going on.

"We did put up some signage along the fence line to provide some education but we are planning a few more formal engagement opportunities," Lamb said.

The sheep will remain on the site for the next week and will return a few times throughout the summer to keep the area maintained.