Managing deer on solar farms

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ion

ion

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I stopped to read a planning permission sign for a solar farm covering 246 hectares. (Ireland)
The thought occurred to me - what are the do's and don'ts of managing deer on a solar farm?
It seems that as of 2022 there were 230 km2 of solar farms in UK.
I can't find the equivalent figure for ireland, other than there are 134 solar farms in Ireland and the Farmers Journal estimates that 10,000 acres are required by 2030.
I listened to a Wicklow farmer with solar panels say on the radio that he thought his grass cover had improved owing to the shelter effect. Given that sheep farming can take place in conjunction with solar panels, I assume that deer will have access as well.
Ion
 
ion said:
I stopped to read a planning permission sign for a solar farm covering 246 hectares. (Ireland)
The thought occurred to me - what are the do's and don'ts of managing deer on a solar farm?
It seems that as of 2022 there were 230 km2 of solar farms in UK.
I can't find the equivalent figure for ireland, other than there are 134 solar farms in Ireland and the Farmers Journal estimates that 10,000 acres are required by 2030.
I listened to a Wicklow farmer with solar panels say on the radio that he thought his grass cover had improved owing to the shelter effect. Given that sheep farming can take place in conjunction with solar panels, I assume that deer will have access as well.
Ion
Click to expand...
Not surprising that grass cover improves under solar panels given the shade prevents scorching. Also really good for the animals themselves.

As for managing deer this is probably a job for for edges and or a highseat. Panels are pretty fragile and a bullet could do quite a bit of damage. If you are going to take a shot then make sure it is into a good backdrop. But bear in mind there is an awful lot of cabling as well around the panels.

I would treat the solar farm as a sanctuary area and shoot deer as go to and fro. From time to time you may need to push deer out. And if there are sheep grazing, they will do the job for you.
 
I had assumed you would shoot from the centre out as it were.
Where there are mature trees on the boundary I presume the 'fall zone' (not sure of the correct term) will remain undeveloped thus leaving a substantial grazing strip.
 
I have a vested interest.
I've been shooting this property for over 20 years and I've been mentoring the owners son of late. I'm 67 and was hoping to pass the dragging of 12 stone gross fat sika stags on to him!
In this case with screen woods adjoining the road on three sides of the property the thought of fencing deer out towards the road as it were does not appeal.
In addition there are internal covers to consider, plus a river.
I'm assuming that the time scale for development will be several years, even without the inevitable "recreational objecting" that is endemic in this country.

I think I'll just have to get stuck into the green lipped mussels and or invest in a quad in the meantime.
Ion
 
VSS said:
Generally they'll be deer fenced.
Shooting within a solar farm with a rifle is a no-no, even if shooting downwards from a highseat into a clear area away from the panels themselves, due to shallow buried cables.
Click to expand...
I'd also imagine a fully mature fallow/red/Sika charging off on a death run crashing into panels and stands would be an issue.
 
ion said:
I had assumed you would shoot from the centre out as it were.
Where there are mature trees on the boundary I presume the 'fall zone' (not sure of the correct term) will remain undeveloped thus leaving a substantial grazing strip.
Click to expand...
VSS said:
Generally they'll be deer fenced.
Shooting within a solar farm with a rifle is a no-no, even if shooting downwards from a highseat into a clear area away from the panels themselves, due to shallow buried cables.
Click to expand...
I have a contract to control rabbits in a Solar Farm, albeit a small one. It is deer fenced (doesn't stop the Munty going under it).
The 2 biggest problems are:
1, The lines of solar panels are so spaced that you can only ever see down one line from a walking level, but everything can see your legs from everywhere! Foot stalking is a total waste of time. Shooting from a corner off sticks, or high seat, allows you to at least see 2 edges between the fence and panels.
2, Shooting from a prone position gives you the best clear view, but very little - if any - backstop. Plus the chance of a ricochet up into a panel is great. Also, as said above there is a lot of cabling attached to the steel supports and just sub surface. Too risky!
It is not as easy as first appears.
 
My view on solar farms on prime Agricultural land is that it shouldn’t happen. We will need that land to grow food.

Far far better to fit solar panels of roofs whether it’s residential or large commercial barns, factories etc.

It’s criminal that the vast majority of new housing is not built with panels. Every new house should be fitted with panels and power going straight in and used where it is generated. You don’t need expensive batteries, just have a large hot water tank and use that as a store for excess power. And then any surplus goes to the grid which acts as a buffer.

Putting solar and wind farms a long way away from where it is used makes no sense, especially given all the power losses in transmission.
 
I have a solar farm (not deer fenced) near me, once the panel's went in part of the sale/contract included a clause of no shooting, period.
Common sense required is the way to go;)
 
We are awaiting the planning decision on a 2000acre area wind farm adjacent to the estate, supposedly a Canadian company but with the Chinese in the background. It will be deer fenced with through ways from woodland on adjoining estates to us. Just a case of moving some high seats I think. It is an absolute waste of prime arable.land, but again the money beats farming income.
Why with so many large estuaries we don't use tidal power I will never know, but then the political parties have their own agenda, probably full of brown envelopes or hedge fund investments.
 
Not sure deer would need controlling within a solar farm

They would keep grass down and the difficulties in killing them without damaging infrastructure would be high risk anyway (as others have discussed)
 
Thanks for all the comments.
It's fairly obvious that risk and cost are the dominant issues.
It looks as though I should be making the most of the years that are left to me.

There is a jolly little annual shoot for which lunch is often the best beat. Will this be possible still? The highlight a few years ago was a deerhound cross bitch coursing a sika stag until he cleared a stud farm rail. The dog owner apologised to the landowner who laughed and said it was the best sight he'd seen in years.

Ion
 
Ronin, there's about 20 acres of recent planting which will need minding, and possibly more to come. But if deer fencing is common practice then I suspect the planting will be the outer side of the deer fence.

Given the recreational objecting that goes on in this country the whole issue will be hypothetical for some time to come.

Ion
 
Heym SR20 said:
Not surprising that grass cover improves under solar panels given the shade prevents scorching. Also really good for the animals themselves.

As for managing deer this is probably a job for for edges and or a highseat. Panels are pretty fragile and a bullet could do quite a bit of damage. If you are going to take a shot then make sure it is into a good backdrop. But bear in mind there is an awful lot of cabling as well around the panels.

I would treat the solar farm as a sanctuary area and shoot deer as go to and fro. From time to time you may need to push deer out. And if there are sheep grazing, they will do the job for you.
Click to expand...
Err, deer only avoid stinky sheep where there are better spots to be ! The deer here ( Sika mainly) pay the sheep little notice and just get on with life along side their stink is simply something deer will put up with . If its good grazing the deer will come in to it
 
ion said:
I stopped to read a planning permission sign for a solar farm covering 246 hectares. (Ireland)
The thought occurred to me - what are the do's and don'ts of managing deer on a solar farm?
It seems that as of 2022 there were 230 km2 of solar farms in UK.
I can't find the equivalent figure for ireland, other than there are 134 solar farms in Ireland and the Farmers Journal estimates that 10,000 acres are required by 2030.
I listened to a Wicklow farmer with solar panels say on the radio that he thought his grass cover had improved owing to the shelter effect. Given that sheep farming can take place in conjunction with solar panels, I assume that deer will have access as well.
Ion
Click to expand...
Access to solar farms is strictly controlled, you should have airport type boundary fencing and security.
Sheep are permitted provided that they’re hornless.
Shooting is expressly prohibited on the farms.
The access restrictions could get murky, legally in Ireland you can’t prevent someone who has the right to fish a stream or lake from fishing it and there are landowners who don’t own the shooting rights over their land.
Theres several hundred hectares of them under construction locally, with plans for the same again.
 
dunwater said:
Access to solar farms is strictly controlled, you should have airport type boundary fencing and security.
Sheep are permitted provided that they’re hornless.
Shooting is expressly prohibited on the farms.
The access restrictions could get murky, legally in Ireland you can’t prevent someone who has the right to fish a stream or lake from fishing it and there are landowners who don’t own the shooting rights over their land.
Theres several hundred hectares of them under construction locally, with plans for the same again.
Click to expand...
Upside is that they will act as reservoirs to re-stock over shot areas . Fences are never 100% at keeping deer in or out . We would not have so many deer species in the UK if they where !
 
Bowland blades said:
Upside is that they will act as reservoirs to re-stock over shot areas . Fences are never 100% at keeping deer in or out . We would not have so many deer species in the UK if they where !
Click to expand...
It depends on how many solar farms you have in the area.
I dont see the deer being tolerated inside the boundary fences, at least not the 3 bigger species, if they won’t have horned sheep they’re not going to allow stags.
The matter doesn’t get discussed here, Solar farms are good, therefor they‘re going to get built regardless.
 
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