We love hearing from farmers who’ve found creative, practical ways to make solar pumping work on their farms. This is the story of one UK sheep farmer who’s been using a Futurepump to supply water across their land – and the thoughtful approach they’ve taken to make it work brilliantly.
About the farm
The farm in South Staffordshire is home to around 450 sheep and lambs who graze a sloped field with a stream at the bottom. The farmer is in a Catchment Sensitive Farming zone and therefore works hard to keep livestock out of the river to reduce bank erosion and pollution. Like many livestock farms in the UK, keeping animals watered, without direct access to the river and across a large area has historically meant a lot of manual work and a lot of heavy vehicle movements across the land.
The setup: coupling with a header tank
In this situation, the farmer has deduced the pump works best when paired with a header tank.
In his set up, rather than pumping directly to troughs on demand, the solar pump fills a header tank which then feeds the troughs by gravity. This creates a reserve of water that keeps animals supplied even during short periods of lower sunlight, and means the system doesn’t need to be running constantly throughout the day. It’s a practical buffer that makes the whole setup more resilient.
Understanding when sheep actually need water
One of the more nuanced observations from this farmer is about sheep behaviour and water consumption across the seasons – and it turns out it aligns rather well with how a solar pump performs.
In cooler, wetter, cloudier conditions, sheep graze on wet grass and draw a large proportion of their water intake from what they eat. Their need for supplementary water from troughs is relatively low. But as the weather turns warmer and sunnier, the grass dries out, hay feeding begins, and sheep need significantly more water to drink. On this farm, the farmer estimates that in really hot, dry weather, the 450-strong flock would drink around 1,500 litres a day in total – a meaningful amount to manage.
Here’s the elegant part: the sunny weather that drives up water demand is exactly the same weather that maximises the output of a solar pump. The system naturally rises to meet the challenge.
The farmer puts it in practical terms from their own experience: 1,000-litre IBCs in fields linked to troughs last around 4–5 days when roughly 100 sheep are drinking in hot weather. In a dry year like 2025, tanks needed refilling regularly. Whereas in 2024, in much wetter conditions, refills were far less frequent. The pump handles both scenarios, adapting to what the season asks of it.
The land compaction benefit – an unexpected win
Perhaps the most compelling additional benefit the farmer highlights isn’t about water at all – it’s about what they no longer have to do.
Previously, keeping troughs topped up meant regular trips across the farm with a 4WD tractor and loader carrying a 1-tonne IBC of water. Every one of those trips causes soil compaction, which restricts grass growth and affects the long-term health of the land. With the solar pump now filling the header tank and feeding troughs across roughly 40% of the farm, those trips have been dramatically reduced.
At busy times like harvest, this matters even more. The pump simply gets on with filling the tank and the farmer can control how long it runs and when, without needing to be there.
Where next?
The farmer is already looking at extending the system to cover more of the farm next year. With 40% of the farm area now connected to solar-fed troughs, the results have been positive enough to warrant expanding further.
It’s a great example of how solar pumping isn’t just about the environmental benefits, though those are real, but about making farm life genuinely easier, and doing less damage to the land in the process.
If you’re a farmer interested in exploring solar pumping for water supply or for irrigating your crops you can browse our range at shop.futurepump.com or get in touch at hello@futurepump.com.
Until 12/04/2026 we are offering 10% off pumps across our range – now is the perfect time to get organised for the season ahead!
