Lewis Fox

Dairy and sheep farming. Grazing solar farms in New York, Vermont and Maine.

[Lewis Fox @LewisFox91]

@shagbark_hick @serraotweets Panels create a lot of opportunities in ag - not least from small grazing farms like ours. Our family milked cows for 40 years and sees this as the future. Many others like us including in your part of the state. They also last much longer than 10 years - warranteed for 35+.

[Lewis Fox @LewisFox91]

@Empty_America Not a CDL in sight

[Lewis Fox @LewisFox91]

@IBCking01 You couldn’t buy better shade structures if you wanted!

[Lewis Fox @LewisFox91]

@CodyForSC Idk Cody they raise pretty fat lambs.

[Lewis Fox @LewisFox91]

@pnshdvermonster Tough for new generations to grow a farm in the commodity world today - especially in VT. Hard to match the Midwest for efficiency, etc etc. We milked cows for 40 years until 2024. Our future is in sheep production and grazing solar sites.

[Lewis Fox @LewisFox91]

@BrettBaker85452 @TornadoNate Would be nice to see a strip of sod along that ditch though. But not my pig, not my farm.

[Lewis Fox @LewisFox91]

@BrettBaker85452 @TornadoNate They may. Lots of dairies around but also lots of cash crops.

[Lewis Fox @LewisFox91]

@clawrence What if….we did both?

[Jacob Reinecker @jsreinecker]

It’s not an energy crisis til the dudes with the straight piped cummins don’t let it idle in the parking lot while they go in to grab camels and a white monster

[Lewis Fox @LewisFox91]

@ksusys @StinkyTheGrillf @ok_post_guy @MattZeitlin $350-550/acre is pretty competitive in the northeast.

[Lewis Fox @LewisFox91]

@StinkyTheGrillf @ok_post_guy @MattZeitlin If you want to use sheep as your main form of veg management you want really absolutely no less than a sheep per acre and more like 2-3 plus some additional mowing capacity. 50 sheep on 2k acres you wouldn’t even notice.

[Lewis Fox @LewisFox91]

@StinkyTheGrillf @ok_post_guy @MattZeitlin Some weeds yes some weeds no. You’d want to clip after them once per year or so like any other pasture. We’re usually aiming to do 70-90% of the work with sheep and the rest mowing.

[Lewis Fox @LewisFox91]

@StinkyTheGrillf @ok_post_guy @MattZeitlin This sounds like you need more sheep. We service about 2,000 acres with sheep grazing and the US overall has somewhere north of 130,000 acres of solar grazed with sheep.

[Lewis Fox @LewisFox91]

@RizomaSchool @bennirubber @alex_fasulo @GGunthorp @DoomerOptimism I’m very shy but I would be honored lol

[Lewis Fox @LewisFox91]

@bennirubber @alex_fasulo @RizomaSchool I think this is a very important question and I don’t think it’s totally settled until we have these sites for their whole lifespan. BUT, all the research I have seen seems to suggest there is negligible amounts, and less than come from ag fertilizer application.

[Lewis Fox @LewisFox91]

@RizomaSchool @bennirubber @alex_fasulo We have had many sheep go their entire life in this system and are very productive and happy.

[Lewis Fox @LewisFox91]

@RizomaSchool @bennirubber @alex_fasulo The biggest benefit for us on the ag side is the shade. We have a consistent 10-15 degree cooler environment under the panels in the heat of the summer and the sheep drink a lot less water on site because they’re less heat stressed.

[Lewis Fox @LewisFox91]

@RizomaSchool @bennirubber @alex_fasulo We have slightly lower production under the panels but the grass gets less lignified because the temp difference and shade, and the cool season varieties produce better through the summer slump.