North Stonington's Beriah Lewis Farm named state's dairy farm of the year
North Stonington — When Beriah Lewis Farm formed in 1791, George Washington was halfway through his first term as president of the United States.
Since then, the dairy farm sitting on 750 acres off Boom Bridge Road has endured countless wars, natural disasters, economic swings and technology upgrades.
On Sept. 18, the farm added laurels to its legacy as it beat out two others to be named Connecticut's dairy farm of the year at The Big E.
"The farm's been in the family for 224 years," said Ledyard Lewis, co-owner of the eighth-generation farm. "It's nice to get recognition."
A state committee of past winners, organized by the UConn Cooperative Extension, chose first-time winner Beriah Lewis Farm through part of a program called New England Green Pastures.
The program, in one form or another, has been naming a dairy farm of the year in each New England state since 1948 — a year after former New Hampshire Gov. Charles Dale challenged the other states to produce better pastures than his did.
The committee chose Beriah Lewis, which has 350 cows and sells around 10 million pounds of milk each year, in part because of its on-site innovations.
From a rapid exit milking parlor — in place since 1988 — to a well-ventilated free stall barn featuring gravity-flow manure channels, infrastructure at the farm has led to clean cows, an efficient milking environment and conservation of nutrients for crop production, committee members said.
In keeping with its pioneering past, Lewis said the farm right now is working to install solar panels on one side of one of its barns.
It's a move he said he hopes will result in minimal or no electricity bills — a big deal for a farm that milks cows for 15-plus hours a day.
The road for Beriah Lewis Farm, however, hasn't been easy, and it's not getting easier.
Today, for example, Lewis said the farm gets paid 55 percent of what it did a year ago for milk.
Lewis said the farm supplements its milk sales with sales of beef, hay, gravel and more.
"We're just trying to stay with the curve right now," Lewis said. "We take it one day at a time."
All Green Pastures dairy farms of the year must meet several criteria, including being operated by a full-time farmer, operating in an economically sound way, making attempts to improve the environment and having a dairy herd with quality milk production, breeding and animal health.
Twitter: @LindsayABoyle
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