Milking cows, serving his nation

WILLOW LAKE, S.D. — Major Nick Vande Weerd has followed in his dad, John’s, footsteps in more ways than one. John is former Navy Seabee. Vande Weerd serves his country and has a passion for dairy farming.

“My dad was always building something,” Vande Weerd said. “He was in a construction battalion in the military. (Because of this) we did a lot of our own building projects. I remember distinctly when we transitioned from the stanchions to a parlor.”

Vande Weerd and his parents, John and Linda, and brothers, Alan and Mike, milk approximately 2,200 cows in a double-32 parallel parlor on their farm, Pleasant Dutch Dairy, near Willow Lake.

“This farm serves as a testament to a generation of hard work and commitment,” Vande Weerd said.

Alongside running the dairy, Vande Weerd balances between spending time with his wife, Nicole, and two daughters, and the South Dakota Air National Guard in Sioux Falls where he now serves as director of personnel and training.

Military service began when Vande Weerd was a senior in high school and joined the South Dakota Air National Guard. Initially, he was trained in radio maintenance before moving to force support.

“We installed and repaired every radio not attached to an aircraft,” Vande Weerd said.

Vande Weerd’s first deployment was in 2006 to Iraq. It was one of his shorter deployments, but he said he had some great experiences.

One experience that stands out to Vande Weerd was a time he was in a helicopter and fell asleep. He woke up to being told to jump and watched other soldiers jump without parachutes.

“I had no idea what was going on,” he said. “When I finally got to the spot to jump, I realized we were on the ground to fuel.”

In 2010 Vande Weerd was commissioned as an officer, and in 2017 he was again deployed, this time to Dover’s Port Mortuary in Delaware.

“I had to work with not only the personal items of individuals who had fallen, but I also interacted with their families,” Vande Weerd said. “Working with the families and ensuring their loved ones’ belongings were returned to them was deeply moving.”

A task Vande Weerd performed was transporting families from the airport to Dover, Delaware, to meet their loved one who had passed and assist them through the dignified transfer process.

“That was quite impactful,” Vande Weerd said. “That experience stayed with me.”

Vande Weerd will reach the 25-year service mark in January. Throughout his years with the National Guard, he said it was his time training and deployments that stuck with him the most.

“I spent nine months (for training) in Biloxi, Mississippi,” Vande Weerd said. “I had a great time living down there being in a different culture.”

Vande Weerd also made time for higher education through South Dakota State University. He earned four bachelor’s degrees, all related to business, plus a master’s degree in economics.

After graduation he applied his expertise in financial analysis through consulting work, providing financial analysis and projections for various agricultural projects and helping on the home farm.

“We were very diverse in agriculture,” Vande Weerd said. “We always had crops, dairy cows, hogs, sheep, horses, goats, some chickens and I’m sure a rabbit or two when I was young.”

The family had sold their dairy herd in 1998 while Vande Weerd was in high school due to a fire in their freestall barn. A couple years after a fire, the parlor was converted into a hog barn. When they decided to dairy again, they again converted the facility.

“We gutted the whole (hog) barn out, pressure washed, poured concrete and got it turned back into a parlor,” Vande Weerd said. “Then 2009 was a rough year for dairy. We decided we needed to get out or get bigger.”

The decision led to Pleasant Dutch Dairy, which is spread over three different locations — one for milking and dry cows, one for youngstock and one for heifers.

“Having multiple locations brings logistical challenges, especially in managing employees across sites,” Vande Weerd said. “It’s also an opportunity to improve our efficiency.”

In the future, Vande Weerd said he and his family want to work on the efficiency of the farm. They hope to do this through further expansions.

In addition to his military and farming careers, Vande Weerd has also sat on the board of  AgriBank since 2015.

“I’m incredibly fortunate to wear these three hats, each one teaching me about leadership from a different angle,” Vande Weerd said. “I’m constantly learning and adapting.”