The Vander Eyk family powers their dairy farm with the sun

Standing in a field of 3,600 nine-foot-tall solar panels, Bob Vander Eyk reflects on the dairy legacy he’s built and continued by prioritizing his family and the planet.

Robert (Bob) Vander Eyk began dairying with his father, Case Vander Eyk, in 1982 with 320 Holstein cows. Fast forward to today, and he and his wife, Arlene, have moved four times around California to grow their family’s operation and continued the Vander Eyk legacy of dairy farming with two of their four children, Derek and Brian.

Robert Vander Eyk & Sons Dairy in Pixley, Calif., is home to 2,800 Holstein cows and Jersey cows, as well as more than 500 acres of corn and wheat. In his more than 40 years of experience dairy farming, Bob says two things are the most important to him: sharing the business with his family and sustainability.

“Farming with my sons is what I am most proud of,” Bob says. “I plan on slowing down a little bit soon and easing into my retirement, and they can keep taking on more responsibility as time goes on. It’s been rewarding to watch them grow up dairy farming, and now I get to see them run our farm and continue our legacy. It’s a very prideful feeling for me as a parent and as a business owner.”

Although they both grew up helping on the farm, Derek and Brian became official full-time partners on the dairy in 2015. Day to day, Derek manages the herd and the dairy’s 20 employees, while Brian manages the crop farming operation and the feed facility. Bob and Arlene handle many of the farm’s other responsibilities, including working with their veterinarian and office work.

“I always knew I wanted to be a dairy farmer like my dad,” Derek says. “I think what I like most about my job is knowing that the work we do here every day matters and makes a difference. The milk that this farm produces goes on to feed people, and that’s something that I don’t take lightly."

The Vander Eyks take sustainability seriously on their farm. In 2016, the family took advantage of California’s sunny, mild climate and installed a one-megawatt solar farm on the dairy, which includes 3,600 solar panels. The solar farm powers half of the total electricity used to run the farm.

“We’re running a multi-generational farm,” Bob says. “Everything I do, I do with that in mind.”

Two years later, Bob added an anaerobic digester, which breaks down his herd’s manure into usable energy that not only generates profits, but also reduces the dairy’s carbon footprint. The gas from the family’s anaerobic digester is piped to a nearby ethanol plant, where it’s cleaned and used to generate electricity for the plant or injected back into the utility pipeline to fuel compressed natural gas (CNG) trucks.

“When I think ‘How can we make sure we’re still able to run a dairy farm in 100 years?’ it becomes clear that we need to invest in lowering our carbon footprint and find ways to run our operation more efficiently,” he says. “It just makes sense to utilize solar energy and digesters.”

In addition to the solar farm and anaerobic digester, the Vander Eyks made significant investments to their operation in 2018, when they upgraded their parlor and barn to increase efficiency. On a dairy operation, efficiency doesn’t just make sense business-wise — it benefits herd health, too. Cows that can quickly navigate a clean, quiet milking parlor are less stressed and, in turn, produce more milk.
 

Sharing the dairy story

Bob and Arlene have made it a point to educate their local community about what goes into producing a glass of milk by hosting tours of their farm for school-aged children, chefs and more.

“It’s important to remember that a lot of people don’t have agriculture backgrounds and may not know what goes on here,” Bob says. “We think inviting people onto our farm and showing them that we care about our cows, our employees and our planet is a good way to spread the positive message of dairy.”

A highlight of the Vander Eyk’s journey to share their farm’s story happened in 2020, when Dairy Management Inc. (DMI), a dairy research and promotion program, sent celebrity nutrition expert and fitness trainer Harley Pasternak to their farm to talk about the value of dairy in a balanced diet. Harley filmed segments for TV and radio while on the farm, which were then broadcast nationwide.

“It was such a pleasure to show Harley how we care for our cows and our family’s focus on sustainability,” Arlene says. “Our family was excited to host him, and we felt like it was a good opportunity to give people visibility not only into the nutritional benefits of dairy products, but also all of the good that happens on farms.”

In addition to farm tours, Bob and Arlene sit on their local California beef and dairy advisory councils to make sure to have a continuous presence in their community.

The future is bright at Robert Vander Eyk & Sons Dairy. With Derek and Brian gracefully taking on more responsibilities each day, Bob says he’s confident their family’s operations are in good hands and his retirement will go smoothly.

“There’s a lot to look forward to around here,” Brian says. “Derek and I have a really clear vision of how we want to run the farm, thanks to our dad. It’s a surreal feeling knowing we’re continuing the legacy our grandfather started, and we’re doing it in a sustainable way that will allow future generations to keep dairy farming and feeding the world.”