Nick Vande Weerd runs Pleasant Dutch Dairy in South Dakota and serves as vice chair for AgriBank. Progressive Dairy Editor Walt Cooley caught up with him after he spoke at the 2025 Precision Dairy Conference, and he had one message that stopped me: You can't expand your way out of a cost problem.

In this conversation, Nick walks through how he scrutinizes every line item in his operation, why he's laser-focused on maximizing beef-on-dairy revenue and why a dairy's willingness to adopt technology and evolve with it may predict its staying power in the industry more than its herd size.

Here is the episode breakdown:

• 1:45 – Who is Pleasant Dutch Dairy
• 2:30 – Why data must generate a path to decisions
• 5:10 – What KPI is most meaningful to you?
• 7:15 – What do you consistently that helps you stay on your game?
• 9:40 – How do you communicate with your team and coordinate work?
• 12:30 – What got you interested in being a dairyman full time?
• 14:30 – What financial wisdom would you share with the industry?
• 17:00 – What do you want to do more of, less of?
• 20:30 – How are you maximizing beef-on-dairy revenue in your herd?
• 24:30 – What do you do when not dairying?
• 27:30 – If you could wave a magic wand on your dairy, what would you wish for?
• 29:30 – What's your take on technology's role in consolidation in the dairy industry?

Join host Matti McBride as she chats with Anton Borst, owner of Halarda Farms in Elm Creek, Manitoba. Learn about the dairy, current succession plans, why Halarda Farms invests in technology and opts to be a trial farm for emerging technologies, as well as future plans for the dairy.

Here is the episode breakdown:

• 0:50 – Introduction to Halarda Farms
• 1:40 – Using a parlor and robots
• 3:00 – History of Halarda Farms
• 4:30 – Succession planning
• 6:30 – Slow, steady growth
• 8:00 – Investing in technology
• 10:00 – Managing employees and technology
• 12:00 – Employee buy-in
• 14:30 – Experiences with being a trial dairy
• 17:00 – Current technologies being trialed
• 18:30 – Goals at Halarda
• 20:50 – The life of a cow at Halarda
• 24:30 – Future plans
• 27:00 – Rapid-fire questions

Reproductive success is now central to both milk and beef calf revenue in progressive dairy herds. The episode explores how methionine, lysine, and histidine drive fertility and calf health, making amino acid balancing a critical strategy for profitability. Listeners discover how small gains in conception rates can yield significant financial impact when paired with strategic breeding and nutrition.

Key takeaway: Strategic amino acid nutrition is a proven driver of reproductive efficiency and dual revenue streams in dairy production.

This episode is sponsored by Actus Nutrition, innovators of precision dairy nutrition solutions. Actus proudly manufactures RPMet, a leading rumen-protected methionine designed to maximize component yields and reproductive efficiency. To learn more about RPMet and other nutrition products by Actus, such as Energy Booster and custom milk replacer products, visit https://actus.com/livestock/specialty-ingredients/