For over 30 years, Dale Vos has worked the farm that’s been in his family for 133 years.
A 1986 graduate from South Dakota State University (SDSU) in Brookings, he farms a variety of crops and raises feeder cattle.
The farm is home to approximately 1,700 feeder-to-finish cattle that are bought and sold all year long. Vos farms about 3,000 acres of corn, soybeans and alfalfa. The alfalfa is sold to area dairies. He also does custom tillage and harvesting on about another 1,000 acres with the help of two hired men and his sons.
Vos’ spring planning begins in the fall after harvest is complete. Most of the fertilizing manure is applied in the fall.
“We spread a lot of manure, but we make sure we put that on the acres it’s needed,” he said.
Vos and his employees complete soil tests to determine when and where manure is needed. This process continues into the winter months. In the spring, chemical fertilizer is applied to the soil as well.
Most of the seed, secured in the fall, is selected based on previous performance history, and his agronomist’s recommendation on new seed coming out. The research and agronomist advice helps them try new seed options and combinations.
“It’s always changing,” Vos said.
During the winter Vos begins financial planning for the upcoming year of farming. He makes sure that his taxes for the farm are completed before the first of March for the previous year. After taxes are complete, he begins budgeting for the year ahead.
As the weather gets warmer, they will start bringing the machinery out to prepare for spring planting. Prior to planting, they cover all 3,000 acres with a rock picker to remove rocks in the fields.
“It’s never ending,” he said.
Around the same time they analyze soil samples to determine the right fertilizer for each field of crop. The agronomist also helps with variable planting, in which they use variable-rate seeding technology. This enables Vos to change the seeding rates throughout a single field to make best use of the land by using higher planting populations in areas with higher yields. Variable planting requires variable fertilizing as well, both of which are mapped out for the fields with the help of the agronomist.
By mid-April they are usually able to start work in the field.
When Vos came back to the family farm in 1986 after graduating from college he began working with his father, Frank. Frank retired a couple of years later, but continued helping out on the farm until his death in 2008. Vos brought on a hired man in the early ‘90s. Eventually he added a second hired man as the farm grew.
The legacy the Vos family has created on the land will continue with Vos’ two sons. Kyle, who recently graduated from SDSU, joined the family farm in May and his other son, Ryan, plans to join the family farm upon graduation from SDSU as well.
“I’m proud they want to do it,” he said.
Vos said that much of his expansion over the years was encouraged by the interest his sons had in returning to the farm to continue the family business.
“This farm has been in the family since 1885,” he said. “We like it a lot.”