Van Dyk-S Holsteins History

Peter Van Dyk came to Whatcom County in 1910.  He homesteaded just outside of the small town of Lynden, which lies in the Northwest corner of Washington State; two hours north of Seattle and four miles south of the Canadian border.  Pete soon began raising registered Holsteins.   Some of his favorite animals were his registered Holstein bulls.  Many stories have been told about Pete and his bulls.

  
In the late 40’s his only son, Peter Van Dyk Jr., graduated from high school and faced a difficult decision; sign with the St. Louis Browns to play professional baseball, or take over the farm he had helped his father develop.  He was a talented pitcher; but he decided to stay in Lynden, and began to turn his father’s farm into a modern dairy. He married his sweetheart, Patricia Zylstra and they were blessed with five children in the next ten years; Michael, Grant (known as Bud), twins Karla and Kent, and Leesa.   Over the next twenty years, Peter and Patricia worked hard, dairying and growing a variety of other crops, primarily seed potatoes.  In the mid 70’s, with their children grown and interested in the business; a new barn was built with two state of the art carousel parlors.  The family also began to search for some top registered animals to add to the herd.

Three of Peter and Patricia’s children continue to farm. In the 1980’s Kent, along with his wife Tricia, took several VanDyk-S animals and began a new dairy called VanDyk-K Holsteins. Kent and Tricia with their children Andrea and Kyle have gone on to do exceedingly well with their Registered Holstein herd.  They have bred some incredible animals, most notably, VanDyk-K Integrity Paradise, a two time International Holstein Show Supreme Champion!  Leesa, her husband Luke Vos, and son Matt began a new farm called Last Stand Holsteins. They have a well run operation and milk a great group of cows.

Peter and Grant (Bud) now farm in partnership on the original dairy.  They focused on production and increasing the herd size for about 15 years. The overwhelming paperwork involved in registering the calves caused the registered side of the business to suffer for a time.  However, in the late 90's when the Holstein Association rolled out the Easy Automated Identification System, they increased their focus on registration and genetics and today the herd is nearly 100% registered.

Peter and Bud, along with Bud's wife Susan and their sons Kohlson and Landon are working hard to continue the family tradition and develop a top caliber herd of Registered Holsteins. The results of the hard work, combined with the strong existing herd genetics, are already turning heads. VanDyk-S Durham Emylina, now owned in partnership with Goldcrest Holsteins, performed well at the Western Spring National, The Washington State Show, and the International Holstein Show in 2006.  She was 1st place and Honorable Mention Intermediate Champion in Richmond, All Washington Sr 2 and Futurity Winner at the state show, and at the International Holstein Show, in Madison, she placed 9th in the senior two year old class. Other animals that have been performing well are VanDyk-S Outside Missing, VanDyk-S Forbidden Holiday, VanDyk-S Marshall Bonnie Jo, and  VanDyk-S Durham Dancer, just to name a few.  Classification in March of 2007 resulted in four new excellent cows here and two at Goldcrest. (A special thank you to Aaron Lancaster, Scott Hilt, and others at Goldcrest Holsteins who have been very supportive and helpful to us in the last few years.  They have purchased half interest in four of our best animals and are doing an amazing job of developing them to their greatest potential.)

The Van Dyks are very thankful for their family and many friends who have helped them with advice and encouragement along the way.  They are proud of their history and excited for their future!