Note: This article is adapted from our previously published Sustainability Report. Content has been edited and reformatted for a blog audience, with minor updates for clarity and readability where appropriate. Customer-provided photos, used with permission.
With grant-writing services from Lasso, Piet van Bedaf secured funding for a project that cut his dairy’s energy use, lowering his costs and positioning his operation for future growth.
Key takeaways
A new energy-efficient milk chiller system is saving VanBedaf Dairy an estimated $20,000 annually in electricity and propane costs.
Lasso grant-writing support helped the dairy secure funding and navigate a competitive application process with confidence.
Grant funding covered about 50% of the project cost, making the upgrade possible years sooner than it otherwise would have been.
Sustainability efforts such as heat recovery, water reuse, sand recycling, and herd-monitoring technology are helping improve both efficiency and profitability.
Cost-control strategy
When Piet van Bedaf sat down with his accountant, one expense category consistently drew attention: utilities. The van Bedafs not only paid more each year for this critical expense; they paid more than their peers in the dairy industry. The van Bedafs needed a solution for their 1,900-cow dairy.
The family built VanBedaf Dairy in central North Dakota from the ground up in 2008. While much of the milk handling equipment was relatively new, it wasn’t as efficient as today’s technology. The family also projected a 20% jump in milk production in the next few years.
After evaluating several areas of the farm, van Bedaf and his family chose to upgrade their milk chiller to a system that would accelerate the cooling process and reduce electric and propane use.
The dairy installed its new chiller in September 2025. It includes a heat recovery system designed to capture waste heat from the refrigeration compressors and use it to preheat water for the farm’s water heaters.
“With our previous setup, we could not get our milk cooled down to 37 degrees just with our plate cooler and our chiller, because it just didn’t have the capacity to do it,” he says. “This new system lets us reduce our hot water heating needs and helps that compressor run cooler and more efficiently.”
Essentially, the van Bedafs replaced their six smaller compressors with two large compressors. Already, we’re seeing about a 25% reduction in heating needs of hot water,” van Bedaf says, estimating the dairy is saving roughly $20,000 a year in electricity and propane costs compared to the previous undersized and less efficient system.
From the Netherlands to North Dakota
Corne and Conny van Bedaf grew up on dairy farms in the Netherlands. After marrying in the late 1980s and starting a family, they realized they would not be able to build the dairy farm of their dreams in the Netherlands.
“There were a lot of challenges with regulation and a lot of competition for land from residential, commercial, vegetable, and horticulture pressures,” says Piet van Bedaf, the couple’s oldest son. “They did not see a future in dairy farming there.”
In 2001, the family moved to Alberta, Canada, and started a dairy. Over time, they determined that environment also limited the expansion they were seeking. The family relocated again, this time to Carrington, North Dakota.
“We ended up in North Dakota because we wanted to own enough land to be able to grow some of our own forages, and land was a lot more affordable in North Dakota,” van Bedaf says. “There was a good location available that had water, three-phase power, good access to a highway, and there was a milk market.”
The family founded their current dairy in 2008 with 100 cows. It has since grown to a 1,900-cow operation that raises its own replacement heifers and employs a 24-member team. Piet’s brother, Dries, works on the farm. His sister, Maartje, and brother-in-law, Casey, own and operate Cows and Co. Creamery a few miles away.
About 1% of the dairy’s milk is processed at the creamery into value-added products, including artisan gelato, authentic Gouda cheese, fresh cheddar cheese curds, European-style yogurt, full-fat A2A2 milk, and full-fat A2A2 chocolate milk.
Grant funds expansion
While researching equipment options, van Bedaf learned the North Dakota Department of Agriculture offered grants for new or expanding value-added agriculture businesses. Through Midwest Dairy, he was introduced to Lasso to assist with the grant process. Having never written a grant, van Bedaf invested in outside help.
“They’ve done a lot of grant-writing, so they knew which boxes to check and what to have in the business plan,” van Bedaf says.
The grant program focuses on growing North Dakota’s economy through agricultural business expansion. To be competitive, the application needed to demonstrate both increased production capacity and environmental benefits.
“A big part of preparing the grant was to show that through putting this system in place, we’d be able to increase the amount of cows we were milking,” a production increase that van Bedaf was able to show, among other things, requires purchasing more feed from neighboring farmers.
“Another big part of the scoring was based on the system being environmentally friendly,” van Bedaf says. “The heat recapture fit that quite nicely.”
Beyond developing the business plan and project details, van Bedaf presented the proposal to a review panel from the North Dakota Department of Agriculture. Lasso’s assistance in preparing for the presentation gave him confidence throughout the process.
“The new system gives us plenty of capacity for higher milk production per cow or if we decide to milk more cows in the future,” van Bedaf says.
But none of these improvements would have happened in 2025, he says, if the grant had been denied.
The payback period for the investment is about seven years based on utility savings. The grant, which covered about 50% of the project’s cost, cuts that in half, van Bedaf says.
"It still took a lot of my own time, but working with Lasso definitely reduced my time and increased the chances of getting the grant.
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Visit the farm, one video at a time
Since founding their North Dakota dairy, the van Bedafs have welcomed visitors for tours. During the disruption and restrictions caused by the COVID pandemic, they had to limit on-site guests. Piet van Bedaf adapted, launching a YouTube channel to provide a first-hand look at the operation.
“People generally want to know where their food comes from, and it seems like that is only increasing,” he says. “The best thing we can do is show them. If they’re not going to hear from us, they’re going to hear from somebody else, and the story might not be told in the right way.”
For the past four years, van Bedaf has posted a weekly video documenting everything from milking cows to repairing equipment to setting farm goals. The channel allows viewers to see a modern dairy in real time and ask questions directly. Today, the channel has about 19,500 subscribers.
Sustainability at scale
The chiller project is one component of a broader focus on efficiency and long-term sustainability across the dairy. Cows are milked three times a day and spend the remainder of their time in freestall pens. Each animal’s health is tracked using CowManager® sensors that monitor activity, eating time, rumination, and body temperature.
“I’ve been using CowManager since 2017,” van Bedaf says. “Just by the way the cow moves her ears, how much time she spends eating, how much time she spends ruminating, how active she is, and her body temperature, we are able to monitor her health 24/7. We also breed off that data. It has made our reproductive program very successful.”
"To me, sustainability means being able to produce a product in a way that optimizes our resources. It is also trying to increase the profitability and efficiency of the farm.
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Sand bedding is used throughout the dairy for cow comfort and health. The operation separates sand from manure and reuses it for bedding, reducing input costs. Rainwater collected from building roofs is incorporated into the sand separation process, limiting the need for fresh water and lowering overall resource use.
That sustainable mindset extends to the operation’s team. The dairy’s 24 employees receive structured training, work with a mentor, and sign a mandatory letter of commitment to ensure animals are treated as humanely as possible.
From the new chiller project to a team committed to animal health, VanBedaf Dairy is committed to supporting both near-term margins and the next generation of expansion.
