Dan DeWees first joined the MCFB Board of Directors in 2008, a recruit by long time friend Louie Bandoni. Dan is able to lend his knowledge and experience in farming and ranching to the MCFB Board and he believes his contribution as a board member “helps protect our way of life.”

Dan currently runs a 150 cow/calf beef operation with his wife Pat here in Merced. Dan and Pat have been married for 31 years and have two children, a son Sam, and daughter Danielle who married Chuck Miller.

Dan along with two partners lease 5,000 acres in the Copperopolis area during the winter months to run his cattle on. During the summer months Dan brings them back home where they feed off of irrigated pasture. In addition to maintaining his own herd, Dan also manages a beef ranch in Merced.

Dan has been involved with agriculture his entire life. He grew up on a sweet potato farm in Atwater. Prior to meeting his wife Pat, Dan referred to himself as the “flying cowboy,” because he was involved with a charter airline out of Oakland and flew animals all over the world to places like Australia, China and New Zealand.

Dan is also involved with the local Civil Air Patrol (CAP). CAP is a National organization that deals with search and rescue, Homeland Security & training cadets. Dan’s official title with CAP is Observer. While Pat flies the plane, Dan is looking for crashed airplanes or helping Homeland Security by taking pictures of dams and waterways.

In Dan’s spare time he likes to go snorkeling and kayaking. He has been flat water kayaking in Morro Bay, Monterey, Elkhorn Slough and even as far as Baja, Mexico.

For the future, Dan’s outlook is hopeful that the cattle prices hold strong for his family's business. “I’m not greedy…I just want to survive,” he explained. Other concerns on Dan’s radar are water and land use and how it is currently affecting our county and state. With his vast knowledge of agriculture and the multitude of issues our community is currently facing, Dan’s insight and opinions will help fight the battles along the way to our community’s road to recovery.