as seen in...

rural contractor & large scale farmer

groundbreaker 2009 issue 106

for this dairy

its allfarming
about people
family
Mike and Claire His grandsons are the sixth gen-
eration to live in the Mossburn
Heenan have three area. “Being a grandparent is
dairy farms and pretty neat. It adds a huge dimen-
sion to your life to see another
a run-off block generation emerging. We have a
in Southland. lot of capital invested in the farms
but what would we do with it?
The farms milk We’ve been lucky having a son
1750 cows and who wanted to come home. It’s a
employ 11 people. great feeling to have helped build
up something that is available for
But what is most the next generations.”
important to Mike and Claire’s son Dennis
returned home from Lincoln Uni-
Mike is the people
involved.
versity full of ideas to try out. He
went into a 50:50 partnership
with them. Another son Tim will
also be leaving Lincoln soon and
is also keen to come home and try
out his own ideas. Their daughter
Sonya is home at the moment
milking cows after working as a
planner in the UK.
Mike is very relaxed about
sharing control. “I know families
where people haven’t got a go on
Three of the Heenans’
NH tractors including
this T7040 have super-
steer, which Mike
says makes them
a big tractor very
manoeuvrable.
the farm until they’re 30 or 40. I
can’t see the point of that. When
a young fellow comes home he

The current two

generations of Heenans
working the family’s
Southland dairy
operation: (from left)
Mike, Clair, Sonia, Dennis,
and Tim (at back).

40
needs to be involved with all deci- could see the potential. It was a
sions. Young fellows make things bit sad seeing the sheep go; but
happen. They’ve got heaps of you’ve got to keep an open mind
energy; they can beat most things and move on.
and make it work.” “It’s a satisfying feeling catching
The farm work is divided up the wave. It’s been a really stimu-
among all members of the fam- lating time. We worked hard and
ily. Mike doesn’t milk anymore have been rewarded.”
but he does look after stock and Mike and Claire made up a herd
some of the financial side. Claire of 300 Friesians and bought a
and Amy (Dennis’s wife) also farm at Morton Mains.
work on the books and manage- Since then they’ve sold that
ment, and Dennis does most of farm and bought and converted
the budgeting. three others. Barnhill is used as a
“The financial side is the most
important part of farming. If
that’s not right it just falls apart.
There has been more and more
paper work over the years. Some
of that is growth of the business
but most of it is the increase in
bureaucracy.”
Mike is in full agreement with
Pinpoint accuracy.
Nationwide coverage.
some of the things local govern-
ment is doing. He thinks people
who pollute should be held to
account, for example.
“We are very meticulous about
fencing off streams and water-
ways on the converted farms. It’s
easy to do and stock are better off
out of waterways. Our kids have
always liked to swim and fish in
our rivers, and we hope that car-
ries on for many generations.”
Mike’s father Bill is 100 and liv-
ing in Christchurch. Bill had the
same relaxed attitude when Mike
came home to the farm. He never
put any pressure on, saying Mike
could go and do whatever he
wanted. Mike went to Lincoln.
In his summer holidays he came
home and went contracting –
making hay and fencing.
When Mike finished studying
he worked on other farms before
coming home when he was 24,
to what was then a sheep and
beef farm with Romneys and Her-
efords. He was the youngest of
nine children.
“I was lucky enough that when
I came home I immediately went
into a 50:50 partnership with
my father. I also asked him if
we could take over the financial
accounts and he couldn’t get rid
of them fast enough. I’ve read
since then that the earlier guys
get financial control the better,
but it’s also got to be tempered Do you use GPS to seed, harvest, fertilise or spray? Meet your quality
with experience.” assurance obligations with OmniSTAR. Got more questions? Get the
It was the 1970’s and they answers by visiting our website www.omnistar.co.nz or FreeCall 0800 88 88 64.
bought Barnhill, a 600ha block
near Mossburn. Mike and Claire
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still live there.

The Heenans shifted into dairy
at just the right time in 1996. “I

41
 PROFILE

run-off. The other three farms are Mike Heenan says his
all around 200ha and 15km from Kverneland discs are
Barnhill. Dennis, Amy, and all 11 good on rougher
farm staff live on the dairy blocks. ground such as eaten-
When Dennis came home four off tussock land.
years ago he wanted to try a dif-
ferent herd, so they’ve now got
a Kiwi breed: the Friesian/Jersey climate. Because something works
cross. in one environment it doesn’t
“A young fellow wants to do mean it will work where you are.
his thing. He paid a lot of atten- You’ve got to find what works.
tion to the Lincoln dairy farm and Though the climate here does
worked with Jerseys in the North seem to be getting milder. It used
Island. He’s had plenty of time to to be if you didn’t re-grass by mid-
think about it and if that’s what he March it was too late,” Mike says.
wants to run, it’s his choice. He’ll The Heenans used to do all their
be in a lot longer than me. And I own ag work but the operation
like them. I think they’re pretty just got too big.
neat. “You pick the jobs you can do
“They’re built for hybrid vigour. reasonably okay yourself, and get
They’re a smaller cow and fairly contractors to do the ones that hay, and when it comes to making winter crops and re-grass. They
tough. They’re easier on the soil require machinery you haven’t baleage, they mow it and the con- have over 300 acres of swedes
and stand the conditions better. got – like silage.” tractor does the rest. over all the farms. They expect a
“It takes time to get to know the Sometimes they do their own Mike and Dennis plant their own dry period for six to eight weeks
and plant summer turnips to cov-
er that time. Each farm has about
12ha and that goes back into
the heenan family has generations of allegiance with grass and as soon as it’s eaten off
new holland tractors via their ancestors, ford. in the end of March.
They feed out about 2000 bales
Mike’s wife Claire uses the 1970 50hp Ford 3000 to feed calves. It also pulls the ridger. A 100hp Ford of baleage and 2000 tonnes of
6610 Force three turbo is also on the payroll. silage on DM basis. All that’s from
Nowadays the Heenans also have six New Hollands. Three are in the 100hp range. Along with the Ford their own farm and they also buy
6610, there is one of these for each farm. Mike believes it is important to have a good tractor always avail- in a few hundred tonnes of silage
able so jobs don’t get put off. to be sure they don’t go short.
The blue fleet includes a TS100, T6010, T6020, TS125, TS 125A, and a T7040. They do all the general farm Another change Dennis made
jobs such as feeding out, or pulling a drill or light set of discs. Most of them have MX loaders to further was to make whole-crop barley
increase their usefulness. for silage. Last year they had their
Mike and Dennis say the T6020 is the most recent purchase. At 112hp it is a bit more powerful and there- first crop and this year they could
fore more useful. It reflects the trend toward larger tractors. potentially have 4000 bales.
Mike says the three big tractors are gutsy with a good suspension cab and driver comfort. They are long- “Some was under-sown with
er, which gives a smoother ride. grass and made into silage for
“The three big tractors have super-steer. You can tell when you’re in a tractor with super-steer. It makes autumn feed. It’s very high qual-
a big tractor very manoeuvrable,” Mike says. ity and the cows milk well on it.”
“Before we buy a tractor we calculate how much use it will get and then we monitor it. If it doesn’t do 600 Mike and Dennis have five New
hours in a year, it isn’t worth having it.” Holland tractors and an eclectic
Sticking to the same brand of tractor means staff can drive any of them. And with some instruction any- range of implements.
one can drive a New Holland – computer degree not required. They wanted to cut down on
ploughing as it takes so long, so
two years ago invested in a set of
Kverneland hydraulic discs.
“They’re European and the
quality of steel is very high and
we felt they would be ideal for
doing a lot of the work, especially
after swede or turnip crops, with-
out having to plough. The plough
is only eight foot wide the discs
are 15 feet. Discs save time and
money.”
Mike says the rocks do still knock

The Heenans run five

New Holland tractors
on their dairy farms,
including this TS125A
and T6020.

43
03
 PROFILE

Mike and Dennis

re-grass their own
paddocks and plant
their own winter
crops, which includes
more than 300 acres
of Swedes.

ually adjusted. We can set them

and know guys aren’t going to
make a stuff-up in the paddock:
they’re foolproof.
They’ve got two ridgers for
planting and fertilising turnips
and swedes. The old Willett does
four rows and had to have some-
one standing on the back to watch
for seed blockages and keep it
primed. The new Paddon ridger
does six rows, and it’s hydraulic
and electronically controlled.
The baler is a New Holland. ‘It’s
an older one, but it’s good and it’s
done a lot of work.” They’ve also
mike is relaxed about the drop in payout. he’s got a Slam V-rake, a Kuhn condi-
been in farming long enough to have experienced tioner and a couple of UFO mow-
busts and booms. ers.
“They were all good deals at
“I remember coming home from university and telling the old man about not having recession and the time. We bought mowers we
depressions if it’s done right. He just laughed. And Dennis came home and said the same thing. He thinks thought would cope with rocks:
experts can stop it all, and I laughed. they have got wee blades, which
“There are always boom and bust cycles. Out of the bust new opportunities for another generation are easy to change. Now it prob-
come along. If prices kept going up young people would never get a start. Farm prices have got to come- ably doesn’t matter a damn what
down. The pay out has fallen so people can’t finance it.” you bought: modern mowers are
Times have been tough before. Mike’s father Bill started with nothing. He left school at 12 and worked so much better. Also the farm’s a
on the farm for a year driving the horses. He went back to high school then came home again so another lot better: a lot less rocks on it.”
brother could go. Bill worked on the farm for only his keep. When his farm work was over for the day he Previously they picked rocks up
then went contracting. That was how he got his start. by hand, now they do it with a set
There were times when he walked the 19 miles home from Five Rivers to save a gallon of petrol. of forks on the tractor. Anything
Mike says that it was the hard work of Bill and his family who gave Mike’s generation opportunities. left is dealt to with a 20-tonne
“It’s been a concerted family effort for many years, as each generation has done its thing. No one person roller after grassing.
has built up what we’ve done. My father had such tremendous knowledge; but was prepared to stand When the Heenans bought the
back and let you make your mistakes - something you’ve got to do. Let it go. You can tell them but they extra farms the amount of land
don’t understand until they’ve had a go.” they cultivate each year jumped
To weather the recession they’ll be cutting fertiliser. “We’ve got no choice. We have to cut back on fer- from 300 acres to 1000 acres.
tiliser and anything else we can. A couple of farms have got high P levels so we’ll be able to mine that for That prompted the move into the
a few years and hope it doesn’t go on too long. In the 1980s that’s how we all survived – by cutting back. bigger Kverneland discs and also
Production falls, but you survive.” into bigger tractors.
Another trick Mike learnt in the 1980s was to surround himself with positive people. “What you have to Mike sees a long-term trend for
do is make your mind up to survive and cut your cloth accordingly. There will be opportunities but cash machinery to get bigger and more
and equity will be king.” sophisticated but it still has to be
Mike and Claire want to finish the development they’ve started when finances permit. They may convert affordable or no one will buy it.
some of the run-off block to dairy. They do hope to travel and will move back more from running the farm. When he started, 30 acres a day
If opportunities arise they may buy more land. That will give room for Tim when he comes home from was a big day now you need to do
Lincoln. 100.
“Farmers have no control; we’re the biggest gamblers of all. We gamble with politicians, currency, mar- “Our new ridger is a classic
kets, weather, our health, price of everything you can think of. But we love it and do it and get on with it.” case. It’s more sophisticated with
up-to-date electronics and you
get more work done. In simple
the discs around and occasionally is better for rougher ground. We grove discs. “They’re a lighter terms, we’ve replace labour with
get jammed but they are sprung used the Kvernelands on an eaten- disc we use for finishing work, capital. But every so often you
and cope pretty well. They fold up off tussock block and it would have and are really good for that. We get a wake up call and have to go
easily to get through gateways been hard to do with anything else. needed another set and they back to doing without stuff. Then
and for transporting. The scallop blades just bite in. And were cheaper and not as heavy. you replace capital with labour.
They also have Hooper 12-foot discs keep the fertility at the top as Plus smaller tractors pull them But it doesn’t necessarily mean
tandem discs. “We use the Hoop- opposed to ploughing.” easily. The others are hydraulic you employ more people. You
ers all the time but the Kverneland They’ve also got 12-foot Cos- whereas the Cosgroves are man- just do less.”

44